Eve of the Nutcracker - A Sinister Christmas Tale (2016)

Christmas is less than a week away… it’s time to get into the holiday spirit horror fans! Today I’m thrilled to bring to you the holiday horror short Eve of the Nutcracker – A Sinister Christmas Tale (2016) by Red Razor Pictures. It stars Stephanie Moran, Kyle Martellacci and Clayton Millette and was written, edited and directed by Martellacci.

Eve of the Nutcracker – A Sinister Christmas Tale tells the story Olivia on a disappointing Christmas Eve that takes a turn for the worse when a she receives an ominous nutcracker as a gift.

Review & Recommendation

Before I get started, I’m going to give a SPOILER WARNING. If you want to watch the full film without knowing at all what’s coming you can watch it below. Just come back when you’re done!

Still with me? OK.

It’s Christmas Eve & Oliva finds an extra gift under her Christmas tree from Santa. As a horror fan, this is red alert time and you just know that shit’s about to go downhill for poor Olivia. The gift is a nutcracker doll which she places on her mantle and goes about her evening of drinking wine. Side note… even before watching this, anyone else think nutcracker dolls are creepy as hell?

Things get weird as the doll begins to move around the house, never staying where she puts it. We find out that she’s been stood up and is having relationship problems and she texts a friend who tells her to pour a glass of wine as she’s on the way. From here we get some well shot home invasion horror with stuff going on in the background while the story progresses in the foreground. It’s just shy of six minutes but it successfully tells the story in that time.

Aside from the inclusion of a record player this one plays as a modern horror tale but does a great job of giving that throwback feel of a warm holiday slasher flick (cause there are so many right?). I couldn’t help to think of the Tales from the Crypt episode “All Through the House” or A Christmas Story the way this is shot with a soft warm light.

While there isn’t much, the gore that’s here is done really, really well. Strong recommend for this little short. Well worth the time to give it a watch below.