Let’s just start with a wise word of warning – Yule Log is a film that depends entirely on the element of surprise. It isn’t often that I advocate for someone to enter into a film without any prior knowledge, since the experience is so much more compelling if you don’t know what to expect – so keep this in mind if you choose to read further. You have been warned.

A few years ago, the world was introduced to Too Many Cooks, a work of art that is best described as 11 minutes of pure, unhinged narrative, visual and psychological anarchy. The demented mind behind this short film was Casper Kelly, who almost immediately catapulted himself to both fame and infamy through this deranged but brilliant collaboration with Adult Swim, who have been known to ruffle a few feathers and lean into the absurdity quite regularly. Only a few days ago, we saw another work of postmodern excellence on the part of the director in the form of Yule Log (alternatively known as The Fireplace – each viewer can take their fancy. Personally, I prefer the warmth and comfort of Yule Log), which is bound to become a future cult classic when looking back at unconventional Christmas films. Kelly is one of our most deeply bizarre artists, and as a writer and director, he’s proven that his worldview is not something that should be taken lightly. As his first feature-length directorial effort, he had a lot to prove (although considering it was a secret project that wasn’t even announced until it had finished airing, there were certainly very few expectations that could be brought to the proceedings on the part of the potential viewer), and he certainly delivers on the inherent madness that inspired all of his previous work, which is carefully pieced together to create a film that is best described as if David Lynch directed Funny Games in the style of a classic 1980s slasher horror film(which is in itself only a small fraction of the narrative, since it goes in so many different directions), and all of this only becomes clear as we venture through this disturbing world that Kelly has created for us. Detailed and compelling in its terror, but also profoundly captivating in how it handles both the leaps between genres and specific narrative beats, Yule Log is a masterful example of pure absurdity thrown on screen, waiting patiently for the potential viewer to experience its bizarre worldview, which is the start of a film that will undoubtedly unsettle as much as it entertains.

Much like Too Many Cooks, Kelly is using the concept of a common American tradition, in this instance the broadcast of a crackling fireplace during the Christmas season, to bring a sense of familiar warmth to viewers that may not have access to this long-honoured custom, to construct a disturbing and deeply unsettling dark comedy that has very little interest in comfort. Kelly seems like someone who intentionally breaks every rule that he can, and there are very few reasons to adhere to logic when it comes to his creative process. He clearly employs a method of throwing every possible idea into a hypothetical narrative blender, throwing whatever results there are at a blank canvas and hoping that the final product is something worthwhile – if Jackson Pollock was interested in brutal and horrifying subversions of the American mythology and socio-cultural structure, it would look a lot like Kelly’s work, which is only the highest praise coming from someone who has such a deep fondness for the world of absurdism, of which Kelly is one of our finest auteurs. The way he navigates so many complex ideas and pieces them together into this horrifyingly brilliant psychological horror is extraordinary, and filtering it through the lens of surreal, off-the-wall dark humour only makes it more enthralling, since not only do we struggle to figure out what this film is saying until the very end, but the journey to get there is wild and unpredictable in a way that will surprise many viewers, especially those that are not too repulsed by some of the content, since Kelly doesn’t hold back when it comes to brutal violence, with many scenes in Yule Log being amongst the most disturbing of the year – and the fact that many of them exist to make us feel a sense of nervous amusement only proves that he is a director in full control of not only his craft, but the audience’s expectations of the material, playing us like a fiddle and enjoying every moment of it – and for the open-minded viewer, we might be able to glean the same sense of perverse amusement from this realization.

Yule Log has many surprises lurking just beneath the surface, and there comes a point where we simply stop trying to make sense of what we are seeing. I’d be willing to bet that any viewer going into this film without any prior knowledge will not be able to predict anything that happens after the fifteen minute mark has elapsed, and we have plunged into this nightmarish world that Kelly curates for us. Where else can you find a horror film that has feral hillbillies, a sentient log, a group of Satanic worshippers and a particularly terrifying alien invasion? In any other context, this would seem like far too much (ironically coming from the director of a film called Too Many Cooks), but under Kelly’s direction, it is perfectly justifiable, especially since there is a level of elegance to how he approaches some of the more mysterious material. On a purely creative level, there are many unforgettable moments in this film – Kelly is clearly inspired by innumerable social and artistic sources, and he’s not afraid to openly reference certain cultural touchpoints, using them to both create the false illusion of familiarity (which tricks us into trusting that the film will follow a recognizable formula and have a neat resolution), and to supplement many of its more complex ideas, which are twisted into a deeply terrifying and undeniably very funny dark comedy that questions existence in a way that is truly unexpected, and takes us on a psychedelic journey that none of us will ever be able to anticipate, with the peculiarities that linger beneath the surface of this film being singlularly indescribable, which is part of the rabid appeal of this film and everything that it represents, the precise kind of Yuletide entertainment that some of us with a penchant for alternative forms of humour, which is the primary propellant of this entire project.

However, a horror film without some depth or sense of complexity is not always going to be successful, and while it is perfectly justified to have one that is terrifying just for the sake of frightening the audience, it does help to add some degree of commentary, even if only slightly, as a way to contextualize the terror (which has given rise to the sometimes misguided use of the term “elevated horror”). Despite its outright absurdity and apparently lack of logic, there is a deeper meaning to Yule Log – but it’s important to note that it is neither overt nor entirely serious, and instead comes from the director’s fascination with deconstructing traditions in a way that lays them bare and showcases their innermost flaws, and allows him to assert his own very strange worldview in a functional and meaningful way. This film is very much about the darkest chapters in American history, and as the story progresses, we are shown brief vignettes that seem out of place, but yet have some purpose once we’ve made it far enough into the story. What initially seems to function as short glimpses into the house in which the film is set over the years (which the main character mentions was built during the Civil War in what appears to be a throwaway comment at the start of the film, but actually foreshadows the events that are about to transpire) actually turns out to be setting the foundation for a whistle-stop tour through several of the darkest moments in the nation’s past. Slavery, segregation, the rise of free-market capitalism (and its downfall) and a range of other issues are explored in subtle and intriguing ways, and Kelly never avoids making us feel uncomfortable, using violence as a narrative tool to unearth the darkest aspects of these characters’ lives. It doesn’t preclude it from being driven by humour – but rather than cackling in delight, we’re likely going to be absolutely bewildered by the sheer absurdity, which is sure to leave even the most seasoned of viewers confused and shaken, which is the exact reaction that Kelly seemed to be seeking when he made this film.

In a cinematic landscape where originality is a rare commodity, Kelly proves himself to be a truly unique filmmaker with a distinct artistic approach and social viewpoint that is seamlessly woven into his stories. Yule Log indicates that he doesn’t need to restrict himself to television and other short-format filmmaking, and that he can feasibly work in feature-length productions, his very distinct style translating into the broader cinematic language unexpectedly well. The majority of this film depends on our ability to surrender to the madness, without overthinking everything or trying too overly hard to make sense of what we are seeing on screen. The first step towards failure with a film like this is trying to keep a sense of control, since it’s impossible to predict any direction in which this film is going, and the inability to anticipate its many bizarre events can be frustrating to some viewers. For those who can just leap onto the film’s wavelength and ride with it to the end, you’ll likely find that Yule Log is an absolute delight, a bitterly funny and extraordinarily dark film that touches on themes that many of us may not have expected, with its depiction of American history being extremely bleak, but also quite fascinating, especially in how the director ties everything together. The film defines the concept of being unorthodox, which is part of its charm – it’s a film built on the element of surprise, and so much of it depends on just simply peering into this world, trying to make sense of the madness that envelopes it, and being provoked in all the ways that Kelly is trying to establish. It’s often quite brutal, and it doesn’t hold back on anything – but the combination of horror and comedy is quite effective, and the nuances brought to the film feel genuinely quite compelling, all leading to a remarkably funny and deeply disturbing film that has all the trimmings of a future Christmas classic, at least for those with a love for the absurd.