Don't Open Till Christmas (1984)

It's just days before Christmas in London, but not everyone is full of good cheer - as a maniac with a pathological hatred of Santa Claus stalks the streets, butchering any man that’s unlucky enough to be wandering around dressed as Old Saint Nick. Not restricting themself to any one method of murder, this twisted killer dishes out stabbings, gunshots, a castration, and even burns the face of one poor Santa on his own roasting chestnuts! As the bodies of slaughtered Father Christmases pile up, Chief Inspector Harris finds himself under increasing pressure to crack the case before the holiday is canceled for good!The product of an extremely troubled production, DON’T OPEN TILL CHRISTMAS was the second stalk-and-slash collaboration between legendary exploitation producer Dick Randall (French Sex Murders) and former matinée idol Edmund Purdom (The Fifth Cord), after 1982’s deliciously bonkers Pieces. Originally conceived as Purdom’s directorial debut, the resulting footage was considered such a mess that much of it was rewritten and reshot by director Alan Birkinshaw (Killer’s Moon) under a pseudonym. The end result is a fascinating, and endlessly entertaining, patchwork of slasher film and super-sleazy thriller, punctuated by shocking moments of gore which appear almost out of nowhere, as well as an entirely gratuitous musical number from horror icon Caroline Munro (Maniac, Slaughter High) herself! Finally restored from original 35mm negative elements by Vinegar Syndrome and jam packed with new bonus features along with a selection of archival treats, including long lost scenes discovered in a rough cut, this is one present you won’t want to leave under the tree!