What My Forced Holidays During Lockdown Made Me Watch: HOLIDAYS (2016)
Whether it is as a filmmaker, an actor, a comedian, a comic book writer… I have always appreciated Kevin Smith as a content creator. However, I must admit I became aware of who he was very late in life—I was already about to join college, which pains me to admit, by the time I found his podcast and got into his extensive work.
So yeah, you guessed it right: it was the fact that Kevin Smith is one of the directors involved in this movie what caught my attention in the first place—while browsing Netflix with anything in mind, which is probably a first for me.
As Four Rooms (1995) did back in the day, to name an example I thoroughly enjoy, Holidays is a collection of different horror stories written and directed by many different artists, each one of them connected to a popular holiday—from Valentine’s Day to New Year’s. Even if this format is not always everyone’s cup of tea, I must admit that I really like the concept of creating a collection of short stories that you can watch in about ten minutes and that go straight to the point—and I particularly like this when it comes to horror stories, even if I also enjoy some good old slow build-up.
There are some ups and downs, of course, but I definitely believe that there is a little bit for everyone in this particular movie. I personally really enjoyed it, and though I will try to keep spoilers at bay, since I don’t usually like to tell the whole thing when expressing my opinion about a movie, I will tell you a little bit about every individual story and I will try to give you some insight on my thoughts while I was watching it—I literally just finished watching it, and though I’ve taken some notes along the way, this will be my completely unfiltered opinion. Rest assured, it is a positive one.
Just keep in mind that I am a strong believer in just giving you enough to make you understand why I think this is a movie that you should watch, but leaving enough room for you to come to your own conclusions when watching it.
Let’s move on, shall we?
“Valentine’s Day”, written and directed by Kevin Hölsch and Dennis Widmyer, felt like one of the shortest stories in the movie, but perhaps this was because I was so engaged with what was happening. It created a really captivating atmosphere, with a really beautiful photography where the colour red would always get your attention whenever there was something red on screen—and you will understand why as soon as I tell you a little bit about the plot.
We get introduced to this girl who is being bullied at what seems to be highschool. She appears standing on the edge of a swimming-pool while a group of girls is laughing at her, and this is also when we learn that she has a crush on her coach, a man who later on we also learn needs a heart transplant. The girl has clearly been bullied for a long time, and she has also been teased for liking her coach. With Valentine’s Day approaching, she seems to finally have enough. Even when it is quite predictable what it is about to happen, it still makes you feel so satisfied when it does. It just feels so organic, in this beautifully created atmosphere. My favorite part is the fact that the heart imagery is brought up a lot of times, which connects the end of the story with the whole concept of Valentine’s Day, the girl’s love for her coach and the use of the color that I have previously mentioned.
Definitely will make you curious enough to keep watching the next story.
As much as I’m aware this won’t probably be your favorite one in the movie, I was so happy to see that they actually included a St. Patrick’s story—as an adopted Dubliner and growing up Catholic yet Celt, it is basically mandatory. My own personal experience aside, I am a sucker for those horror stories that use religious themes and symbols, and especially if they mix them up with Pagan rites/beliefs. This one story is a perfect example of that sort of tradition.
“St. Patrick’s Day”, written and directed by Gary Shore, shows us an Irish teacher in Dublin who happens to have a rather strange girl in her class—and the longer we see her, the weirder she gets. Even though you can already tell that this little girl named Graine—an Irish name, which is also rather interesting considering the Pagan elements I was anticipating earlier—will be central in the events of the story, it takes a few minutes for it to build up to the point it gets straight up creepy. Keep your eyes peeled for any snake references—and not only because of St. Patrick and the Virgin Mary.
Oh, quick note, since I’ve recently learned that not everyone knows who St. Patrick was and why is he so important: legend says that St. Patrick was who got rid of the snakes in Ireland. As if snakes were Ireland’s biggest issue, ha. I thought it was absolutely delicious that they connected the snakes to St. Patrick, the story that is being depicted and the whole Pagan element of it, that you will see yourself towards the end of the story.
Colours are rather important again: instead of red, we have extremely vibrant greens. Ireland, go figure.
In yet another attempt to avoid spoilers, I will go straight to the point: the teacher, seemingly after the big celebrations that take place in Dublin for St. Pats, finds out that she is pregnant. Graine is connected to this, of course: she finds out right after the weird girl whispers something to her while doing the groceries. And this is not the only strange thing about the pregnancy, but she will learn soon enough that the baby she is expecting is most definitely not human.
Have you ever watched Rosemary’s Baby? Will leave it there. You will most definitely thank me for not spoiling the ending for you. I will think about it for a while.
If you google this one story, the first thing you will find is a picture of the creature waiting for you towards the end of it, but I most definitely wanted to keep it a surprise in my review because it is hands down one of the coolest things in the entire movie—and the scariest one!
