Treevenge (2008) User Reviews

Amusing comedy horror spoof.

[poolandrews · 6/10 · 17 July 2009]

Treevenge is set during the restive season of Christmas as gangs of men armed with axes & chainsaws chop down innocent trees to satisfy the public demand for floral festive decorations. However this year the trees are fighting back, they don't want to be chopped down, taken from their home, covered in tinsel & stared at. This year they want some revenge...

This Canadian production was co-written & directed by Jason Eisener & is a 16 ish minute short horror comedy spoof with an amusing plot that just about works. Treevenge is an absurd film played for laughs with an amusing plot that sets the story up by showing the suffering the common tree goes through at Christmas as it is chopped down, stuck the back of a van, sold & finally decorated. The trees here are alive & speak to each other (visualised on screen with subtitles) & while I found it impossible to sympathise with a tree the makers do their best to paint the trees as scared victims, cut down, kidnapped & abused! Then of course the much used narrative where someone has the tables turned on them in a gruesome way is used here as the trees take their revenge against humanity. Treevenge is obviously not a film to be taken seriously, it's short but is memorable & has a decent story that is fairly amusing in itself. Treevenge isn't brilliant, it's not deep or meaningful & there's not much to it but for what it is it's a neat little film. Certainly worth watching if your in the mood for something a little silly but also gory & short.

The makers are obviously horror fans themselves as there are numerous homages & references to the genre including a Cannibal Holocaust (1980) style opening, some City of the Living Dead (1980) bleeding eyes & even a Zombi 2 (1979) style eye piercing. The production values are quite high & it looks decent enough, the special make-up & gore effects are good with chopped off legs, poked out eyes, a babies head is crushed (an unnecessary scene not in keeping with the comical tone of the rest of the film), impaled necks, dead cats & lots of blood splatter.

I believe that Treevenge is available online at various sites for free, well at least that's how I saw it anyway so if you are on your lunch-break with twenty minutes to spare then check this out. Although make sure the volume on your computer is turned down as there's a fair bit of profanity in it. A fun short worth a quarter of an hour of anyones time, worth watching.

Sucks Being A Tree on Christmas

[TerenceAaron · 8/10 · 28 February 2011]

*Originally written for Screened.com*

Have you ever thought how does it feels being chopped, sliced and decorated as Christmas tree? No? Well, neither do I. This movie how ever centers around a bunch of trees that somehow gained consciousness. We see from their perspective how horrible Christmas is to them and how the "things" (humans) treat them cruelly.

The trees then dissatisfied and in agony, decide to strike revenge onto us puny humans, sending the movie into a plethora of gore and madness, ensuring you the most brutal Christmas Tree related movie ever. This is definitely Grindhouse material. It's ridiculous, silly and it's self aware of it. Beware as this movie is not for the squeamish.

The acting is totally over the top and suits the cheesy-ness of the film and it is done perfectly. We never know the names of the humans as they considered animals by these trees so not much development comes from them. What's interesting is that we feel the agony of the trees while watching. The high pitch alien-esque voices of the trees actually is well played and we can actually sympathize them while laughing at the same time.

I will never see Christmas trees the same anymore. Maybe this movie is an allegory (see what I did?) for the destruction of nature did by man kind or how badly man kind has taken little things for granted. Maybe it's just a fun film full of gory fun but what ever message you find here, you will start pitying the trees after this and think twice of chopping down a tree.

Ridiculously Funny Short Film!

[gwnightscream · 6/10 · 23 December 2019]

This 2008 horror comedy is a 16 minute short film focusing on Pine trees that are alive and seek bloody revenge on the townsfolk that cut them down, sell them and decorate them in their homes. This is a ridiculously funny flick that kind of pays homage to b-movies and the last 10 minutes are worth the wait.

from the director of Hobo With A Shotgun...

