Australian director Alice Maio Mackay might only be nineteen, but she already has an enviable back catalogue of features and is somehow already on her fifth film. That film is the Yuletide treat, Carnage for Christmas, which pits a super sleuth podcaster against a devious Santa slasher killer.
Set in modern day Australia, Carnage for Christmas opens with true crime podcaster Lola (Jeremy Moineau) recording one last episode before returning to her hometown for the holidays. Having spent a number of years away from her closed minded childhood town, returning is a shock to the system. As she reconnects with her sister, Danielle (Dominique Booth), Lola finds herself drawn into a gruesome mystery involving the town’s notorious killer, the Toymaker. As the bodies mount up, Lola must utilise her hidden talents to solve the identity of the murderer, while trying to stay alive.
As with Mackay’s previous films, Carnage for Christmas is once again told from the perspective of the queer community. Mackay has been a fierce champion of trans creatives and Carnage for Christmas further pushes forwards her cause as she injects a trans angle to the mystery. Mackay is leading the charge of a new wave of filmmakers and, as her work to date has shown, there are plenty of stories to be told from this fresh perspective. Considering that this is Mackay’s fifth feature in three years, concerns could be raised about repetition due to exhaustion. Mackay allays these fears by ensuring that Carnage for Christmas is another film that feels entirely different to her other projects. There remains the connective tissue that binds them together, most notably another whip-sharp smart script, but each of Mackay’s movies have their own distinct identities.
For Carnage for Christmas Mackay expands her crew to include Vera Drew, of The People’s Joker fame, who joins in editing and VFX capacity. Drew is an excellent addition as her frenetic paced editing keeps the momentum of the story building nicely. More than just adding her editing flourishes, Drew also provides a nifty little animation sequence during which Lola recounts an early encounter with the creepy Toymaker. It’s an inventive way to tell a flashback and the drawings themselves conform to Drew’s signature style, but compliment Mackay’s script perfectly.
The Christmas setting is not leaned on as hard as other festive frights. Instead, outside of creep cryptic greetings cards and a Santa suit clad killer, there is little of the season on display. The spectrum for Christmas horror films is extensive with some spewing sugar plum fairies from every orifice, and others merely acknowledging the seasonal setting. Carnage for Christmas sits somewhere around the middle of the chart with key elements directly linked to the holiday, but without ramming it down the viewer’s throat. This makes Christmas for Carnage a holiday horror that can be easily enjoyed all year round.
Carnage for Christmas is one of Mackay’s most fun properties with Jeremy Moineau brilliant in the role of the horror genre’s answer to Jessica Fletcher. Moineau’s performance is fun and engaging and ensures that Lola is a lead character that the audience wants to invest their time and emotions into. The mystery elements of the plot blend with the horror components to create a story that keeps the viewer guessing till its final act reveal. In the kindest way, aspects of the narrative venture into Scooby Doo territory, a move that only serves to endear the film to the audience even more. Yet another fun and frenetic tale from Mackay, Carnage for Christmas has the trademark script and spirit that makes the Australian’s films so deliciously moreish.
Carnage for Christmas
Summary
At seventy minutes long, audiences can always rely on Mackay for a frenetic paced film as whiplash fast as the biting barbs dialogue.
Carnage for Christmas was reviewed at Fantasia 2024. It will next screen in the UK at Pigeon Shrine FrightFest.
