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Tinsel
USA 2012
produced by Mikel Ledesma, Israel Marquez, Jon L. Yowell for Twisted L Films, Marquez Films, El Cascabel Studios
directed by Mikel Ledesma
starring Alisha Revel, Kensley Grant, Michael P Gardner, James DeWitt III, Jori Gill, Hollee McMurray, Tabitha Evans, Tylor West, Ebonee Pittman, Chance Gibbs, Nikki Bradley, Roni Hummel, Bryan Quinn, Mika Abdalla, Houston Ries, Jon L. Yowell, Sana Gill, Damien Ochoa, Katharine Franco
written by Kensley Grant, Mikel Ledesma, special effects makeup by Cody Cowan, Suzanne Rhodes
featurette
review by Mike Haberfelner
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Sarah (Alisha Revel) does not like tinsel, especially not on a
Christmas tree. That goes back to an urban legend-like story about the
tinsel killer: A young boy has gone bonkers after seeing his father
killing his mother, and the tinsel on the family tree had to do something
with it. Now the boy's all grown up ... As mentioned, this is an urban
legend, and yet Sarah has nightmares about the Tinsel Killer every
Christmas, and every year it gets worse. This year, while their parents
are out, she and her brother Matt (Kensley Grant) have decided to throw a
Christmas party for their friends - not a good idea, because at the party,
Sarah has a total mental breakdown, which not only destroys the good
Christmas mood, it actually creates a hostile situation ... because let's
face it, nobody believes in the Tinsel Killer. Then of course, a guy
with a distorted face and dressed in a Santa coat (Michael P Gardner)
shows up and starts killing Sarah's guests one by one by one by one, until
it's down to Sarah and Matt ... but would you believe it, the story takes
a turn for the worse right then and there ... I hope this
doesn't sound negative, because it isn't meant to be, but at it's running
time of about 35 minutes, the film is just as long or short as it's
supposed to be. Basically, the majority of the film plays another slight
variation on the slasher formula, and while it's really well-made and
features more interesting than usual characters, I wouldn't exactly
describe the film as overwhelmingly novel. But that said, it's short
enough and well-paced enough to bring the formula to full bloom before
becoming boring, repetitive or redundant. And then it features an actual
plottwist that gives the whole preceding story a whole different meaning -
which is something the genre unfortunately doesn't see all that often. Yeah,
recommended, actually!
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