[Quinoa1984 · 10/10 · 26 July 2009]

Sit back, relax, and enjoy Treevenge for all its bloody goodness. It's a "they fight back" saga that one hasn't really seen before, unless perhaps one is so well versed in Troma knowledge that they could dig up an example and look like the smarty-pants of the room. But for the moment, I can't think of another example of photosynthetic comeuppance aside from this, where trees cut in the forest are cut down for Christmas, and fight back against their 'owners'. It's got subtitled tree dialog. It's got dumb-s*** humans in the sticks and trailer parks and homes. It's got so much blood you'd think that the blood coordinator from Dead-Alive stopped by to pitch in on the fun. And it's so much fun, on both an intellectual level and on that visceral bloody-fun level that only the best in Troma can bring out (or just creative comedy horror in general) can bring out. It also reveals that Jason Eisner, the director and also the force behind the little-seen Grindhouse trailer (only shown in Canada with the Rodriguez/Tarantino film but also infamous online), has a real potential career ahead of him. What Treevenge exactly spells of it I can't say with the best crystal ball. But there will be something, with blood perhaps.

Brilliant, Gross, Shocking and Hilarious.

[vince_cadena · 10/10 · 13 July 2009]

If you haven't seen this short, do yourself a favor and go watch it online. I just went on Joblo.com and I noticed they had posted this short and being that it's from the people that brought us Hobo with a Shotgun, I had to check it out. It's about 16 minutes long and it works in two ways being a parody of slasher movies from the 70s and 80s and actually being a gory comedy/horror film, it totally accomplishes both. I really don't want to give away too much because there are a few moments that will shock the hell out of you and make you laugh at the same time. Basically it's about Christmas trees that take their revenge on humans on Christmas day. The set up works extremely well for the gory payoff in the third act. Being a fan of The Canadian show Trailer Park Boys I was extremely happy to see Sarah Dunsworth and Johnathan Torrens(aka J-roc) in this. This is a really entertaining short, it's very funny and I loved the Fulci-esquire gore. My favorite line "It's Christmas and I wanna f*ck!". I really hope to see more from these filmmakers, excellent work.

Amusing But A Little Too Camp To Be A Total Success

[Theo Robertson · 6/10 · 28 July 2010]

TREEVENGE is a short horror spoof by Jason Eisener set at Christmas time where conifer trees decide they're enjoying Christmas as much as turkeys do and decide to strike back at the human race and one can't help thinking if Eisener has been influenced by The Christmas Invasion episode of DOCTOR WHO which also involved a Christmas tree taking on a life of its own ?

Certainly there's much to indicate the influence of THE EVIL DEAD films where eyeballs pop out and other over the top blood splattered deaths take place but this seems slightly at odds with a scene set in a van transporting the trees which makes clear allusions to Jews being sent on trains to Nazi death camps

There's a constant feel of high camp running throughout this short which is probably to its detriment , especially where the human characters are concerned . Of course the whole premise of trees having a revolt is pure nonsense but one can't help thinking the director doesn't want to upset the audience too much seeing as both a baby and a family cat are cruelly butchered by the trees and therefore takes away any accusation of bad taste by turning up the camp factor , but I would have preferred a slightly more menacing tone to TREEVENGE

The Great Canadian Christmas-Trees-Take-Revenge Short

[rakehellrow · 10/10 · 19 July 2009]

Great from the opening shots to the last. A very inventive, well executed Christmas tale that turns into a complete gorefest (Christmas trees take bloody revenge).

Within 16 minutes, writer/director Jason Eisener, goes from the process of getting Christmas Trees from the field to the seller to the buyer to the 'Treevenge', establishing some key characters along the way, which makes the revenge that much sweeter.

Eisener sets the tone right off the bat: from the peacefulness of the snowy-topped forest to the axe that wields into frame shortly thereafter... quite humorous throughout, and the liveliness of the trees - dialogue, movements,panic, etc... is a lot of fun. Some great shots and lines, with tones of Sam Raimi and Italian Horror spurting out here, there, and everywhere. One of the best short films I've seen in a while, can't wait to see what Eisener does next.

Fun Troma-like Christmas Andidote that Pulls No Punches!

[fishermensmell · 6/10 · 13 December 2020]

This is a very silly film, but if you're in the mood it delivers in spades! It really builds up to the anticipated "treerevenge" of Christmas trees fighting back, and when that moment finally comes the film-makers go all-out delivering some shocking but hilarious kills! Everything goes completely OTT, which I think is how you have to approach making a film like this. The last kill has you thinking "are they really going to go there...?" And yes, they do - in explosive fashion. Some of the gore effects are kind of hokey, but everyone involved seems to be aware of this and so they play around with that for laughs.

