Just in time for the holidays, Adult Swim’s Yule Log AKA The Fireplace aired on after Rick and Morty last week. This fireplace movie, turned into a horror film, has caught the attention of so many people in the world. So we of course had to check it out!
As always we breakdown our reviews into the topics of story, acting, and overall. Let’s jump on in.
Story 10/10
Spoiler alert for anybody that wanted to be surprised, if you want to be absolutely flabbergasted by this movie, as I was, I recommendations that you don’t read further. Just go watch this horror show of a movie and then come back and see if you agree with us! For anyone still here… it starts off as a traditional Yule Log video, just a fireplace burning until about five minutes in. At this point you start to hear a vehicle pull up, the door opened, and footsteps as a woman complains about how her cleaner canceled, so now she had to clean her own rental before the tenants return.
It’s weird but, not really outside of Adult Swim’s mentality. The woman is interrupted in her cleaning by a knock at the door, she opens it and there is a woman outside with her son saying their vehicle broke down and their phone is dead They are hoping to use hers. This of course is a lie, as these two hillbillies begin to murder The landlady. I want to warn anyone, as usual with most hillbilly stories, the subject of rape comes up. So if you are reasonably uncomfortable with that topic, you should definitely be warned before watching this movie. It is not something that only happens once though, as it is a topic that comes up multiple times throughout the movie.
After the landlady is murdered the two are cleaning up their mess when the two renters show up. The hillbilly mother and son duo hide. It’s then revealed that a couple rented the place for a romantic getaway while the guy’s side hustle includes filing yule logs for the holiday season. He pulls back the footage to showcase an entire living room now and you see his awkward attempts at proposing to his girlfriend. This of course is interrupted by a gambit of wild and crazy things including the police, double bookings, and of course the unveiling of all the horrors that befalls the cabin.
”…the movie’s concept of introducing aliens, hillbillies, curses, ghosts, and the supernatural can be a of a handful, but that’s kind of the concept of this movie.”
It’s not a poorly made horror movie, it’s actually quite impressive. There are a lot of stylistic cuts and designs meant to engage you in the series. I will say however that the movie’s concept of introducing aliens, hillbillies, curses, ghosts, and the supernatural can be a of a handful, but that’s kind of the concept of this movie.
Acting 10/10
There is quite a lot going on in this film but I have to give it up to the main couple played by Andrea Laing and Justin Miles who do an absolutely great job being the only straight people in an outlandish world of crazy people. I also have to give credit to Charles Green who plays the evil specter within the fire as he is so over the top and ridiculous. I love it.
Overall 10/10
If you were looking for a crazy and outlandish horror movie then look no further. If you are worried that this movie fully takes place from the perspective of the fireplace, don’t worry, it does shift perspectives once the second evil entity takes over and starts its rampage.
In fact every time you think you understand what this movie is trying to be, it shifts and evolves moving away from that and becoming something entirely different.
Conner’s Final Thoughts
Adult Swim always creates great works like this. Just like their line-up of outlandish Infomercials. If this over the top horror and action sounds familiar, then you might have been one of the eagle-eyed viewers that spotted the “Too Many Cooks” easter egg. It was specifically there because this film was created by the same creator!
This movie is available to watch on HBO Max as well as available for purchase on streaming services like Apple and Google.
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