You Better Watch Out (1980)
Genre: Horror / Thriller
Duration: 100 minuten
Alternative titles: Christmas Evil / Terror in Toyland
Country:
United States
Directed by: Lewis Jackson
Stars: Brandon Maggart, Jeffrey DeMunn and Dianne Hull
IMDb score:
5,6 (9.861)
Releasedate: 1 November 1980
You Better Watch Out plot
"Better Watch Out... Better Not Cry... Or You May DIE!"
As a boy, he absolutely loved Christmas. However, when he used to hear that Santa Claus is not real, he became terrified of it. He is now a man, and a toymaker by trade. He becomes obsessed with the behavior of children and the quality of his toys and starts killing.
Actors and actresses
Harry Stadling
Philip Stadling
Jackie Stadling
Dennis Stadling
Marc Stadling
Frank Stoller
Philip Stadling Jr.
Harry Stadling Jr.
Harry's Mother
Harry's Father
Reviews & comments
Onderhond
-
- 87631 messages
- 12910 votes
A strange creature.
It is indeed not a real slasher, but what it is is difficult to describe, especially because quite a few things fail in this film. The motivation of the characters makes no sense, the acting is generally substandard and some very strange scenes (a mob with torches... um?) make it an almost absurd film.
But fortunately Maggart still does a good job, which at least brings out the crazy Santa Claus well. The reasons why he is so crazy may be a bit silly, but his character is indeed quite scary, without really having to look up many horror things.
In addition, the incredibly noisy soundtrack is also noticeable. Not exactly beautiful, but unusual and at times effective. Unfortunately, a cheap production. It's not that Jackson didn't have talent, just not enough to make a solid film. This is a strange video.
2.0*
Translated from Dutch · View original
Shadowed
-
- 11421 messages
- 6719 votes
Phew.
Rarely have I sat through such a tiring film, it was one of the longest 100 minutes I have ever had the pleasure of watching. Ridiculous choice to market this as a slasher by the way, because this doesn't have much to do with slasher. This is, as a number of other users also indicate, more of a registration of a special guy.
The problem is that this guy isn't even remotely interesting to follow. Maggart plays a very boring appearance who has to fill the 100 minutes, but never manages to make it interesting or intriguing. Poor acting, and the direction doesn't exactly help either. Jackson only increases the misery.
The direction portrays everything as empty as possible. The settings are not interesting and the camera just bounces around without putting in any effort. The use of color is very colorless, editing is poor and the practical effects are very transparent. The latter is extra noticeable since the practical effects are not often used.
No, this is more of a drama film. One that goes on for 100 minutes and makes one boring choice after another. There is no real underlying tension and where you would normally think that such a guy would immediately be chased away from children, he is miraculously embraced here. I was quite looking forward to it.
There are a handful of scenes that are still quite solid, especially because they look quite shocking, but those are just small bright spots. A lot goes wrong actually. Very little effort is made to make this as a whole even remotely interesting, and everything comes across as saltless, making the minutes a seriously boring one. This wasn't for me, but thanks to some solid moments, I'm willing to not give it the lowest grade.
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