Typically the only Christmas movies I watch are horror films & although Treevenge is short it is my favorite of the subgenre. The premise is simple but the execution is sublime. The first half of the film is spent showing the horror pine trees experience every Christmas season & the second half shows what happens when the trees have had enough. The film follows the trees as they're cut down by surly lumberjacks who excessively express their hatred of the trees in every possible way including bodyslams. Following being removed from their homes we see the terror the trees experience as they are transported to Christmas tree lots & taken home by obliviously cruel human families. The film does a great job of showing the juxtaposition between the happy holiday celebrating families & the terror filled trees on Christmas Eve night. On Christmas morning the trees have had enough & all hell breaks loose. One of the biggest faults I find in contemporary films is the way in which so little of the action itself is shown, just as we're about to see the event the whole film is leading up to the camera will cut away, the events are merely discussed while never taking place on screen. Treevenge is the antidote to that anticlimax. Scene after scene of creative over the top campy gore is shown. This entire film has the tone of just the right amount of self awareness without so much winking at the audience that it ruins itself. From a dead pet to a dead baby there is no holding back as the tree uprising utilizes equal cruelty that was brought upon them by the Christmas tree trade. Director & Writer Jason Eisener and Writer Rob Cotterill met on the set of the TV show Trailer Park Boys (2001) resulting in lots of familiar casting. Jonathan Torrens & Sarah Dunsworth play the parents of a family celebrating christmas with joy in one moment & bloodshed in another. Cory Bowles & John Dunsworth are credited as voicing the trees. I featured this movie on s01e01 of subjective curiosities because of how much I enjoy it.
Review of Treevenge
