Woodyanders Review of Treevenge

Treevenge (2008)

A hilarious and ingenious Christmas horror comedy short

[9/10 · 25 December 2013]

A bunch of terrified and infuriated sentient pine trees decide to strike back against the cruel and evil humans who have chopped them down to use as Christmas trees for the yuletide season. Director Jason Eisener, who also co-wrote the clever script with Rob Cotterill, maintains a zippy pace throughout, milks loads of sidesplitting sick laughs from the uproariously twisted sense of inspired black humor, and delivers plenty of hysterically excessive over-the-top graphic gore (among the grisly highlights are eyes getting gouged out, a man having one of his legs cut off, and a Christmas star being tossed into a guy's throat). Moreover, this honey warrants extra praise not only for its no-holds-barred attitude towards the loopy subject matter (a cute little cat, several kids, and even a crying baby all get gruesomely killed!), but also for the brilliantly subversive way in which people are made to seem like despicable monsters -- the chortling lumberjacks in particular are shown as total psychos wielding axes and chainsaws -- while the trees come across as pitiable and confused frightened victims (they actually speak in subtitles, too!). Great homages to the Lucio Fulci Italian splatter classics "Zombi 2" and "The Gates of Hell," too. An absolute riot!