Christmas horror stories are a special type of twisted. It’s meant the merriest time of year, which I guess makes it all the more fun watching it become dark. Blood looks really good in the twinkling Christmas lights.

Treevenge is bonkers in all the right ways. It’s certainly a very fun and twisted short film. Essentially what is a Christmas tree version of a rape-revenge story.

It might only be sixteen minutes, but it packs a lot of punch in that time. A grove of trees live in peace in the woods until a group of men with saws and axes chop them down and terrorise them. The madmen drag the desperate trees off to a Christmas tree lot where they are sold to greedy families with ghastly grins.

When the trees are separated, decorated and humiliated, they decide to get revenge. On Christmas morning, the trees begin to attack. They really don’t hold back at all. The death scenes are essentially a love letter to Fulci’s style, particularly That Kill from Zombi 2. It’s mayhem for everyone on Christmas.

Yet for all its gore, Treevenge is absolutely gleefully silly. We have killer trees that laugh! The kills are brilliant and made me laugh in a nervous way. (It’s ok to laugh at trees killing babies?)

Director Jason Eisener also made the short “Hobo With a Shotgun”, which was featured in Grindhouse as one of the mini-trailers. The man is clearly a master at cramming a lot of action and drama into short running times.

This is one of the most demented Christmas horror movies I’ve seen in a long while. It’s certainly memorable and fun. And as someone who has never had a real Christmas tree, I’ll make sure it stays that way forever. Treevenge could be a PSA in the negative effects of the logging industry a la Rachel Leigh Cook’s heroine commercial.

Merry Christmas and happy holidays!