This is a movie that I got the chance to see via a screener thanks to Justin Cook. Now the title made me think of Christmas Bloody Christmas, so I wouldn't be shocked to learn they're playing off that. Seeing that this was an Easter horror movie and reading the press release, I decided to give this a watch. It also doesn't hurt that this is a 2024 horror film either.
Synopsis: a woman must protect her small town from the Jackalope and his army of devilish bunnies as they embark on a murder spree over the Easter weekend.
We are following Jeanie Cooper (Diane Foster). She's been struggling since her husband, Lance (D'Andre Noiré), left. There's more to what happened there, but he has just disappeared. To cope with this, she turns to drinking. Her friend Carol (Kelly Grant) is trying to get her out of her funk by having her come to church.
It is there that we meet Mary Lou (Allison Lobel). She's the head of the committee setting up the upcoming Easter celebration. She is insufferable as well. She is friends with Sally (Caitlin Oden) and Beatrice Bunny (Levi Austin Morris). Sally does the work without the credit. Getting everything ready is stressing out Mary Lou, who takes it out on her husband, Eugene (Miles Cooper).
Something I left out though, there is an opening scene where a couple of teens were going to have sex in a storage room in the church. They were attacked by a creature, killing them both. This area turns out to have a legend about the Jackalope (Jamie B. Cline) attacking people around Easter. No one believes it anymore and the supposed attacks all happened about 150 years ago. The only one who does is a conspiracy theorist named Sam (Zach Kanner). He tells the history that this entity is a shapeshifter, like a werewolf. To become cursed, you need to bite it. This entity can also control rabbits as well.
Jeanie gets called out by the sheriff, played by Richard Rivera, to the outskirts of town. Lance's truck was found with blood, fur and an Easter egg on the dashboard. She turns to Sam as she knows something nefarious has happened. There are other attacks around town. Carol and then Megan (Zuri Starks), who also believes, try to help Jeanie. First, they want to stop the Easter events, but the sheriff and Mayor Lou (Adam Slemon) ignore them. As the bodies mount though, there isn't much that they can do. They need to find out who Jackalope is and stop them before it is too late.
That is where I'll leave my recap and introduction to the characters. Where I want to start is that this is a fun movie that you're not supposed to take seriously. There are comedic elements used throughout. When the Jackalope controls rabbits, they're stuffed animals with glowing eyes. What I do like though is that there are serious aspects here as well. While watching this, it struck me that we're getting a combination of Jaws meeting Silver Bullet.
Let me then start delving more into what we're getting here. This takes place in a small town in Texas. That makes sense with how religious these people are, being in the bible belt. What I love there is that this is also poking fun at how they're violating their own religion. Mary Lou is lustful toward Lance. She is also prideful. The minister of the town is drinking. They also have murders happening and they won't postpone the events. This feels like Jaws where the town won't shut down the beaches, despite that leading to more attacks. It is putting people together here so the Jackalope can attack.
I did find it hilarious that this is what the monster is here. My first introduction to this animal was through my uncle who likes to see how far he can run with a joke. He has a rabbit with antlers mounted on his wall and he tried to get me to believe that it was real. I like the back-story that we learn where the original attacks were done by a person who made a deal with Satan to ensure that the Easter events happened. In turn, she was changed into this beast. They went practical with the look for the most part. I do like that the antlers are used in at least one attack. This shifts to Silver Bullet here where Megan has a rabbit's foot on a necklace. She claimed it was from a Jackalope. This gives Jeanie the idea that they're looking for someone missing a foot. We learn that when a limb is removed, this monster can regenerate it. It would take time to grow back though, making me think of how they figured out who the werewolf was in that other movie. This doesn't necessarily pay off like I would have hoped, but I still like it to progress story elements.
Then to finish my thoughts on the story, I thought that what they do there is fine. My problem will pull in filmmaking as this runs too long. I saw that this is running at 105 minutes. About 8 of those are credits, bringing this closer to an hour and half. I think this would be better to be about 80. There are a few scenes where a band or someone is singing that I don't know if we need. This hooks me with the opening kill and then I'm there for the mystery. The problem is that the climax takes too long to get it. I think just trimming it a bit would help it run tighter.
Let's then go through the rest of the filmmaking. The cinematography is fine here. They do well to hide things when it comes to practical effects, which works. I did find it funny that all the normal rabbits that are being controlled are stuff animals with glowing eyes. We get decent gore from attacks done by the Jackalope. I did like the practical approach to the monster. My only issues with the effects come from the use of blood spray with CGI. I'm not a fan there. Other than that, the soundtrack is fine. There is a live band that is playing a couple of songs that fit what was needed. We also get Foster singing late in the movie. She has a good voice.
All that is left then is acting. What works best here is characters being suspicious or creepy that made me think they could be this creature. It is a shapeshifter so that makes sense. Foster is good as our lead. She turns to drinking to cope with Lance leaving which in turn causes her to blackout and not remember things. That could make her the Jackalope. Grant is good as her friend. Lobel is great as this church going woman who doesn't fully follow the religion. I did like that she wrote this and it is intentional for the character. Starks is solid as this hunter of the creature. Noiré, Kanner, Cooper, Gavin K Lee, Slemon, Oden and the rest of the cast rounded this out for what was needed. Credit to Cline for being inside of the Jackalope costume.
In conclusion, I'm not necessarily the target audience. That's not to say that I didn't have a good time here. This does well in bringing the horror while blending it with comedy. I'm just not the biggest fan there since I think we get more of the latter. I did like the mythology that they introduced. It does well in sticking to that as well, especially where things end up. The acting was solid in bringing these characters to life. This is made well enough. I'm not going to harp there since this is working with a lower budget. Using stuffed rabbits was funny. The look of the Jackalope was good. It is on the cheap side but there's charm by doing it practically. Not one that I could recommend to everyone. You need to enjoy comedy/horror. This is one to watch with friends with drinks or if you're into this lower budget stuff.
My Rating: 5 out of 10.
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