Don't Open 'Til Christmas (1984)

Director:

Edmund Purdom

Writers:

Derek Ford (writer)
Al McGoohan (story)

Release Date:

December 1984 (USA)

Genre:

Horror | Mystery | Thriller

Tagline:

...t'was the night before Christmas, and all through the house, not a creature was stirring...they were all dead!

Plot:

Somebody with very little Christmas spirit is killing anyone in a Santa suit one London holiday season, and Scotland Yard has to stop him before he makes his exploits an annual tradition.

Plot Keywords:

Inspector | Holiday | Running | Scotland Yard | Christmas

Cast

Edmund Purdom	...	Inspector Harris
Alan Lake	...	Giles
Belinda Mayne	...	Kate
Mark Jones	...	Sergeant Powell
Gerry Sundquist	...	Cliff Boyd
Kelly Baker	...	Experience Girl
Kevin Lloyd	...	Gerry
Wendy Danvers	...	Housekeeper
Nicholas Donnelly	...	Doctor Bridle (scenes deleted)
Pat Astley	...	Sharon
Laurence Harrington	...	Kate's father
Ken Halliwell	...	Restaurant Commissionare
Ray Marioni	...	Maitre d'hotel
Wilfred Corlett	...	Experience Santa Claus
Ricky Kennedy	...	Theatre Santa Claus

Also Known As:

Don't Open Till Christmas (UK) (alternative spelling)

Runtime:

86 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

Iceland:16 | Australia:R | Norway:18 (video premiere) | UK:18 | USA:R | West Germany:(Banned) | Germany:BPjM Restricted

Filming Locations:

London Dungeon - 28-34 Tooley Street, London, England, UK

Company:

Spectacular Trading International

Trivia:

Although the character of Dr Bridle (played by Nicholas Donnelly) is referred to in the script he has never appeared in any print of the movie. Due to the films many production difficulties his scenes were probably filmed but deleted.

Goofs:

Audio/visual unsynchronized: When the inspector visits Kate's apartment to discuss the attack on Sharon, Kate asks what happened, but her mouth does not move.

Movie Connections:

References Flashdance (1983)

Amusing, trashy seasonal horror from the other side of the Atlantic.

The same year that "Silent Night, Deadly Night" caused a furor in North America, this silly horror film came out of England. In this case, the killer is not the one wearing the Santa Claus costume; the victims are. This brutal psychopath wears various masks and utilizes different methods, and the Scotland Yard detectives on the case prove to be completely ineffective at making any progress on the case. Kate (Belinda Mayne) is personally affected when, at a party, her father gets killed for wearing a Santa Claus suit.

Apparently a troubled production, this might certainly explain the holes in the plot. Star Edmund Purdom started out as director (also starring as Detective Inspector Harris), to be replaced by writer Derek Ford, who in turn was replaced by editor Ray Selfe. The result is a jumble of a story, with the motivation for the killer finally explained just before an abrupt ending.

Produced by Dick Randall (who'd also had a hand in "Pieces", which also featured Purdom) and Steve Minasian (one of the driving forces behind the "Friday the 13th" franchise), this movie gets down to business quickly. It's pretty much one murder after another, some of them enjoyably disgusting and sadistic. (One Santa gets burned alive and another loses his manhood in one memorably nasty moment.) The level of sleaze is high; co-star Pat Astley as Sharon gets to bare her breasts. She also figures in an effectively depraved moment, when, clad in little more than a Santa coat, she gets molested by the killer's knife.

Although the movie features the gorgeous Caroline Munro in a hilariously cheesy musical performance, the cast isn't much to speak of, with the exception of Alan Lake as Giles and Mark Jones as Sergeant Powell. Leggy Kelly Baker is quite easy to watch as an eyewitness to one murder who gets kidnapped and locked away by the killer.

"Don't Open 'Til Christmas" is one very absurd, tacky, and nasty piece of work that, if nothing else, at least has the elements to qualify as a fairly entertaining slasher.

6/10