It’s 1st December! CHRISTMAS ALL THE THINGS! And what a serendipity that today’s randomly-selected short happened to be about an office Christmas party at a nuclear plant that goes horribly wrong and turns everyone into highly-intelligent, super-fast, torso-nomming zombies. You haven’t seen a proper holiday gorefest until you’ve seen a dirt-covered holiday reveller proclaiming “Santa is going to save you. Give me your fucking hand.” (And…dressed as St Nick.)
It’s short and sweet, with impressive camerwork, effects and editing, though a bit implausible with the plot – soldiers opening fire on everyone just minutes after a nuclear plant meltdown? Though the maelstrom plus the forest setting makes for some terrifyingly unpredictable viewing. It’s all pure chaos, so there’s no discernible dialogue or defined characters – it’s 4-odd minutes of sheer carnage and there doesn’t really need to be anything else.
There’s also the way it’s shot – purely from one person’s POV, which shifts to zombie halfway through. Gone are the “shit, we have to do it like this” roadblocks that befall your typical found-footage film, because this isn’t FF and can use that valuable time showing us more zombies ripping off legs like they’re drunkenly brawling over a KFC bargain bucket. Zombilicious!
An Englishwoman in Salem 