Directed by: Luca Machnich Palmerini 

The Eve is a bitter story about a kid, Simon, who wants to avenge the children mistreated by abusive parents by teaming up with Santa Claus.

From the kid’s point of view, Santa is not a mere gift provider but a sort of savior, someone who could finally liberate him from his overbearing and misleading adoptive parents. Little does Simon know that Santa has other plans for him and for the other poor kids!

The theme of the film is quite original: kids using their Christmas "wishes" to try and build a better life for themselves and get their childhood back, a childhood that adults often seem to have forgotten about or taken for granted.

This short film is full of special effects and editing tricks that are captivating and trippy. The images are very rich and full of visual elements. It really creates beautifully the aesthetic of a terrifying Christmas, with toys and knick-knacks scattered around the frame. The animation is a really nice addition and it adds a dreamlike perspective from the abused and neglected children and the nightmare they are living. It allows us to really enter the fantasy of the kid and participate.

The plot is a bit confusing though, and at the end, we don’t exactly understand the perpetrator’s end motive. Another thing I am missing is the use of colors, which seem quite consistent throughout the film. At the beginning of the film, however, a title card indicates that during the dream and hallucination parts, the colors chosen follow in some way Dr. Max Lüscher's color theory. I fail to see exactly where the exploration starts and where it ends, and how the colors are actually associated with which emotion.

Lastly, the acting and voiceover work are not great, but they are instrumental in serving the purpose of the film, so all in all, no harm is done.

The 19-minute short film by Luca Machnich Palmerini is able to put on display his true passion for horror films.

This horror Christmas short is perfect to bring some thrill during the holiday season!