This would definitely make a fantastic break from the usual Christmas films, so why not pop it on on Christmas Day and offend the whole family!

Well, now at least we know...

[shroyerw-1 · 10/10 · 17 September 2010]

...what happened to the Entwives. :-) If you've never heard of the Ents from "Lord of the Rings", you won't catch the reference but if you have, that should say it all. ;-)

Seriously though, this was a very cute short. It's not exactly "family friendly" though - 2 f-bombs that I caught, though that and the gore is the worst of it. It's the kind of movie you wouldn't expect anyone to take seriously enough to put as much effort and work into as these people did. I mean sure, it's not "Casablanca" or even "Killer Clowns from Space", but everything was pretty neat & tidy & put together quite well. I think they should do a sequel - perhaps something where they show the trees in the forest with humans decorated for a tree holiday by a human- fed fire - I mean, there are so many directions one could take a stint like this. Seriously dudes, make a sequel! I think I see "cult favorite" in your future! ;-)

What to Say... It's Everything it Could Be and That's Enough

[leoocampo · 7/10 · 29 December 2022]

What to say about this short film? Sometimes you see something and immediately feel like you know exactly what it is, what it aspires to be, and how you'll feel about it and this was that for me. I didn't even see a trailer, I just heard of the movie in passing, looked it up and read the tag line and felt as sure I knew what I was in for as I did when I first read a description of what poutine was on a menu and decided to order it. No surprises, no regrets.

This is as low budget as low budget gets and the short runtime really helps... there's not much more investment here and so there's no need to sit through obligatory character development and story exposition when neither of those things really matter... this is high concept stuff that begins and ends with a darkly funny, entertaining premise. And then delivers exactly that, with just the right amount of campiness. There's some satisfying gore at the end and a little bit of over the top shock-horror in the way that a bit of sugar helps the medicine go down. It's grotesque and absurd, but in service of the grotesquely absurd premise itself. And so it all comes full circle in the end and the ends here definitely justify the means. My first thought upon completing my viewing of this was the people I immediately wanted to share this with, to share some dark chuckles and revel in the irreverence of it all.

Could this be an addition to my regular holiday rotation? Maybe! It's short enough that it doesn't require much justification and the payoff is just a lot of fun counter-cultural and subversive joy in seeing another perverse, but tightly conveyed, distortion of the typical holiday tropes.

A hilarious and ingenious Christmas horror comedy short

[Woodyanders · 9/10 · 25 December 2013]

A bunch of terrified and infuriated sentient pine trees decide to strike back against the cruel and evil humans who have chopped them down to use as Christmas trees for the yuletide season. Director Jason Eisener, who also co-wrote the clever script with Rob Cotterill, maintains a zippy pace throughout, milks loads of sidesplitting sick laughs from the uproariously twisted sense of inspired black humor, and delivers plenty of hysterically excessive over-the-top graphic gore (among the grisly highlights are eyes getting gouged out, a man having one of his legs cut off, and a Christmas star being tossed into a guy's throat). Moreover, this honey warrants extra praise not only for its no-holds-barred attitude towards the loopy subject matter (a cute little cat, several kids, and even a crying baby all get gruesomely killed!), but also for the brilliantly subversive way in which people are made to seem like despicable monsters -- the chortling lumberjacks in particular are shown as total psychos wielding axes and chainsaws -- while the trees come across as pitiable and confused frightened victims (they actually speak in subtitles, too!). Great homages to the Lucio Fulci Italian splatter classics "Zombi 2" and "The Gates of Hell," too. An absolute riot!

Takes too long to get going

[Horst_In_Translation · 4/10 · 11 September 2015]

"Treevenge" is a 16-minute movie from 7 years ago written and directed by Jason Eisener. His most famous work so far is probably "Hobo with a Shotgun" starring Rutger Hauer. This one here is among his earlier works and as you may have guessed from the title, it is a (Christmas) tree revenge movie. It is basically what you would expect as such, nothing more nothing less. The bad thing is that this one runs for 14 minutes only without credits and it takes 10.5 minutes of introduction until the trees finally take revenge. Not acceptable in my opinion. 4 minutes introduction, 4 minutes gore would have been perfectly appropriate. The way it is here, you are already half asleep when this film finally gains real steam. When it does, it's good, but with all the boredom of the first minutes, I cannot recommend it to anybody except serious horror movie fans. thumbs down.

