This delivers on fast-paced kills and Christmas vibes, but I felt like something was missing? 

 

Energy: Enervated. Grim. Vicious.  

 

🐕 Howls: Leaning on cheesy puns and clever one-liners got a little forced campy and broke it for me. The jump between the spooks learning about the history of the house to brutal slashing was so quick. The tone went from campy to sad. 

 

🐩 Tail Wags: Flipping between a terrifying moment and the mundanity of family life. Fun jump-scares. It feels like a holiday horror because it isn’t relying on “there was a Christmas tree in the room” for atmosphere. Despite being so short we get a sense of who the characters are before the body counts (effective use of multi perspective). Once the killings begin, things move fast. 

 

Scene: 🇺🇸 Set in San Bernadino mountains, California, USA

Perspectives: A junior in high school stuck on a last-minute family trip up north to a house in the woods for Christmas break. Their 12-year-old sibling feeling like a burden in a fractured family. A parent and spouse who had big dreams and is resenting how domesticated their life has become. The landlord of the vacation home. 

Timeline: 2005. 🎄December (Christmas time).

🔥 Fuel: What happened to the contractor helping renovate the vacation house? Did people really die in the house? How and what happened? Is the family who rented the house in danger? Will they survive? 

📖 Cred: Supernatural 

 

MapQuest. Tabletop jukebox. Basement. Singing off key. Uggs. Christmas carols. Diner food. 

 

Ableism (slurs, bias). Alcohol (underage, brief mention). Body horror, gore. Cannabis (underage, brief mention). Corruption (police). Divorce (anxiety about, parents arguing). Emotional abuse (childhood). Familicide. Fatphobia (very brief character thoughts). Financial anxieties (medical bills). Fire (building, fatalities, burns). Loss of parent (as teen). Loss of spouse. Religious trauma. Theft. Vomit. 

 

Rep: American. Cis. Gay. Juvenile idiopathic arthritis. Asthma. 

 

📚 Format: Kobo Plus