For many people, a familiar pastime in the weeks leading up to major winter holidays is gathering with family members and watching holiday movies, be they in a theater or on television. During the month of December, as has become tradition, the Falls Free Press will reprise “The 12 Films of Christmas,” focusing on new holiday movies for the year 2022—a year that can still do with plenty of peace and joy. We will review each film, whether naughty or nice, and let you know where to watch.
Santa Claus has been portrayed in many different ways: a jolly man with rosy cheeks; a rock star of the North Pole; a brutal version of Satan happy to no longer spread joy, a mall worker who pushes kids off his lap. He has even been envisioned as a Time Lord ala Doctor Who, explaining how he accomplishes his job in one night. As the wants and interests of children change over time however, he has never been depicted as a drunk man frustrated by greed and lack of caring in the world until Stranger Things’ David Harbour took the role of Santa in Violent Night.
Taking place all in one night, apropos for a Christmas film, Violent Night shows what happens when the greed of the naughty plans to overtake the greed of the rich and unconcerned. At the Lightstone family Christmas Eve party, a group of mercenaries disguised of servants attack the family while infiltrating the estate’s safe, supposedly holding $300 million that was meant to to be transferred to the Middle East as a bribe for oil. The group all hide their identities with Christmas monikers—Gingerbread, Sugar Plum, Krampus, and their nihilist leader, Mister Scrooge. Unbeknownst to anybody in the home, however, the man in red has already come down the chimney to make his deliveries and has been stranded.
After realizing their mistake in not taking their daughter to see Santa at the mall, young Trudy’s recently separated parents (played by Alex Hassell and Alexis Louder) gift her a special walkie talkie, claiming that it can reach Santa so she can still give him her list before he arrives. When Santa is attacked by one of the mercenaries, he accidentally tunes to the same signal as Trudy (Leah Brady) and realizes he must save the family before continuing his trip.
The brunt of the movie resides on Harbour’s portrayal of Santa, this time shown as a former Viking warrior who admits to murdering a lot of people when he was a regular person to do what needed done. A large portion of his his chest is covered in pagan and mystical symbols, suggesting that this may be how his body is able to remain immortal through Christmas magic, even though it can still be brutally harmed throughout the movie. Despite his disgruntled attitude and rugged exterior, Santa regularly shows his kind heart, reciting past gifts to children from memory and explaining why certain ones were picked when wishes could not easily be granted.
Sadly beyond Harbour and Brady, a lot of the cast are easily forgettable, which makes the casting of Beverly D’Angelo as the family’s matriarch unfortunate, giving her very few lines in the story. John Leguizamo skillfully plays the mercenary leader, Mister Scrooge, especially upon realizing he is up against the real Santa Claus. Unfortunately, most of his reactions revolve around either hating everybody around him or something that happened in his childhood, instead of providing content to advance the story. That said, when it comes to the story itself, Violent Night is about two main things: Santa remembering why he loves his job and Trudy saving her family. The combination of these two actors brings a Die Hard meets Home Alone mentality to the Christmas movie genre that hasn’t been seen in a long time.
Violent Night is in theaters now.
