I'll admit to becoming wary when I started watching The Nights Before Christmas. First of all, it seems to be one of those movies that features a lot of UK actors passing themselves off as American (although most of them do a good job, and there are a number of American actors also in the cast). Second, it's kind of a sequel to Once Upon A Time At Christmas, a film I have not seen. Thankfully, you can get up to speed easily enough, connecting the dots as one main character (Courtney, played here by Keegan Chambers) discusses the trauma of surviving a Santa-led killing spree.
The plot is enjoyably slight. A couple who view themselves as Santa (Simon Phillips) and Mrs. Claus (Sayla de Goede) escaped from a secure facility four years ago and are now killing off people they deem to be on the "naughty list". The FBI keeps being unable to catch them, despite the efforts of Agent Natalie Parker (Kate Schroder), Courtney suspects she will be a target again, and there's a young woman called Jennifer (Shannon Cotter) who should start worrying, because she is actually the daughter of Santa.
It seems that actor Simon Phillips has settled nicely into his role here, having been a guiding hand in the development of this character, and these films (it looks like there's at least one more on the way, according to IMDb). Fair play to him, he certainly has fun in the lead role, and delivers a decent helping of gore and nastiness alongside the complete lack of believability. This isn't a film to overthink and pick apart. It's one to sit back and just be amused by.
Director Paul Tanter does a decent job in the big chair. Everything looks good enough, and the audio quality (often a problem in these lower-budget horrors) is consistently well done, making the final product something that stands as a great example of how to use every dollar wisely. The practical effects are generally quite impressive, and even the score isn't too bad.
Few people are as good as Phillips when it comes to having a presence onscreen, but De Goede matches him. Her Mrs. Claus is quite the Harley Quinn-esque character (a touchstone so obvious that you will see it mentioned in every review ever written about this film), and she is a very worthy Bonnie to Phillips' Clyde. If Bonnie and Clyde had worn "Santa suits" and aimed for more grisly kills. Chambers and Cotter are both okay, and Schroder tries her best, but is hampered by the fact that her character is as ineffective as many other characters in the movie, when it comes to actually getting close to catching the killers in time.
Nothing to prioritise high on your viewing list, this is nevertheless a fun Christmas horror for those who enjoy such things. It's certainly preferable to many other attempts to wring money from Christmas horror fans that I have seen lately (reminder - avoid most movies with the word Krampus in the title, except for Krampus).
6/10
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