A Christmas Tale (2005)

In 1985, in a coastal town, the friends Koldo, Peti, Tito, Eugenio and Moni stumble with a woman dressed like Santa Claus trapped in a hole in the woods. While to boys go to the police ... See full summary »

Director:

Paco Plaza

Writer:

Luiso Berdejo

Stars:

Maru Valdivielso, Christian Casas, Roger Babià

Cast

Credited cast:
Maru Valdivielso	...	Rebeca Expósito
Christian Casas	...	Koldo
Roger Babià	...	Peti
Pau Poch	...	Tito
Daniel Casadellà	...	Eugenio
Ivana Baquero	...	Moni
Elsa Pataky	...	Ekran
José Torija	...	Charles
Loquillo	...	Taylor
Saurí	...	Policía Gourmet
Nacho Moliné	...	Locutor Telediario
Antonio Duque	...	Nets
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Ana Isabel Velásquez	...	Vecina

Storyline

In 1985, in a coastal town, the friends Koldo, Peti, Tito, Eugenio and Moni stumble with a woman dressed like Santa Claus trapped in a hole in the woods. While to boys go to the police station to ask for help, the others find a rope to take the woman out of the hole. However, the boys find in the police station that the woman is the dangerous thief Rebeca Expósito, who has just stolen two million pesetas from a bank and is wanted. The group decides to leave the woman in the hole without any food to force her to give the robbed money to them. Meanwhile, Peti and Eugenio that are fans of the movie "Zombie Invasion", decide to make a voodoo ceremony with Rebecca to transform her into a zombie. When Rebecca escapes from her imprisonment, she uses an axe to chase the evil boys.

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Plot Keywords:

thief | money | santa claus suit | christmas horror | zombie | 

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Genres:

Horror | Thriller

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Did You Know?

Trivia

Except for Rebeca and the actors in TV, all the adults in this movie are unseen or partially-unseen characters, with their faces always hidden after newspapers or beyond the border of the screen.

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Connections

Features The Karate Kid (1984)

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Soundtracks

Esto No Es Hawaii (Que Wai)
By Loquillo Y Trogloditas

User Reviews

An unsatisfying experience

It's not that this movie is bad... But it certainly doesn't belong in a series called "movies to keep you awake", since I doubt it would even keep a twelve year old awake at night.

Although the direction by Paco Plaza (of REC fame), and the general production value is obviously on a very good level, the movie is a combination of Stand By Me, Home Alone and of "The Three Investigators" juvenile mystery books (i.e. having a trailer parked in a backyard as headquarters is a direct link between the latter and this film I think), with none of the aforementioned is what I would consider "spine chilling". The heroes of the movie are conveniently "nerdy" kids that obsess over classic cult movies like Karate Kid, portraying the filmmakers' nostalgic intentions and paying homage to them.

Overall though, the movie is what has been described above: a movie about a bunch of kids, that resembles a "Goosebumps" episode, more than a real thriller. I can definitely see why someone can like this one a lot, but it just didn't work for me.

Details

Country:

Spain

Language:

Spanish

Release Date:

7 August 2006 (Japan)

Also Known As:

A Christmas Tale

Filming Locations:

Castelldefels, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain

Company Credits

Production Co:

Filmax Televisión, Filmax

Technical Specs

Runtime:

71 min

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1