Text © Richard Gary / Indie Horror Films, 2020
Images from the Internet
Hanukkah
Directed by Eban McGarr
Nevermore Productions; Scream Team Releasing; Invincible
Entertainment;
My Way Pictures; MVD Entertainment
My Way Pictures; MVD Entertainment
106 minutes, 2019
I am so sick of
Christmas films, be it smiley good cheer ones or of the slashy variety.
Lifetime-originated or Blumhouse-released, it’s still all “Deck the Halls with
blah, blah, blah, blah.” Even Easter has been given its turn with the likes of Easter
Casket (2013; reviewed HERE) and Easter Sunday (2014; reviewed HERE).
It’s about time the Chosen People
chose to light up the screen and cut some skin like a mohel; that there needs
to be more Jewish horror is also mentioned by a character in this film, like The
Last Synagogue on the Left. Yes, this is a dark horror comedy film.
Okay, I’ve got my dreidel (wood, not
plastic, of course), my chocolate gelt, and my throwing star mezuzah (yeah, I
made that last one up), and I’m gonna fire up this release. Will it fly by or
feel like it’s been on for eight nights? We shall see…
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| Sid Haig |
With a strong start, we are
introduced to a very frail-looking Sid Haig (his last film; d. 2019) by the
light of a menorah, which looks incredible, as an Orthodox observer with
literal head in hand, during a prologue from 1983 as the radio announces about
the “Hanukiller.” His character is named Judah Lazarus, so how long you think
he’s gonna stay dead, and is this going to be a mixing of the Old and New
Testament, since the Lazarus story is in the Second Set? It has my attention.
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| De Mare, Felsted Jr., Katz, and Harris |
We are introduced to three roommates:
there’s somewhat loveable wiseacre with a Jew-Fro, Adam (Robert Felsted Jr.), kind
of bland David (Toliver Harris), and dashing Josh (DAndre Johnson), who is
black and a strict Christian. They travel up to the a cabin in the woods… okay,
a house in the Catskills, for a party with excitably loose cannon and gravelly-voiced
Rachel (Sadie Katz, who was so great in 2013’s House of Bad; reviewed HERE), who is Josh’s girlfriend du jour,
and tattooed, pierced and bi- Amanda (Scream Queen Victoria De Mare). On the
way to the bash hosted by their friend Ian (Caleb Thomas), they run into some
Russian clichés Yuri (Wali Habib) and Ivan (Adam Franek), who have with them Nina
(statuesque Katherine Pegova, who was memorable in 2020’s Catch of the Day 2;
reviewed HERE), who are also on their way to Ian’s place.
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| Joe Knetter |
While there, they are Torah-rized
(okay, I stole that in part from the back of the Blu-ray case) by the new Hanukiller
(Joe Knetter, who ironically plays a slayer Santa in 2010’s Night Terrors),
the identity of whom I will not give out, but it’s pretty obvious right from
the start and doesn’t really try to red herring the audience.
The modern Hanukiller’s outfit looks
a bit like a cross between the Litch (from James Balsamo’s film by the same name;
Balsamo is a producer of this release, I should add, and has a nice cameo) and
Robert E. Howard’s Solomon Kane, mixed with a bit of Hasidism. What I
find interesting in the reasoning for the killing, namely people being “bad
Jews” by not obeying the Torah, specifically Leviticus, which could
easily have been filled in with any other mainstream religion, be it Christian
maniacs like the Westboro Church or Muslim jihadists who fly planes into buildings.
To me, any religious fanaticism is a shanda (Yiddish for disgrace),
as it places everyone else as “Other,” and opens up interpretation into abuse. But
I digress… Nu?
 |
| Charles Fleischer |
The stunts are choreographed by the
great Kane Hodder (does anyone need me to explain who he is, really?),
and the effects look great, such as the skull cap made from, well, a skull. The
SFX, most of which is practical, looks excellent (though the blood is a bit
dark) and there is plenty of it, considering the budget’s capabilities.
I have to say, most characters aren’t
very likeable, even with Adam at times, so it’s easy on the heart to see them
dispatched. Most of the actors are Jewish, many of whom you may not know are of
Hebraic heritage, such as with the cameos by the likes of Sid Haig, PJ Soles (aka
Riff Randall, though most will who read this will probably think of the
baseball cap victim of 1978’s Halloween), Charles Fleischer (the
voice of the titular character in 1988’s Who Framed Roger Rabbit), Rob
Zabrecky (who was amazing in 2015’s Decay; reviewed HERE), and
the legendary Dick Miller, also in his final role (d. 2019).
 |
| Sadie Katz |
The film has a rich color palate for
lighting and lenses that works well, and it all is enwrapped by a great
soundtrack, including music by Harry Manfredini (another Friday the 13th reference,
along with Hodder). There is a strong sexuality present and nudity (female, no
male) quotient, more than the killing. Honestly, taken by itself, the film makes
Jews look a bit sex obsessed, which, as a secular Jew myself, I found a tad uncomfortable;
I didn’t mind the sex and the nudity, it was the attitude of the characters.
My big issue with the film is the
many holes in the story. For example, people are suddenly missing, and while it’s
obvious why, there little hint of it happening as it occurs. Mostly someone
mentioning at some point, “Where’s so-and-so?” Another example is David saying
to Nina, “You have a car? Let’s go to the police,” as he walks to the door. The
next time you see them, they’re sitting calmly on the couch talking to Yuri,
who hasn’t been seen since about half an hour of the film ago. They keep talking
about leaving for good but never do. What? The film takes place over a
few days, but it isn’t clear about the amount between scenes enough (title
cards or captions would be good). But no one left? I would have gotten a cab to
the train in the first day. Also, I had
to watch the last 20 minutes of the film again to get what had happened at the
end (shades of Hereditary!).
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| PJ Soles |
There are some nice amount of extras on
the disk. The commentary, which includes the director and the main actor, Felsted
Jr., is kind of ordinary. It’s not bad and there are the occasional nuggets,
but it’s a take-it-or-leave-it; either way would work. There are also a large
number of deleted/bloopers/backstage/final shots of Haig and Miller, which kept
my interest most of the time. Despite that the film could use some editing and can easily be brought
down to 90 minutes or less, there were a couple of deleted scenes I would have
liked to see included in the film (such as the one at the gas station). It’s
also nice to see a brief clip of producer Felissa Rose on her cell phone, and also
absorbing is Fleischer giving the cast some candid samples of his voice work.
After the final credits, they hint at
a sequel to be titled Day of Judgement [sic], or maybe it should be perhaps
Simchat Torah? Then maybe on to Tisha B’av?
Thanks for watching!!! XO
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