Returning home for Christmas, a true-crime podcaster looking forward to seeing their family during the holidays is alarmed when a series of crimes against fellow members of the trans community paint her as a prime suspect and must rely on her skillset and other friends to stop the rampage.
There's quite a lot to enjoy here with this one. Among the better elements with this one is the solid small-town murder mystery that serves as the main setup of the whole feature. The central plotline involving the group of friends coming together at the behest of their returning friend trying to set everything right during the holiday season which serves to set off a series of killings around the town that are directly tied to her arrival makes everything appear quite enjoyable overall. The small-town history involving a history of murders taking place in the town that includes a series of unraveling clues pointing to a figure from it's past come back to life and starting a new spree over everything is all handled nicely enough as the clues lead to a killer directly targeting members of the specific community. Even with this factor being taken into account, the whole setup coming into a rather cohesive conclusion adds nicely to the overall presentation which is a great time here. This one also manages to bring together a fairly solid series of brutal and generally enjoyable stalker set pieces that are handled rather nicely. The opening setup that turns out to be a recreation of one of the stories from the podcast she hosts is an impressive enough time as the case reveal comes off nicely after the stalking and brutal murder that starts everything. The regular stalking here, done at the hands of the Santa-dressed killer, are generally quite fun, resulting in either the sudden shock ambush that ends in a brutal kill or the grim aftermath of everything when they stumble upon everything. With there being a lot to like about it, the only real issue with this one is the generally predictable setup that results from operating in such familiar territory where so much of this one is hammered home by the slasher formula. It's not truly detrimental or damaging but does stand out as a factor against this one.
Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Violence and Graphic Language.
