The Killing Tree is a 2022 horror comedy film directed by Rhys Frake-Waterfield and written by Craig McLearie.
On Christmas Eve, the widow of an executed murderer attempts to bring her husband back through a dark ritual. But something goes wrong and her husband is brought back as an evil plastic Christmas tree, hell-bent on getting Revenge on the one he views as responsible for his execution.
Tropes present in this movie:
- Ambiguous Ending: The movie appears to end with the reveal that the whole murder-tree thing was all just in Faith's head. She comes to in the woods by herself and all of her friends are miraculously back to life, with none of them remembering anything about the horrifying ordeal they just went through. However, Faith still thanks her parents for coming to her rescue, implying they used whatever magic they had to turn back time and spare their daughter the horror and sorrow of all her friends being dead. And then there's The Stinger with a huge tree near the house suddenly gaining red, glowing eyes and glaring at the retreating Faith and her friends...
- Antagonist Title: Clayton is the eponymous Killing Tree.
- Asshole Victim:
- Clayton himself was a Serial Killer in life, who murdered innocent people for the crime of not understanding the true meaning of Christmas.
- Morgan, Clayton's wife, was just as enthusiastic about killing people as him and even tried to bring Clayton back, presumably so they could finish their murder spree. It's hard to feel bad for her when Clayton accidentally kills her upon waking up.
- Came Back Wrong: Played for Laughs. Clayton, an eccentric serial killer, is brought back to life as a tacky, plastic Christmas tree, ornaments and all. Though Clayton is understandably not amused when he becomes aware of what he is now.Clayton, upon seeing himself in the mirror: What the fuck!
- Cassandra Truth: Faith recognizes Clayton's voice when he speaks to her as the tree, but none of her friends believe her when she tries to warn them that he's back.
- Deus ex Machina: Just as Clayton has Faith completely at his mercy and prepares to kill her slowly and gruesomely, a bright light floods the woods and... another living tree appears. This one inhabiting the souls of Faith's parents, back from the grave to protect their daughter.
- Disposable Vagrant: A drunk homeless man is unfortunate enough to stumble across Tree-Clayton while he's trying to find his way to Faith's house. Clayton proceeds to gruesomely murder him with his branches.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: As crazy and amoral as Clayton and Morgan are, they genuinely love each other, enough for Morgan to attempt to bring Clayton Back from the Dead. Clayton is devastated when he accidentally kills her and her death continues to haunt him for the entire film.
- Horror Doesn't Settle for Simple Tuesday: Clayton attacks Faith and her friends on Christmas Eve, exactly one year after he murdered her parents.
- Mama Bear / Papa Wolf: Faith's parents possess a different tree and square up to Clayton to protect their daughter from him.
- Revenge Myopia: Clayton wants to kill Faith because he sees her as responsible for both his and Morgan's deaths. Never mind that it was he who killed Morrigan (albeit by accident) after she botched his resurrection and the reason he was sentenced to be executed in the first place was that he murdered Faith's parents and was planning on killing her, as well as several other families, that night.
- Shotguns Are Just Better: Averted. Louise gets a point-blank shot at Clayton with her shotgun, but it does nothing.
- Unholy Matrimony: Clayton and Morgan, a married couple who were planning to kill twelve separate families on Christmas to "spread" their message of what the holidays were really about.
- Voice of the Legion: Averted. Despite both her mother and her father possessing the tree that shows up to save Faith, Only her mother's voice speaks through it.
- When Trees Attack: Christmas edition! A serial killer gets resurrected as a Christmas tree and attempts to finish what he started.
