Ugly Sweater Party wraps you up in a blizzard of blood

Ugly Sweater Party is the horror event of the season. Deck the halls with bowels and holly, ’tis the season to be gory.

Ugly Sweater Party begins on Christmas Eve when convicted murderer and Satanist Declan Rains (Sean Whalen) is beaten to death by a detective while wearing an ugly Christmas sweater. However this Christmas sweater has a weird Iron Man like chest piece of a Satanic pentagram that glows. Before he is killed Rains, as is typical in films of this nature proclaims he will return as his blood is spilled and soaked up by his sweater.

10 years later friends Jody and Cliff are invited to a party at a camp by promiscuous twins. Before they arrive at the party, they realize that this event is supposed to be an ugly sweater party. Luckily they come across an old homeless man and they pay for his sweater.

You guessed it, it’s the sweater Declan Rains died in. To make matters worse when they get to the camp for the party they find it to be a bible camp, and the formerly promiscuous twins are now born again virgins.

Furthermore, complicating matters is Cliff who is now possessed by Declan Rains/Satan. Then the Christmas carnage really begins.

Maybe I’m biased because of my well known love of Holiday themed horror films, but Ugly Sweater Party made me feel like a kid about to see Santa. It’s a bloody hilarious Holiday horror hit.  It’s a gritty throwback to the kind of grind house horror films you only used to see at Drive In theaters.

Will Ugly Sweater win any Oscars? Probably not, but sometimes a film just needs to be fun. It is a bit strange seeing a Christmas horror film without a winter setting, but it didn’t detract from the experience as much as I thought it would.

Horror veterans Sean Whalen and Felissa Rose are great as always. Whalen plays the demonic Declan with maniacal zeal. With that said, there are a few  fresh faces that deserve much praise. Hunter Johnson (Jody) and Charles Chudabala (Cliff) have a wonderful chemistry the likes of Jay and Silent Bob or Bill and Ted with great comedic timing. Lara Jean plays Hanna a precognitive who serves as an unwilling hero who is only there because she is accused of witchcraft.

My favorite part of Ugly Sweater Party most of all is the effects. There is no lame CGI here. It’s all Troma-esque levels of practical effects.

If you’re a fan of over the top movies with buckets of blood then give yourself an early Christmas gift with Ugly Sweater Party exclusively on Amazon Instant Video starting November 23rd.

Will you get wrapped up in Ugly Sweater Party? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.