First, before starting this review, I know the director, met him personally in 2008 at the Terror Film Festival, in Philadelphia, PA where I saw his short film Absent (2008), which made the Hollywood film Teaching Mrs. Tingle look like a g-rated production, his work contained scenes of brutalization and mass suicide of evil portions; hence I was very interested in seeing what he created next for entertainment. In addition, I do watch a lot of Christmas Horror movies, so much I designed a viewing guide called Surviving the Holiday Season, so this movie attraction my attention on another level. Now, honestly, I didn’t ready the summary not wanting to spoil this early Christmas gift, one thought perhaps a slashing at a party in house or office, but nowhere near that ruse, rather a Christian camp, where bloody mayhem came to life.
It all starts with detectives interrogating serial killer Declan Rains (Sean Whalen (Caesar and Otto’s Paranormal Halloween [2015]) for his Christmas bloodshed and outrageous murders, however a botched and over forceful moment, Declan dies, but vows to return and exact his revenge, as his spirits possess an ugly holiday sweater. I know it’s insane nonsense, but stay with it. Fast forward 10-years with two best friends (and their on-screen chemistry worked nicely too) Cliff and Jody, ready to hook-up with two women they met, and driving out to Camp Mandix. Realizing it’s a Christmas themed party Cliff gets the possessed sweater (somehow) and starts to change, basically possessed by the demonic sweater. Once at the camp, they learn their love interests are actually twins, Samantha (Emily Dahm) and Susan (Tiffani Fest) once sleazy now born-again and is run by Mrs. Mandix (Felissa Rose (2 Jennifer [2016]) and aided by Sister Nipps (Jennifer Nangle (10/31 [2017])) for the very religious bible camp. As the body count starts, with Cliff tearing of private parts and causing waves of madness at the camp, another slew of characters appears such as Jody (Hunter Johnson (Bethany [2017])) and Hanna (Lara Jean (Anomaly [2016])) a gothic looking woman with telepathic abilities. As cliff continues his blood guzzling and murderous tendencies, the other campers condemn a series of immoralities all of ratcheting to crescendo of violence, blood spatter, and a gruesome gonzo slaughter fest.
The bizarreness continues relentlessly throughout the entire movie, while the humor, may not always connect and hit the punchline correctly, it still works thanks to the actors and their individual chemistry. It all helps to iron out the rough spots (plenty of them in the script) but assisted with scenes of both male and female nudity, very strange dance sequences, visions of ghosts in bright blue neon, and very Christmas festive mode for them all to enjoy especially the strange conga line. The budget constraints greatly affected much to the technical aspects, however between the cast and crew everyone keeps doing their job with passion, while enjoying the parody and ridiculousness in the film. Some struggles come from the lighting and sound qualities dealing with outside noise, at the wilderness camp.
While some viewers enjoy traditional Christmas movies, horror seeks out less than jolly creations, rather those that play on the festive themes or seasonal grieving, with ample amount of blood splatter, well if you’re able to see past the errors on the technical side and embrace the absurd storyline that wearing some ugly sweaters may possess you to murder and go just a tad insane. But wait, isn’t that the normal at Christmas time? If you would like to murder the customers in the parking lots or stores, the seasonal driving insane with nonsense, then join for this Party, which tries very hard to entertain its core audience Troma-theme maniacs.
https://www.facebook.com/UglySweaterPartyMovie/
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5254728/
IMDb Rating: 7.7/10 (NOTE: Based on 15 votes, 7 giving 10s)
Baron’ Rating: 6.0/10