It's Day 288 of the year and my project, which means it's Day 14 of the 31 Days of Hallowe'en movie challenges. I'm starting as always with my own 31 Days of Hallowe'en, which I first mentioned back in August. Today's mini theme is Holiday Horror. I picked Easter Bloody Easter. Today's film also fits the requirements for the 31 Days of Horror Challenge being hosted by Nightmare on Film Street. Their mini theme today is It Came From Tubi. Which means, anything you watch today on Tubi counts.
As a small town starts to get ready for their annual Easter Fest, a strange string of murders are being committed. The town has a legend of a Jackalope that punishes those on Easter for their sins. Is this what's happening, or does someone just want everyone to think it is?
At first the premise of this sounds stupid, but I have to say, it's a really fun movie. It's low budget and campy in just the right way, and one of the most original movies to come along in a long time. There's plenty of holiday horror movies out there, and a few of them I've noticed have an Easter theme, but this one doesn't just use Easter as a backdrop, it's almost a character in itself. It's got a Krampus vibe to it, as in the Jackalope legend they create has just enough ties to actual urban legends/fairy tales to make you go 'Yeah, I could see that'.
What's set up as the lead villain through most of the movie is a cliched mean girl-church lady troupe, with enough red herrings to keep you doubting yourself until the end. I want to say it's a twist ending, but in the last act you do see it coming. I almost wish they set it up a bit earlier along with some of the red herrings to actually make it a twist, but once it's there you see it coming.
Beyond that, it really hits a note about how social media society has gotten over the top competitive with every single holiday and the themed decorating/parties etc. The lead mean girl could clearly be swapped out for a youtube influencer or social media guru and it would have just as much punch. I actually think it gets it's point across more so because they do not use the social media in the character's plot. But the referenced metaphor is there.
Don't forget to check out my daily Letterboxd lists. I'm doing the #100HorrorMoviesIn92Days challenge as well.
Come back tomorrow to see what I picked for the next round.
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