I really, really liked “Easter”—written and directed by Nicholas McCarthy. Simple and short, yet effective. I actually always wondered if kids found it scary when they learned that Easter means the resurrection of Jesus Christ. I personally have no recollection of that memory, since I was definitely way too young. However, “Easter” opens with a little girl telling her mom that she is scared of “the man coming back from the dead”, also asking if the Easter Bunny is dead, too. She also says that it is like “a scary version of E.T.”, which I found so funny and cute. The mother tries to reassure her and asks her to close her eyes so she can sleep, and she leaves the room once she is convinced that the girl is not scared anymore. As opposed to the previous story, the light here is very warm—yellow and orange lights, contrasting with the darkness that follows—, yet we still find multiple religious elements—which makes sense, considering this is a story about Easter.
The kid wakes up in the middle of the night and hears some chirping in the living room, which makes her follow the noise to see what is going on. She finds a little chick… and something far more worse. Again, keep the religious theme in mind here, but also remember the Easter Bunny. There is also a bit of a jumpscare, be warned.
Crazy stuff, but really amazing. I think this is the story I will remember the most.
Jesus Christ—indeed.
“Mother’s Day”, written and directed by Sarah Adina Smith, is perhaps the story I care the least about in the movie, but it made me curious enough to keep my attention until the very end. However, as it happens with at least another story I will tell you about later on, I feel like I was missing something. The end was very abrupt and it feels like it just ends when it’s about to get really interesting. But please, do not skip this one.
The story starts with Kate, a girl who is at the doctor’s office because she is clearly pregnant. However, she says that she has taken all precautions possible—even wearing two condoms at the same time, if that doesn’t raise any questions. The doctor suggests that she sees a fertility expert, since she thinks that conventional medicine can’t help her with her particular issue, that we don’t know what it is. Kate follows her advice, and it is when she gets to the place the doctor recommended that we finally understand what the two women were talking about in their conversation: Kate gets pregnant every single time she has sex.
With this confession that finally takes us away from the ordinary world, the story moves to what looks like a Pagan fertility ritual led by an old lady who refers to Kate as “a gateway”, clearly pointing out to the fact that she is virtually the opposite of the women gathered there in hopes of finally getting pregnant. She gets drugged and pretty much kidnapped by the people there, who are waiting for her to deliver the baby she is carrying. When she gathers strength enough to try to escape, that is when we get to the end of the story.
Don’t get me wrong, you will definitely think about it more than once, but it just feels like the actual story is somewhat missing from what we get to see. Not only that, but I definitely have some questions I feel haven’t been answered during the duration of this story. As pretty much every other story, though, I really enjoy the contrast with the lights and the photography—and female and Hispanic representation everywhere! I also love the fact that the themes that are somewhat prominent in the stories keep getting repeated in other stories—in this case, pregnancy.
Really enjoyable nonetheless.
“Father’s Day”, written and directed by Anthony Scott Burns, is that story that made me want to watch it again as soon as it was finished. It wasn’t my favorite, but it feels like there is so much that I need to unpack there. I think I have barely scratched the surface, and I don’t even know if I will be able to even tell you why without spoiling the whole thing.
“Father’s Day” tells us the story of Carol, a girl that sits down to listen to a tape her father recorded for her. We quickly learn that she was given that message to listen to when she was old enough for it. The message we get to hear is a bit confusing to the viewer and definitely way too ominous, but Carol gets what her father was saying to her: contrary to what her mother seemingly made her believe for many years, her father is still alive.
The tape commands her to go to the place where she used to play with him when she was little and listen to the tape again to follow some instructions that her dad says will make her reunite with him. After some walking, she finds a building that looks abandoned, but her dad’s voice commands her to get inside, since that’s where she will find him. The atmosphere is so creepy and dark, I was not able to look away.
I believe this is the story that creates the most immersive experience of the whole movie, and it just keeps getting better. The build-up is INCREDIBLE. There is this one moment where she hears her dad in the tape saying that he will finally reunite with her, and you can hear his steps coming from the tape as if he was coming from inside the old cassette player to meet his daughter in real life, in the present. If that wasn’t enough, you can also hear a little version of Carol in the tape, asking her dad not to leave. As it happened with “Mother’s Day”, even though a little later on, we have finally stepped into the world of the supernatural and out of the ordinary world.
As I refuse to spoil the endings for you, I will not tell you what happens in the last scene of “Father’s Day”, but it is up there with “Easter” in terms of horror. It is really creepy and it made my heart skip a bit. Due to my own personal experiences in life, I was most definitely expecting a father’s day-themed story to mess me up big time, but this is not what I had in mind. You’ll love this one.
And finally, the moment I had been waiting for the entire movie: Kevin Smith’s story, “Halloween”. And I didn’t need to check if it was actually his: from the very first second, where we get a guy named Ian talking to some girl on the phone while wearing a shirt that says “Pussy Haver” on it, it has Smith’s name all over it. And it was definitely everything I was hoping for, and even some more. But I am getting too ahead of myself.
