I actually aim to be encouraging to be encouraging towards films with my comments, summaries and ratings, but only ones that really deserve it. The 12 Disasters of Christmas doesn't deserve it for me, it is one of those movies where a movie title is spot on in summing up the quality of the film. The 12 Disasters are not of Christmas or the disasters depicted in the movie to me, more like the 12 main disasters that contribute to the overall disaster that is this movie. List of disasters in regard to this regard(in no particular order):
Disaster #1- In regard to the special effects I wasn't expecting great ones considering the term low-budget. I did want to see some kind of effort, which is not what I got with The 12 Disasters of Christmas. These ones look really cheap and perhaps even unfinished, again not unexpected, but seriously these are among the worst I've seen in a while.
Disaster #2- The editing is very choppy. It does little to make the scenery and such interesting or striking to look at. But it also manages to actually make the effects even cheaper than they already are.
Disaster #3- All of the acting is poor. Everybody seems really bland, the very worst could be described as non-existent, and never once is there a sense of genuine peril or terror.
Disaster #4- A complete lack of atmosphere. Any scenes that mean to indicate any signs of suspense or a sense of genuine horror at the perilous predicaments fail completely.
Disaster #5- Which leads directly onto the story. Pacing-wise you know a film is dull when nothing compelling of the kind happens. To further disadvantage things, there is also nothing that comes across as a surprise, it is riddled with predictability that you know exactly what is going to happen throughout. It also suffers from taking itself far too seriously.
Disaster #6- There is some really awful writing in The 12 Disasters of Christmas. The whole dialogue throughout the entire movie is awkward and cheesy, and made even worse by the uninvolved line delivery of the actors. There are also far too many biblical references and names that are both poorly placed and very poorly researched.
Disaster #7- If you are looking for any likable characters, don't look for them here. And let's forget for a moment that the characters and many of the situations are clumsy and overused stereotypes. These characters are either obnoxious or non-descript and are nowhere near developed enough. Consequently I didn't care for them or their situation at all.
Disaster #8- Coming from somebody who has started a degree in music(vocal studies to be exact), I always do look for good music. And was the music good here? Not to me it wasn't. It wasn't the case for me of it being badly composed, it just came across as generic with a sluggish tempo, making the movie even duller for my tastes.
Disaster #9- With low-budget disaster movies and if you have seen enough, you are probably accustomed to some questionable science and geography. But you will be in for a shock at how many of these errors there are in The 12 Disasters of Christmas and how pushed to the limit of stupidity they are brought to.
Disaster #10- Likewise with the music, this movie has some lame sound effects as well. More often they are overbearing and bizarre even, but what is even more frustrating is that the suspense is partly ruined by the sound effects literally sounding out whether something bad or out of the ordinary is going to happen.
Disaster #11- The directing feels very flat here, breathing no life or energy to the proceedings. There is no sense of individual style or feel of the disaster movie genre as well.
Disaster #12- Bad pacing, it's all very leaden and lifeless, so everything underwhelms whereas it should thrill or shock.
So in conclusion, disastrous. If you do decide to see this movie, do make sure that you do watch it before Christmas(despite the title), otherwise you'll find yourself a Scrooge overnight. 0/10 Bethany Cox
6 out of 11 found this helpful.
Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink