Steven Helmer Publications

Synopsis: Strapped for cash and taking care of a sick brother who needs a bone marrow transfusion, Iris agrees to attend a dinner party thrown by a wealthy philanthropist in the hopes he will give her money and move her brother to the top of the donor list. What she doesn’t know is she and seven other guests must first compete in a sadistic version of the game, Would You Rather, until only one person is left alive. Who's in it?  The movie stars Brittany Snow , Jeffrey Combs, Lawrence Gillard Jr., Sasha Grey, John Heard and Robin Lord Taylor. Review: After another family Mario Kart night, my wife and daughters were still in bed, giving me some free time this morning. I wasn't in the mood to watch another television rerun and instead decided to re-watch Would You Rather . This was not a decision I regretted. I love psychological thrillers, at least when they are done correctly, and this film does everything right. The game that is played, while relatively simple, opened up a l...

Synopsis: For 1,000 years, Santa Claus, the spawn of Satan, has been cursed to deliver presents to children around the world. Now that the 1,000 years is up, he is free to return to his murderous ways and takes his wrath out on a small town in Canada. It's up to teenager Nicholas Yuleson to stop him. Who's in it? The movie stars Bill Goldberg, Douglas Smith, Emilie de Raven, Dave Thomas and Fran Drescher. Review: My wife and I were having a slow start to our Christmas Eve and as we were scrolling through channels, came across Santa's Slay . I had lowered expectations about this movie, but it ended up being surprisingly good. I think the thing I liked best about this film is it found just the right amount of balance to be a decent horror/comedy. The film clearly wasn't taking itself seriously and keeping things entertaining but the filmmakers knew to stop before it reached a point it was too goofy. It actually reminded me a lot of a 1980s horror film even though it wa...

One of my favorite things about this time of year is being able to watch, or rewatch, holiday movies. They are inspiring, have some great stories and in the case of Christmas-themed horror movies, often have some memorable villains. And let's face it, without a good villain (even when that villain also happens to be the protagonist), Christmas movies often fall flat. Something I've noticed with holiday movies though is there are often villains that go unnoticed or at least unrecognized for their efforts. Here are five of my examples: Joseph Yoshinobu Takagi, Die Hard (1988) -  To start, yes, I consider Die Hard a Christmas movie. All the arguments to the contrary could also be used to describe plenty of other recognized Christmas films and therefore are invalid in my book.  While Hans Gruber ( Alan Rickman ) is obviously the main villain in this film, Takagi (James Shigeta) deserves recognition as well because what kind of employer holds a company party on Christmas Eve? Th...

Synopsis: Chicago divorce attorney Lucy's hard work has paid off with a Christmas Eve promotion to partner at her law firm. It has, however, come at the expense of her relationship with her family, her best friend, Nadine, and the guy she was once in love with, Matt. When she bumps into Matt at a cafe, it brings back old feelings and soon after, she is transported back to 1999 by a magical rideshare driver. At first, Lucy thinks it is an opportunity to correct the mistakes she made when she was 19 but she soon learns if she makes any changes, it will drastically alter her future and cost her the promotion. Who's in it? The movie stars Eva Bourne, Chandler Massey , Katherine Barrell, Alex Hook and Jenny Raven. Review: I've had A '90s Christmas in my movie library for about a year and as I was looking for a movie to watch, I decided to finally give the Hallmark movie a try. Overall, I think I can safely say it was better than I expected. I don't say this about a l...

Synopsis: Isabel takes her job as an inspector for Santa's naughty-or-nice list seriously and is in line for a promotion. However, when doing a re-evaluation of Charlie, an 11-year-old girl on the naughty list, she falls for Charlie's widowed father, Jason, and breaks a number of rules by dating him. As she puts her job in jeopardy, Isabel realizes there is a lot of gray area between naughty and nice and begins to question the overall system. Who's in it? The movie stars Lacey Chabert , Andrew W. Walker , Cadence Compton, Steve Bacic and Louriza Tronco. Review: My wife and I still haven't found much time to do our annual Hallmark Christmas movie watching but since we were both home at a reasonable hour this evening, I convinced her to at least watch Lacey Chabert's latest film, She's Making a List . Unfortunately, it wasn't quite the magical film we were hoping for. One common complaint I have with films is many get ruined by trying to do too much. This ...

Synopsis: After losing his job, Chris Carver becomes determined to win an annual Christmas decorating contest and its $100,000 prize. His search for additional decorations leads him to a Christmas shop located under a freeway and to the elf running the place, Pepper. Chris purchases a tree based on the song "12 Days of Christmas" but doesn't read the fine print on the receipt. Soon after, the various gifts from the song become real, wreaking havoc on Chris and his family. He then learns he must retrieve the golden rings by 8 p.m. on Christmas Eve or he will be turned into a glass Christmas figurine. Who's in it? The movie stars Eddie Murphy , Jillian Bell, Tracee Ellis Ross, David Alan Grier and Madison Thomas. Review: As someone who is Gen X, I still prefer the 1980s/early 90s Eddie Murphy to the family-friendly movie version today. However, when I came across Candy Cane Lane , I was intrigued enough by the plot to give him and the movie a try. After watching it ...