It doesn’t take too long for us to learn that Ian is pretty much the biggest asshole to ever exist. He runs a cam girl business—the girl he is talking to on the phone at the beginning was some girl who saw an ad online to work for him—in what looks like his house, but he definitely doesn’t care for the girls who work for him at all. This is what we get to see when he gets home and finds one of the girls crying. She is upset because someone online called her a whore for what she did there. When he shows that he doesn’t care and that he actually wants one of the three girls in the house to have sex with him that night—apparently not a lot of people are online because it is Halloween night—that seems to rub one of the girls the wrong way.
Allow me to correct myself at this point: not a girl, a WOMAN—so here for that little moment of empowerment on screen, even if it was written by a man. Women, especially in three, make for the best witches. And they finally decide to stand up for themselves and give Ian a taste of his own medicine.
It is so dark, and yet so damn funny. I had such a blast, but I personally was not expecting any less from Kevin Smith. Even when he makes me want to pour bleach in my eyes and forget whatever he wants to show me, he still makes me have a good time. And as much as I love the kind of movie you can analyze ad nauseam and still find something new every single time, I adore that you can just take Kevin Smith’s movies for what they are, and run away with it. Even when he writes the simplest concepts, he always finds a way to surprise you and make you laugh, and this segment is no exception. He is the biggest name in the movie, and he demonstrates that he is such for a reason.
“Christmas”, written and directed by Scott Stewart, starts with what looks like an ad for a virtual reality headset called uVu that allows you to see what’s inside your own imagination. This feels a lot like a Black Mirror episode, which is most definitely a compliment coming from me. Next thing we see is a very typical scene that we see from time to time in a lot of movies: a man named Pete Gunderson is standing in front of a closed store. Apparently, he had called in order to get the last uVu set as a last-minute Christmas present for his son, but someone arrived before he did, taking it instead.
(Okay, allow me the fangirl moment and the brief interruption: Pete is played by Seth Green, who happens to play Oz in Joss Whedon’s Buffy the Vampire Slayer (yay!). As much as I know there are some other worth-mentioning names in the cast, Harley Quinn Smith included, I just wanted to mention that since you will most definitely see me mention Buffy A LOT in the near future. As for me not talking about the actors in the movie, this was a conscious decision: not the best, but definitely good enough for me to enjoy all the performances. This is one of those situations where I am definitely more invested in the actual plot and what the writing and direction makes me feel. Not sure if it will ever happen again, given that I am a nerd when it comes to know every single actor ever).
When Pete finally gives up and decides to leave, after trying to buy the toy from the guy who got it before him, he sees the man falling to the ground, trying to reach some medication he seemingly needs. Pete is suddenly left with two options: either call an ambulance and save the man’s life, or take the uVu set home with him and let the man die.
I feel like I am getting a little bit redundant, but I really want you to find for yourself what his choice is, if you happen to watch the movie. I think it is pretty obvious, and that will lead to what happens later on in the segment, but I am still not a fan of spoilers—I apologize if you are one of those people who read reviews in order to find out every single thing that happens in the movie, but then I will definitely never be your favorite writer. However, and as it happened in “Mother’s Day”, the ending is way too abrupt and it made me feel like I needed so much more. I really enjoyed the concept of the story, though. I would definitely watch a Black Mirror episode about it.
“New Year’s”, directed by Adam Egypt Mortimer and written by Kevin Kölsch and Dennis Widmyer, was what I can only describe as a surprise. At least, it took me off guard. Written by the same two people who wrote and directed “Valentine’s Day”, these are perhaps the most gore-y stories in the movie, even if they are not particularly gruesome. The plot twist towards the end is definitely what made it for me—and again, I really appreciated that there was some Hispanic representation in the main characters of the story.
First scene: we see a lady tied up by a guy who, right off the bat, points a gun at her. Before that, he was looking at some pictures in a photo album that, judging by the words written under the pictures, can make us think that they were in a relationship at some point. He fires the gun.
Next scene. A girl is crying while eating ice cream. She finds the man from the previous scene, named Reggie, on a dating site. She decides to go on a date with him.
Even when he is not in a context that definitely frames him as a murderer, he sounds and looks like your typical Hollywood serial killer—especially because his teeth are pretty much rotten, which definitely gives him some… character. I personally really dig that, at least, in a movie such as this one. The date is extremely awkward and the girl is clearly uncomfortable with the things Reggie says to her, though he apologizes to her after she asks for the bill and, out of clear desperation, she accepts his apologies and asks him to go see the New Year’s ball drop to her apartment.
You can divide the segments in this movie into two categories: there are those that play with elements from the world of the supernatural, and those that prefer their monsters to be purely human. In the sublime plot twist of this story, you will realize that “New Year’s” belongs to the second category. But I think I have most definitely said enough. It is up to you to find out if you agree with what I said and to surprise yourself with the turns and twists that Holidays most definitely offers. I believe you will not be disappointed.
So thanks, Kevin Smith. You never let me down!
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