Holidays (2016 film)

Holidays
Theatrical release poster
Directed by
Produced by
  • John Hegeman
  • Tim Connors
  • Adam Egypt Mortimer
  • Kyle Franke
  • Aram Tertzakian
Starring
Music by
Production
company
Distributed by Vertical Entertainment
Release date
  • April 14, 2016 (2016-04-14) (TFF)
  • April 22, 2016 (2016-04-22) (United States)
Country United States
Language English

Holidays is a 2016 American horror anthology film of subversive short horror films, each inspired by a different celebration. The directors include Kevin Smith, Gary Shore, Adam Egypt Mortimer, Scott Stewart, Nicholas McCarthy, Dennis Widmyer and Kevin Kolsch, Sarah Adina Smith and Anthony Scott Burns.

The film had its world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival on April 14, 2016.[1] It was then released on video on demand on April 15, 2016, prior to a limited release on April 22, 2016, by Vertical Entertainment.[2]

Segments

Valentine's Day

  • Written & directed by Kevin Kölsch & Dennis Widmyer
  • Starring Madeleine Coghlan, Savannah Kennick, Rick Peters, and Britain Simons

Maxine is picked on by Heidi in gym and nearly drowns after being pushed off the diving board by her. She is then rescued by her kindhearted coach, Coach Rockwell whom she has a crush on. Rockwell is suffering from a heart condition. Feeling sorry for Maxine, he leaves a Valentines letter in her locker. Maxine finds it and becomes euphoric. She then stalks Heidi and chases her to a creek where she hits her in the face with a brick and kills her with a box cutter. Later that night, Rockwell is preparing for an outing with his wife when he hears the doorbell. Upon answering the door, he is horrified by the appearance of Maxine holding Heidi's ripped-out heart.

St. Patrick's Day

School teacher Elizabeth Cullen, takes an interest in her new, unhappy student Grainne after she leaves a dried grass snake and a note reading "Only your deepest wish can make me smile". After a St. Patrick's Day night of drinking, Elizabeth awakens in a green car with snake skin laying around her. She happily discovers that she is pregnant (she previously expressed interest in having children) only to learn from the doctor that the baby will be a reptile. Elizabeth becomes paranoid with her baby approaching and with Grainne who now has an enigmatic smile. Elizabeth eventually gives birth to a large black snake while in her bathtub. She is then lead away by Grainne and a mysterious man, presumably Grainne's father, and joins their pagan cult as the snake's mother. Later a new teacher at the school (a nun) gets the same message from Grainne.

Easter

While being tucked into bed at night, a little girl becomes frightened by the coming of the Easter Bunny. The mother attempts to calm her and attempts to explain the holiday mascot's connection to Jesus before managing to tuck her in. Later, the girl gets up to get a drink of water and discovers a Crucified Jesus/Easter Bunny-like creature in the living room. She attempts to sneak back to her room, but is caught. The Bunny explains that now she has seen him, she must take his place and that she will never see her mother again. He feeds her an egg that transforms her into another bunny creature. The mother is heard calling for her daughter as the back door locks itself.

Mother's Day

Kate can't stop getting pregnant and keeps having to abort. At the advice of her doctor, Kate attends a getaway that is out in the middle of the desert. At first everything seems fine until one night she is involved in an orgy. The getaway turns out to be home to barren witches who want her to carry their child. Kate becomes catatonic, but is groomed and cared for by the witches who cut her off from contacting the outside. Eventually, Kate manages to flee, but suddenly goes into labor. The women surround her to aid in her birth, but they all scream in terror when a bloody full-sized arm comes out of her.

Father's Day

Carol comes home from teaching when she receives a mysterious package from her father whom she has not seen since she was a child. Carol discovers that the package is an old cassette deck player with ear phones. She plays the tape which is from her father telling her to go to the place they played at when she was a child. She leaves a voicemail for her mom stating how angry she is about lying to her about her father dying. Upon reaching the place hinted at on the tape, she realizes that the tape was recorded when she was with her father as a child. The tape provides instructions on where to go and eventually leads her to a building with a mysterious door. Upon entering, it seems to lead her to another world. It cuts back to Carol's mother trying to call her cell phone, which Carol had left in her car. Carol comes across a figure sitting in a chair. The tape has her father state that he's glad she came "by [her] own free will" and, upon calling out to her father several times while crossing a white line to the house, is eventually frightened by a dark mysterious humanoid that roars back at her. The tape recorder and headphones fall to the ground and Carol subsequently disappears as the end of the tape continues saying "together" in her father's voice.

