Review of Holidays (2016) by Brett B — 29 Apr 2016

The beauty of an anthology is that if you get a segment that's a clunker, there's always a chance that the next one up will be more impressive, and if the number of good segments outweighs the number of bad segments, all is well.

In the case of HOLIDAYS, there is definitely more good than bad, and even the weakest stories are (at the very least) interesting misfires. The movie is conceptually fantastic, with the binging gimmick being very strong and offering a tremendous and rather extraordinary variety; by no means are all of the segments incredible, but there's a freshness and diversity to the overall experience that makes the movie a truly entertaining watch.

Now, most of the stories contained in HOLIDAYS skew more towards the lighter end of the horror spectrum, with a sense of cheeky playfulness permeating the mayhem, and a few even go further into outright silly territory; that said, the Easter story, for example (which is patently goofy on its face) still contains imagery that is flat-out disturbing.

Despite the sum total package being lighter and more humorous than one might expect, the strongest segment by far is the one which plays things the straightest - the Father's Day story. This one is an all time great anthology segment, inventive and ambiguous and ways that truly suck you in as a viewer, and featuring the most emotionally affecting character work of any of the stories.

Even if all the other segments were crappy (and, really, they're not), HOLIDAYS would be essential viewing for "Father's Day," which is as haunting and eerie as one could hope for. All of the sections are backed by strong scores, with several sporting a 1980s-style throwback sound of the John Carpenter/Tangerine Dream sort.

Again, the movie overall is a bit uneven, but with 8 segments, you're getting a nice bang for your buck, as well as the instant classic that is "Father's Day.".