Violent Night: Santa Clause is Coming to Town

What do you get when you take Miracle on 34^th Street and combine it with Die Hard, mix in a touch of Home Alone? The resulting film is a new holiday classic which I could see becoming a seasonal tradition for a lot of adults. On Christmas Eve, the audience finds that Santa (David Harbour) has become disillusioned with Christmas and specifically his place in this modern world that he finds solace in the bottom of a bottle.  The ultra-wealthy and more “naughty” than “nice” Lightstone family is celebrating Christmas in their usual fashion, by kissing up to the foul mouthed, tough as nails, matriarchal leader, Gertrude (Beverly D’Angelo).  The good son, Jason (Alex Hassell) and his estranged wife Linda (Alexis Lauder) with their daughter Trudy (Leah Brady) are trying to put their lives back together.  While the bad daughter Alva (Edi Patterson), her new boyfriend Morgan Steel (Cam Gigandet) and her son Bert (Alexander Elliot) grovel at Gertrude’s feet to remain in her good graces. Trudy still believes in Santa and makes a wish that her family would come back together.  Unbeknownst to anyone at the gathering, Santa is in town delivering presents.  But he isn’t the only uninvited guest, a group of mercenaries led by “Mr. Scrooge” (John Leguizamo) drop in to steal 300 million in cash that has just been delivered to the family home vault. What ensues is a blood bath of epic proportions as Santa gets some of his holiday cheer back by getting in touch with his Viking past.  Although Santa does have some limited Christmas magic, he is still mortal.  Can he survive the night? And more importantly, can he grant Trudy’s wish?  Watch and find out!

First off, I am on the team that Die Hard is a Christmas movie and not just a movie that takes place at Christmas, and I usually watch it several times during the season.  I actually have three movies that I traditionally watch.  Die Hard, Santa’s Slay, and A Christmas Carol because it can’t be all blood and gore at this time of year. There are other movies I try to sneak in, but these three are a must! I do believe I will be adding to this list and including Violent Night. I find the premise of the film a lot of fun.  THE Santa Clause, not a shopping mall knock off, but the actual Santa Clause fighting mercenaries and saving a family from impending doom is just amazing.  I also love the subtlety that they took with Santa’s back story, although never fully explained how he became the “Jolly Ole Elf” who has lived for 1100 years, the idea that he was once a Viking warrior is a wonderful twist.  The inclusion of his barely visible tattoos that are seen when he is nursing a wound gives an added mystique to an already interesting character.  In addition to just being a badass kick-butt hammer wielding Santa, David Harbour adds a kind of tenderness and caring to his character, giving what could have been a two-dimensional character, much needed dimension.  John Leguizamo is always fun to watch, and he does a great job as the leader of the thieves giving a great performance as the man who wants to kill Christmas! Leah Brady as the young daughter who holds her own against a couple of crooks literally referencing Home Alone as her inspiration. Like the child character Susan in A Miracle on 34^th Street, Trudy is the one who has the true spirit of the Holidays alive within her!

The production value of this film is good with some nice special effects and some well-choreographed fight scenes. As mentioned, the plot of the film is great and the movie flows well with an excellent and fast paced rhythm. The script was overall pretty good, but there were a couple of scenes where the dialogue felt forced or a bit too clichéd, but this is barely noticeable and does not detract at all from the film’s overall style and impact. The one thing to note is that this is not in any way shape or form a children’s movie.  As it says in the title, it is violent, with a lot of blood, gore, dismemberment, torture and brutal deaths. Oh, and a fair bit of swearing, which often is coming from Santa. If I were Santa, I’m sure I’d be swearing too!