Halloween

Ian hosts an Internet sex service where he abuses his employees Holly, Bree and Serena. When he denies the girls' wishes to celebrate Halloween, and further attempts to rape Bree, the girls knock him out. Ian wakes up in his underwear with a car battery connected vibrator superglued up his anus and a laptop placed in front of him. The girls send messages to him through the laptop making demands that should he not fulfill them will be subjected to the vibrator. When they ask him to show them his vagina, he is confused. The girls slide a knife under the door and tell him to "Make it Hollow, Ian". After he does so, the girls turn up the battery's power and presumably kill him. The girls answer the door to Nancy, who Ian had called earlier, about the job. The girls explain that they are under new management and that Ian is no longer with the company due to "cutbacks".

Christmas

Pete Gunderson is late trying to buy virtual glasses for his son. A man before him buys them, but suddenly has a heart attack and can't reach his pills. Rather than help the man, Pete steals the glasses and rushes home. On Christmas day, Pete's son Bobby is over joyed. The glasses recreate your thoughts and ideas into a virtual game. Out of curiosity, Pete tries them and sees a stripper at first, but the virtual glasses suddenly show the events of him stealing the glasses from the man's point of view. Pete tries to hide what happened, but his wife, Sara, reveals that she saw the saved footage. Pete reveals that he is tired of being pushed upon by the holidays and that he just wanted to make it easier for himself. To his surprise, Sara is turned on by this and the two have sex. Later, Pete looks through the glasses again and discovers that Sara had tortured and killed her boss after he passed her over for a bonus.

New Year's Eve

After murdering his date, Reggie picks up another girl through a dating site, named Jean, and goes to meet with her for New Year's Eve. Their date is awkward, but the two seemingly click. They return to Jean's apartment and Reggie goes to the bathroom to wash up, though he's actually preparing to use chloroform on her. He checks the medicine cabinets and discovers that Jean keeps severed limbs and organs in jars. Suddenly, Jean rushes in with a fire axe and attacks Reggie, who further finds corpses in her bathtub. Reggie attempts to make it to the living room and has his foot severed by the axe. After making it to his bag he pulls out a revolver, but forgot to load it, resulting in Jean splitting his head open and killing him. As the New Year rings in, Jean dances with her axe.

Production

The project originated with John Hegeman and his Distant Corners Entertainment. Tim Connors and Adam Egypt Mortimer are also producing, as well as Kyle Franke and Aram Tertzakian from XYZ Films. Executive producers are Andrew Barrer and Gabe Ferrari, and Nate Bolotin and Nick Spicer of XYZ.[3]

Release

The film had its world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival on April 14, 2016.[4][1] Prior to, Vertical Entertainment and XYZ Films acquired worldwide distribution rights.[5] The film was released on April 15, 2016 through video on demand prior to a limited release on April 22, 2016.[6]

Reception

Film review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported an approval rating of 50%, based on 22 reviews, with a rating average of 5.7/10.[7]

References

  1. 1 2 "Holidays". TribecaFilm.com. Retrieved March 17, 2016.
  2. ↑ Cox, Gordon (March 14, 2016). "'Holidays' Horror Anthology Grabbed for Release In Advance of Tribeca Film Festival Premiere". Variety. Retrieved March 17, 2016.
  3. ↑ Tartaglione, Nancy. "Kevin Smith, Gary Shore & More Take 'Holidays' With XYZ Genre Anthology – Berlin". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved 2 February 2015.
  4. ↑ "TRIBECA 2016 ANNOUNCES LINEUPS FOR SPOTLIGHT, MIDNIGHT, SPECIAL SCREENINGS, AND TRIBECA/ESPN SPORTS FILM FESTIVAL". TribecaFilm.com. April 8, 2016. Retrieved March 17, 2016.
  5. ↑ Hipes, Patrick (March 14, 2016). "'Holidays' Horror Anthology Scares Up Deal & April Release Date". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved March 17, 2016.
  6. ↑ Cox, Gordon (March 14, 2016). "'Holidays' Horror Anthology Grabbed for Release In Advance of Tribeca Film Festival Premiere". Variety. Retrieved March 17, 2016.
  7. ↑ "Holidays (2016) - Rotten Tomatoes". Rotten Tomatoes.com. Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 18 April 2018.
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