Don’t Open Till Christmas is a 1984 horror feature film.
The film took almost two years to complete after original director Edmund Purdom quit the job and Derek Ford (Corruption; The Urge to Kill) took over but was fired after two days. The distributors then hired Ray Selfe to complete the direction and Alan Birkinshaw (Killer’s Moon) to rewrite parts of the script, including the original ending and the London Dungeon sequence, and much of the footage was completely re-filmed.
The movie stars Edmund Purdom, Alan Lake, Belinda Mayne, Mark Jones, Gerry Sundquist and a cameo appearance by Caroline Munro. Derek Ford was one of the Santa victims.
A murderer is running loose through the streets of London, hunting down men dressed as Santa and killing them all in different, and extremely violent, fashions.
Inspector Harris (Edmund Purdom) has decided to take on the unenviable task of tracking down the psychopath, but he’s going to have his work cut out for him. Only the suspicious reporter, Giles, seems to offer the Inspector any promising leads…
Reviews:
“There isn’t much else to say about the plot here as the film is essentially a string of stalk and slash sequences, with guys in Santa outfits (and sometimes their attractive female companions) getting offed via a skull-piercing spear, wire strangulation, a knifing in a p*rno booth, a knife shoe swiped out of From Russia with Love, and an infamous bloody-spraying scene at a urinal you have to see for yourself.” Nathaniel Thompson, Mondo Digital
“It’s truly a gruesome bit of nastiness. Randall was one of the true kings of exploitation and here, in one of his final productions, he lets it all hang out. By no means does that make the film good; indeed, it’s barely watchable. But if you like the idea of the red stuff making Santa’s suits even redder, you’ll get it here in spades.” Daryl Lewis DVD Verdict
Buy: Don’t Open Till Christmas [DVD] [1984] [US Import]
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