A surprise box of chocolates won’t always be filled with your favorite treat, but at the end of the day, it’s still chocolate. Likewise, anthology films tend to be mixed bags, and that’s alright, considering the format. Even the Creepshow movies had their weaker segments, but we still consider them to be classics (well, not all of them). Even so, there are some peculiar mixed bags out there, movies that make you question the creator’s decision-making, and Holidays is one of those.

Helmed by a smorgasbord of different directors, including but not limited to Kevin Smith, Nicholas McCarthy, Gary Shore, Anthony Scott Burns and Scott Steward, Holidays is comprised of eight independent holiday-themed segments. The stories themselves aren’t narratively connected, but share similar themes of holiday anxiety and fears that loosely tie them together into a larger picture.

The first segment, Valentine’s Day, directed by Dennis Widmyer and Kevin Kolsch, starts the film on a strong note, with unique visuals and a sympathetic protagonist that almost make up for a paper-thin revenge plot. The ending, however, comes too soon and doesn’t bring anything new to the table, despite the aforementioned presentation. The next story, St. Patrick’s day, directed by Gary Shore, is much heavier on plot, with a myriad of interesting ideas regarding paganism that eventually fizzle out in a disjointed tale of Irish faith. The ending, however, is probably one of the most memorable scenes in any film this year.

Next comes McCarthy’s Easter, my personal favorite of the bunch, featuring one of the most horrific depictions of Jesus Christ ever put on film. The short actually touches on a few deeper issues concerning children and faith, but the cenobite-like introduction of Jesus is still the best part. Nevertheless, Sarah Adina Smith’s Mother’s Day ends up feeling redundant, sharing similar themes with St. Patrick’s Day, and not having the latter’s creative insanity. It’s not a bad story by any means, it just doesn’t contribute much to Holidays as a coherent movie.

On the other hand, Father’s Day, directed by Anthony Scott Burns, a melancholy tale of loss and reunion, squanders almost all the potential it had to be the film’s greatest short with a rushed ending that doesn’t do any justice to the build-up preceding it, despite good ideas. This is Holiday’s greatest flaw, as almost none of the stories end on a high note.

Kevin Smith’s segment, Hollow Ian, is naturally a love it or hate it experience. If you’re familiar with the director’s style and like it, you’ll probably enjoy the story for what it is, as I did. Otherwise, it will probably fall flat. Smith’s daughter, Harley Quinn Smith, stars here as an unfortunate cam-girl employed by an ill-intentioned ‘director’ played by Epic Meal Time’s Harley Morenstein. It’s another revenge tale, albeit an extremely silly one.

The seventh story, Scott Steward’s Christmas, is a darkly humorous take on the brutality of Christmas shopping and gift-giving, starring Seth Green as a father willing to do anything in order to purchase his son’s promised gift, a mysterious virtual reality headset. Were it not for yet another rushed and slightly nonsensical ending that doesn’t have much to do with the rest of the short, this could have been one of the film’s highlights.

The last segment, Adam Egypt Mortimer’s New Year’s Eve, is easily the worst, resulting in an extremely anticlimactic finale. The short revolves around a serial killer who’s been forced to terminate previous relationships, and uses a dating website to find a new potential girlfriend/victim. The new girl, however, seems to have ulterior motives herself. Keeping in line with Holiday’s apparent curse, the ending again ruins what could have been a decent experience. And just like that, the credits roll.

As a whole, the film seems too consistent for the outright lame endings to be a coincidence, and though it’s possible that there’s some kind of subtle commentary on the nature of holiday expectations, that doesn’t make the movie any more entertaining. Viewing it as a mixed bag, there are many good ideas and intentions spread across the stories, and perhaps it’s worth watching just to contemplate the curious negative aspects. That being said, Holiday is only half as fun as it should have been, making this particular box of chocolates taste disappointingly stale.