When we went through our first holiday season during the pandemic, I decided to do an advent calendar of alternative Christmas movies. I planned on following that up in 2021 but I just ran out of time, so I wanted to circle back to my follow-up idea.
On the first day of Christmas…
Slay Belles (2018)
Directed by: Dan Walker | Writers: Jessica Luhrssen, Dan Walker
Stars: Barry Bostwick, Kristina Klebe, Susan Slaughter
It’s Christmas Eve, and three cosplaying women come across the malevolent Christmas demon Krampus. The girls must team up with Santa Claus himself to battle the creature and save the world.
-IMDB
As I was compiling my list a couple of years ago, this is one that didn’t make the Alternative Christmas movies list but I set it aside for this specific occasion. Slay Belles is exactly what it looks and sounds like, and that’s a good thing!
If I remember correctly, a group of cosplay/influencers head to a run-down Santa’s Village-style attraction that is believed to be abandoned. They call it “urban exploring” but they get a lot more than they ever could have imagined as they stumble across the anti-Santa entity known as Krampus.
As they try to escape, they find themselves in a cabin that looks very much lived in. That’s when the real Santa magically appears from the chimney and fills the ladies in on the truth behind the legends of the holiday. Flanked by continued police incompetence, Santa and the trio team up to take down Krampus and stop him from ruining Christmas with a killing spree. This is exactly what I want out of a B-movie. It’s good, old-fashioned, dumb fun but there is also more quality than you’d probably expect.
The Krampus creature design is quite good. Considering that this is clearly made on a low budget, Dan Walker and the production team made sure to get that part right. I don’t know if it was costume designer Julia Chase and makeup artist Erika Nunez or Mike Rotella and Josh Wasylink who did sculpting and painting, but it turned out a better-looking Krampus than other movies more centrally focused on the character. Special effects creator/designer Vincent J. Guastani did a great job with the practical effects here too and gave it a classic horror vibe in that way.
Ultimately, it’s not a horror film so much as it’s a comedy with horror elements and you can see it in how Kristina Klebe, Susan Slaughter, and Hannah Minx play the triplet of friends who set things in motion, to begin with. They have fun with it and we are never taking them fully seriously either, which lets you just have fun with it. Barry Bostwick is a pretty funny, biker-esque version of Santa too.
Recommendation: If you are looking for something that’s the antithesis of the generic Hallmark-style Christmas movies that get pumped out every year, add this to your list.
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