Mrs. Clause (2018) is a movie I recently watched for free on Tubi. This picture focuses on a sorority house that had some historically bad events including a murder happen there many years ago. When the sister of a woman involved in the murder arrives back at the sorority the murders start where they left off. This movie is directed by Troy Escamilla (Teacher Shortage and Party Night) on a $10,000 budget and stars Daiane Azura (Prison of the Psychotic Damned), Helene Udy (The Dead Zone), Mel Heflin (The Figure), Brinke Stevens (Personal Demons) and Jantel Hope (Dos and Donts of Dating). The storyline for this is an obviously Black Christmas knockoff but with unique kill scenes and characters and a few more nude scenes. The acting and cinematography are very average but the kill scenes were much better than I expected and kept my interest. The Mrs. Clause mask in this was rather dreadful. Overall, this is a below average addition to the genre that isn't a waste of time but isn't a masterpiece either. I'd score this a 4/10.

Sorority sister Amber hazes and abuses the wrong psychotic fat chick and gets killed. Fat chick hangs herself. A decade later Amber's sister joins the same sorority. Someone in a mask does the killing with only one suspect. Brinke Security is on campus.

This is your basic slasher. One suspect. The "twist" was hard pressed and an example of bad writing as was the script. I did like the pot scene. Can be passed over until it is on a DVD10-pack.

Guide: F-word. Nudity (Daiane Azura)

Gathering together at a sorority party, a woman joins the rest of her sisters in the house where her older sister was killed, and as they party on through the night they realize that their dwindling numbers are due to a masked serial killer stalking them in revenge for the past and must try to get away alive.

There was a lot to like with this indie slasher. One of the strongest aspects to like with this one is the engaging and times heartwarming first half that makes this one incredibly enjoyable. The initial backstory setup that shows the hazing and torment in the sorority features a great series of motivations for later that gives the killer's revenge plenty of reasonable buildup. As well, the work done to show the group at the party as a group of true friends here as they're friendly, engaging and humanistic with each in how they're all hanging out at the party together does this one the remarkable feat of providing a group that's great to be around. As this here makes the resulting killing spree against them later have more of an impact since the killer is taking out people that were fun to be around, that adds a lot to the suspense of the situation. That leads nicely into the film's indie-flavored stalking scenes. The backstory opening is quite vicious and sets this off on a great note, while the surprise ambush in the car in the present is quite shocking. That leads to the prevailing pattern for the rest of the attacks as the characters get an extended scene where they go about their business only to have the killer appear behind them out of nowhere to deliver the killing blow, sacrificing stalking-centered suspense for straightforward shock scenes starting with the Christmas tree ambush, the double-impaling out in the garage, the sneaking into the police car and the kitchen encounter. The finale is the closest to more traditional slasher stalking with the revelation that the killer's in the house and getting some great confrontations and encounters throughout here that gives the film a frenzied, enjoyable time. Since these do feature plenty of nice bloodshed and creative gore, there's plenty to like overall here. This one does have a few issues. Among the main problems here are the completely unrealistic actions that place throughout here simply to move the plot along. The moment the threatening emails arrive, the proper reaction should've been horror at the thoughts being hinted at where they were going to kill her, not to freak out about somebody sending them a message about the anniversary of her sisters' death. Likewise, the entire sorority constantly bringing up the incident around her has no sensible outcome, the instances where everyone finds ways to split up from the party to go alone so that the killer can get them and the inability to understand the gravity of the killer around them makes for a really obvious series of scenes that just move the film along. Some of the usual indie flavors plague this one, from its cheap production values and gore also appear but they're not detrimental compared to the other issues.

Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Violence, Graphic Language, Brief Nudity and drug use.