My Favorite Christmas Horror Film

[subjectivecuriosities · 10/10 · 4 February 2021]

Typically the only Christmas movies I watch are horror films & although Treevenge is short it is my favorite of the subgenre. The premise is simple but the execution is sublime. The first half of the film is spent showing the horror pine trees experience every Christmas season & the second half shows what happens when the trees have had enough. The film follows the trees as they're cut down by surly lumberjacks who excessively express their hatred of the trees in every possible way including bodyslams. Following being removed from their homes we see the terror the trees experience as they are transported to Christmas tree lots & taken home by obliviously cruel human families. The film does a great job of showing the juxtaposition between the happy holiday celebrating families & the terror filled trees on Christmas Eve night. On Christmas morning the trees have had enough & all hell breaks loose. One of the biggest faults I find in contemporary films is the way in which so little of the action itself is shown, just as we're about to see the event the whole film is leading up to the camera will cut away, the events are merely discussed while never taking place on screen. Treevenge is the antidote to that anticlimax. Scene after scene of creative over the top campy gore is shown. This entire film has the tone of just the right amount of self awareness without so much winking at the audience that it ruins itself. From a dead pet to a dead baby there is no holding back as the tree uprising utilizes equal cruelty that was brought upon them by the Christmas tree trade. Director & Writer Jason Eisener and Writer Rob Cotterill met on the set of the TV show Trailer Park Boys (2001) resulting in lots of familiar casting. Jonathan Torrens & Sarah Dunsworth play the parents of a family celebrating christmas with joy in one moment & bloodshed in another. Cory Bowles & John Dunsworth are credited as voicing the trees. I featured this movie on s01e01 of subjective curiosities because of how much I enjoy it.

A modern cult classic

[videogasp · 10/10 · 16 August 2017]

The festive film begins with a bunch of chlorophyll-thirsty manic lumberjacks, slashing and cutting their way into a neighbourhood of firs. Small children, parents and grandparents are violently torn from their roots. We see and listen all of this from the tree's perspective, we are watching from their eyes (?) and listening from their ears (??). Another proof that plants have feelings. You could say that "Treevenge" is based on true events. Every year just before Christmas, a genocide happens in every Christian country of the world. Millions of firs are been viciously mutilated on the altar of profit.

This year things will be different though. On Christmas Eve a miracle will happen, the vengeful spirit of Christmas will possess the homes of Christian families, and in particular their Christmas trees. On Christmas day, when children gather under the balls (the Christmas balls) to open their presents, the trees will also give them a present, a slow, painful and above all funny death. The firs will get their hardwood revenge on literally everyone in the most festive way! What the trees have been through at the beginning of the film, the humans will at the end of it. Buckets of blood, dark humour, practical effects and a soundtrack straight from the 80's, including the opening theme from Cannibal Holocaust! Blast from the past.

For a more detailed review of this check out my blog videogasp.blogspot.com

can we kill them

[jarelalo · 8/10 · 1 December 2020]

Now while i was terrified and loved it, what i wanna know is can we kill the trees? i mean we see a man shooting at them and he seems to kill on, and i know that many people are thinking now that they would just take our weapons away and use them on us, as proven when we see four trees kill a man by cutting off his limbs with axes. but think about how confusing our best weapons are to use with all the new switches and levers and buttons they now require, if the people in this video knew what was going to happen they would by all the flamethrowers and chainsaws and lawnmower they could and start killing them, and the thing is the people in the video out number the trees in the massacre scene, one tree per every like 4-2 people, the only reason they really killed all those people is because the took them all by surprise and every one was panicking cause they had no clue what was happening even if it seemed like some people knew what was happening. sorry if it sounds like i'm complaining i loved it, i'm just the type of person who likes to imagine new scenarios of everything.

Wtf

[DuskShadow · 2/10 · 24 December 2018]

Terrible.

I wish imdb would allow just a few words, but...here goes: Basically as the story says this was about trees and revenge, but even for a short, by now there should have been a "feature length film" version of this. Even low quality thankskilling got a few movies, ( which were b grade awesome!). NOt a total loss though, cause now I know FER SURE that chopping trees down is gods will. :P