Ocular Migraine brings the holiday cheer with the digital debut of Aaron Mento’s Ugly Sweater Party on Amazon Instant Video. Mento both wrote and directed the horror comedy massacre that has a stocking stuffed full of horror favorites, including Felissa Rose (Sleepaway Camp,) Sean Whalen (The People Under the Stairs,) and Charles Chudabala (Death House). From the press release:
“On Christmas Eve at a campsite deep in the woods, an ugly sweater party is in full swing. Best friends Cliff and Jody arrive expecting some mistletoe action from the sexy twins who invited them, but soon realize that they are at a Bible camp. To make matters worse, Cliff is wearing a sweater possessed by the ghost of notorious serial killer Declan Rains.
While the evil sweater slowly possesses Cliff, Jody also realizes that the party guests aren’t as innocent as they first seem. In fact, every camper holds a dark secret that infuses the party with dangerous sexual tension. Just when the pressure between campers reaches a fever pitch, Cliff falls victim to the bloodthirsty rage of the diabolical sweater and a new nightmare begins.”
First off, be prepared to mess with your volume. The version I watched was a bit quiet, but eventually I was able to find a decent balance at nearly 100% volume on my television. Not that dialogue really matters in Ugly Sweater Party, you are there for the gore. Sean Whalen gives an enjoyable performance as Declan Rains, haunting and possessing the screen and its unwitting characters. Felissa Rose is also a treat as Mrs. Mandix (Yes, you did read that correctly) whose camp counselor husband is too busy wanting to bang the Christ into some bodybuilder partygoers to notice that she is horndogging the other campers.
This film would fit right in with a Troma-style crowd, meaning that it really has no budget, barely a plot, and focuses on blunt gags and tons of blood to keep you interested. If that is your type of gig, then by all means run with Ugly Sweater Party and never look back. It’s rude, crude, and cheap, and it makes no apologies for it. The simple fact that Felissa Rose is in this, running a “Christ Camp” of all things, gives me no small amount of joy. Rose is extremely underrated for her talent and comedic timing, and so whenever she is onscreen, it is a great performance and a good time. No one performance in this film is bad, mind you – the cast commits and gives their all to their performances creating the over-the-top reality that is the only way to save the flick from its own certain death.
The film runs like a constant stream of Youtube videos sewn together, making it a meta-ugly sweater of its own. And although the story is based around an ugly sweater party, nothing about the setting feels like Winter to me, not even in Riverside, California. That doesn’t deter the killer or his magical sweater, though. Ultimately, if you are into horror exploitation films, you’ve come to the right place. You’ve seen the jokes before. You’ve seen the characters before in dozens of other movies, with dozens of other actors playing them. Despite the fresh idea of it being a Christmas sweater that causes all the carnage, you have seen this film before. Movies like this have existed since slasher movies splashed their first gallon of blood on the screen. The heart is there, but this film would be better considered as an homage to slash schlock than an original film.
Ugly Sweater Party is available on Amazon Instant Video now.
