Hell on a Shelf
I don’t think there’s that many found footage Christmas movies. Hell on a Shelf is a sort of ghost hunters spoof, with the team investigating a house called “the Wingate house“ and if the cover is to be believed, it’s haunted by a killer elf on the shelf (It’s not. But it is a elfish doll. Close enough).
It starts off with some Talking Heads setting up the story, then shift to security camera footage of some burglars breaking in. Leaves, take note. Don’t burgle a haunted house. And if you must, especially don’t go into the basement.
Titters of laughter load in from off screen, and the burglars are our first two victims. And that’s before the credits even roll!
I’ve actually heard good things about the Polina brothers from my buddy Doug, so I was eager to sit down and watch this one. The doll on the title cards however, looks very different from a traditional elf on the shelf. So I’m still not entirely certain what we have in store for us.
We get some more Talking Heads stuff though, getting to know you schtick. We get the backstory about how do boys are playing in the house and, one of them fell down and broke his neck on the basement stairs. It was Wall-E were fighting over a toy elf Christmas ornament. It’s not his spirit is the one that haunts the house.
They waste no time in their investigation cranking out the recorder and making contact with something that seems to be talking back to them. And of course, that night, shenanigans begin to happen. Blankets being pulled off of people, more tittering laughterq. I’m a doll, the dog keeps moving. It keeps going from the shelf onto a specific chair that was on fire the dead boy. In the basement, something throws things at them, and the disembodied voice on the recorders tells them it wants to hurt them, it just wants them to die. But how will it make good on that threat?
I’ll be honest, I got a lot more out of this than I expected to. It’s short, but well paced. There’s not a wasted moment of footage. The story is straightforward, and hangs together efficiently. We even get a little bit of a monologue towards the end where you get an interesting perspective on ghost hunter shows.
I come concludes with a interesting reveal, liking a solid film. This one’s a firm recommend!
Argo City Comics 