Violent Night (2022)

 (Santa contemplates retirement as he takes a break in a London pub on Christmas Eve)

 

Very rarely do I know little to nothing about a film before I watch it. When it came to seeing Violent Night I knew very little. This is what I knew: the guy playing Santa was from Hellboy and Stranger Things, of which I've only seen Hellboy. The only other thing I knew was I had seen one other film Wirkola had directed, that being Dead Snow, which was OK at best. 

Now, what I thought this film was and what it actually ended up being were two drastically different things. I've seen Silent Night Deadly Night, parts one and two, Christmas Evil, Silent Night, and others, so I've seen my share of Santa goes crazy and kills a bunch of people films which I thought this was. Well, Santa does go a little crazy and he does end up killing a bunch of people but the people he kills are the bad guys. So I was pleasantly surprised with that aspect.

 

(Three of the annoying family members that I could have done without)

 

Usually in a Christmas horror film I don't expect to get very much story if any at all. This one has some. It also does something I never saw coming and that is it attempts to explain some of Santa's magical abilities although admittedly by Santa himself, he's not really sure how it all works and while some might find that to be a cop out I find it a little charming. I enjoyed how the film gives Santa a bit of back story and something like an origin tale (not much of one but wait, there's more in the sequel, I hope) that adds a bit to the story as well as some Santa lore. The Cult of Santa is very much alive in this one. All you have to do is believe.

Harbour is great as a disenfranchised Santa who is ready to call it quits with Christmas in the beginning of the film. He has one more alcohol fueled Christmas Eve in him and then he's quitting. I liked the interaction shown between Santa and his reindeer, there's history there and even though he's ready to quit, he still has his standards he's trying to enforce. Enter the Lightstone family and their yearly Christmas Eve party.

 

(Santa helps save the Lightstone family and little Trudy helps to save Santa as well as Christmas!!)

 

 

Held at the private estate of the matriarch of the family Gertrude, expertly played by Beverly D'Angelo who isn't new to the Christmas film genre. The party is tense and uncomfortable as not one member of the family wants to be there. Alex Hassel and Alexis Louder play Jason Lightstone and wife Linda who are estranged but are spending Christmas together for the well being of their daughter Trudy. Trudy is played by relative newcomer Leah Brady who by the way very nearly steals the movie and anyone that knows me knows that me saying that about a child actor is saying a great deal. 

Most of the "bad guys" are peripheral characters that are just there for fodder for the killing machine that is Santa Claus. John Leguizamo, usually I can either take him or leave his in most of his films (To Wong Foo being one of the exceptions), does a decent enough job as "Mr. Scrooge", the leader of the bad guys.  All the bad guys have Christmas themed code names.  There's also André Eriksen and Mitra Suri who play Gingerbread and Candy Cane respectfully who go looking for Trudy who has escaped into the mansion and is in contact with Santa via a walky-talky type radio. For a few minutes a very graphic horror version of Home Alone ensues and man, I didn't know I needed an horror genre version remake of Home Alone until right now!

This is a very graphic Christmas horror comedy that I enjoyed more than I thought I was going to. A couple of the characters are annoying and some of the fight scenes felt a few minutes too long which is what keeps this one from scoring higher than it does but if you asked me what I would have graded this going into it I would have guessed two and a half stars with it getting three stars if it was really good. A nice post New Year's Day surprise as I tossed it over and almost gave this four stars but three and a half is a surprise to me so I'm satisfied and am glad I didn't wait nearly a year to see this at home next holiday season.