In the realm of techno-terror “Robots go kill crazy” is basically a genre unto itself. When it comes to military robots run amok, “the list gets small there,” said director Joe Begos. “Small Soldiers might be the only one.”
Wait, what about Chopping Mall? “Yeah, that’s true,” he added. “And Virus.”
Begos sighed. “Virus is a terrible movie, but it’s the pinnacle of robot effects, and probably the best we’ll ever see, because nobody is ever going to put $100 million into a killer robot movie again.”
So, there may be a few rogue military bots, but a killer military robot turning into an unstoppable slasher at Christmas, dressed as Santa? That’s not just a small list, that’s the plot of Christmas Bloody Christmas (in theatres and streaming on Shudder now: read our review here). It’s the new slice of Santasploitation from Begos, the director of drugged-out art horror Bliss and scum vengeance blast FFW. Indeed, Begos called his new film “an amalgamation of the things I wanted to do in” in both films,” with the “straight pulpy action” of VFW mixed with Bliss‘ character-driven weirdness, “an experimental but very sensational indie movie where it’s following one character on her journey.”
It was also his opportunity to make what he called “a hangout movie.” Much of the first half of the film involves record store owner Tori (Riley Dandy) and her employee, Robbie (Sam Delich), shooting the shit about movies and music, unaware that a deranged mechanical monster (Abraham Benrubi) is butchering their friends and neighbors. “It’s a Richard Linklater movie for the first 40 minutes, and then it turns into a chase movie.”
That’s why the script is built for several scenes around Tori and Robbie drunkenly screaming at each other about which Earthless album is better out of From the Ages and Rhythms From a Cosmic Sky, the understated genius of the Unsolved Mysteries soundtrack, and the eternal debate: Pet Semetary versus Pet Semetary 2. “Honestly I didn’t expect the movie to get made,” Begos said, “and then it got made so fast and a few months later, we’re shooting in this shit that I wrote in my room at 4am and me and my friends are laughing about it because that’s how we talk.”
So much so that Begos admits that “both of these characters are elements of me. … So some of the opinions Tori has are things I hold true to my heart, and some of the things Sam says are true. So I don’t think Alien Covenant‘s the best Alien sequel. I do, however, think that Pet Semetary 2 and Blair Witch 2 are by the far most enjoyable entries in their retrospective franchises.”
But Christmas Bloody Christmas also has to deliver on the gore, and Begos said he relished the opportunity for that tonal change. “I love From Dusk Til Dawn, and how it becomes a different movies halfway through, and I wanted to do that with this movie. ‘What if it is a hangout movie, a Richard Linklater movie for metalheads, and then suddenly there’s a real $300,000 animatronic robot stomping through the snow on 16mm?’ I would just get excited about that. It’s like something you tell to your friends at a party and they go, ‘Ah, that will never get made.’ Oh, yeah, motherfucker?”
Of course, this means he had to create a truly terrifying Christmas killer. “I loved the idea of a Santa that was covered in blood,” said Begos. However, he didn’t want his killer robot to look like the Terminator, “because it’s an endoskeleton covered in skin.” Enter practical effects company Russell FX, who keyed in to Begos’ love of neon lighting by not just weaving lighting into the robotic understructure of the robot, “but making [the covering] translucent so you could see wire through it.”
But who would be the outside of this not-so-jolly Father Christmas? Begos automatically discounted the idea of using stunt performers “because all stunts guys are super-thin and athletic, and I don’t want that look.” Fat suits were off the table, because he wanted a genuine chubby St. Nick, so he was at a bit of a loss – until he started watching an imported Blu-ray of the Kevin Costner Western Open Range, starring his friend, actor Abraham Benrubi as poor, doomed cattle drover Mose. They’d already worked together, as Berubi “had taken a small role in Bliss because he loves my movies and he loves hanging out on set and bullshitting with us, and I was immediately like, ‘Holy shit, why wouldn’t I think of Abe as fucking Santa?'”
But Begos quickly second-guessed himself. After all, Benrubi is a respected character actor, beloved for many as gentle giant as Kube inParker Lewis Can’t Lose and as the amiable porter Jerry in ER. “Why would he want to play somebody who doesn’t talk for eight weeks on set for scale, but I called him the next day and he was super into it. And that’s the thing. He is such a great character actor that, even though he’s covered in a beard and hair, he can show that body movement.”
Additionally, Benrubi had that one quality that a great Santa requires. “He is a big motherfucker,” Begos said. “The way his skull is formed, with the big, giant eyebrows that come over, when you light him from overhead his eye sockets become dark. … And whatever characters are near him, you’re always shooting him at a low angle.”
Begos laughed. “Whether he likes it or not, he’s going to be a horror convention staple for the next phase of his career.”
Christmas Bloody Christmas is in cinemas now. Read our review and find showtimes here.
This article appears in December 9 • 2022.
