Woodyanders A bunch of terrified and infuriated sentient pine trees decide to strike back against the cruel and evil humans who have chopped them down to use as Christmas trees for the yuletide season. Director Jason Eisener, who also co-wrote the clever script with Rob Cotterill, maintains a zippy pace throughout, milks loads of sidesplitting sick laughs from the uproariously twisted sense of inspired black humor, and delivers plenty of hysterically excessive over-the-top graphic gore (among the grisly highlights are eyes getting gouged out, a man having one of his legs cut off, and a Christmas star being tossed into a guy's throat). Moreover, this honey warrants extra praise not only for its no-holds-barred attitude towards the loopy subject matter (a cute little cat, several kids, and even a crying baby all get gruesomely killed!), but also for the brilliantly subversive way in which people are made to seem like despicable monsters -- the chortling lumberjacks in particular are shown as total psychos wielding axes and chainsaws -- while the trees come across as pitiable and confused frightened victims (they actually speak in subtitles, too!). Great homages to the Lucio Fulci Italian splatter classics "Zombi 2" and "The Gates of Hell," too. An absolute riot!

Bill Shroyer ...what happened to the Entwives. :-) If you've never heard of the Ents from "Lord of the Rings", you won't catch the reference but if you have, that should say it all. ;-)Seriously though, this was a very cute short. It's not exactly "family friendly" though - 2 f-bombs that I caught, though that and the gore is the worst of it. It's the kind of movie you wouldn't expect anyone to take seriously enough to put as much effort and work into as these people did. I mean sure, it's not "Casablanca" or even "Killer Clowns from Space", but everything was pretty neat & tidy & put together quite well. I think they should do a sequel - perhaps something where they show the trees in the forest with humans decorated for a tree holiday by a human- fed fire - I mean, there are so many directions one could take a stint like this. Seriously dudes, make a sequel! I think I see "cult favorite" in your future! ;-)

Theo Robertson TREEVENGE is a short horror spoof by Jason Eisener set at Christmas time where conifer trees decide they're enjoying Christmas as much as turkeys do and decide to strike back at the human race and one can't help thinking if Eisener has been influenced by The Christmas Invasion episode of DOCTOR WHO which also involved a Christmas tree taking on a life of its own ? Certainly there's much to indicate the influence of THE EVIL DEAD films where eyeballs pop out and other over the top blood splattered deaths take place but this seems slightly at odds with a scene set in a van transporting the trees which makes clear allusions to Jews being sent on trains to Nazi death camps There's a constant feel of high camp running throughout this short which is probably to its detriment , especially where the human characters are concerned . Of course the whole premise of trees having a revolt is pure nonsense but one can't help thinking the director doesn't want to upset the audience too much seeing as both a baby and a family cat are cruelly butchered by the trees and therefore takes away any accusation of bad taste by turning up the camp factor , but I would have preferred a slightly more menacing tone to TREEVENGE

Paul Andrews Treevenge is set during the restive season of Christmas as gangs of men armed with axes & chainsaws chop down innocent trees to satisfy the public demand for floral festive decorations. However this year the trees are fighting back, they don't want to be chopped down, taken from their home, covered in tinsel & stared at. This year they want some revenge...This Canadian production was co-written & directed by Jason Eisener & is a 16 ish minute short horror comedy spoof with an amusing plot that just about works. Treevenge is an absurd film played for laughs with an amusing plot that sets the story up by showing the suffering the common tree goes through at Christmas as it is chopped down, stuck the back of a van, sold & finally decorated. The trees here are alive & speak to each other (visualised on screen with subtitles) & while I found it impossible to sympathise with a tree the makers do their best to paint the trees as scared victims, cut down, kidnapped & abused! Then of course the much used narrative where someone has the tables turned on them in a gruesome way is used here as the trees take their revenge against humanity. Treevenge is obviously not a film to be taken seriously, it's short but is memorable & has a decent story that is fairly amusing in itself. Treevenge isn't brilliant, it's not deep or meaningful & there's not much to it but for what it is it's a neat little film. Certainly worth watching if your in the mood for something a little silly but also gory & short.The makers are obviously horror fans themselves as there are numerous homages & references to the genre including a Cannibal Holocaust (1980) style opening, some City of the Living Dead (1980) bleeding eyes & even a Zombi 2 (1979) style eye piercing. The production values are quite high & it looks decent enough, the special make-up & gore effects are good with chopped off legs, poked out eyes, a babies head is crushed (an unnecessary scene not in keeping with the comical tone of the rest of the film), impaled necks, dead cats & lots of blood splatter.I believe that Treevenge is available online at various sites for free, well at least that's how I saw it anyway so if you are on your lunch-break with twenty minutes to spare then check this out. Although make sure the volume on your computer is turned down as there's a fair bit of profanity in it. A fun short worth a quarter of an hour of anyones time, worth watching.