Violent Night (2022) - Invisible Katana Artwork

Violent Night, The Name Fits

I’m a fan of holiday horror – I know, anyone who reads my blogs is already aware of this. We’re reviewing Violent Night this week and it is a holiday horror film. In fact, it’s being added to my yearly traditional watch list. I read on IMDB about this movie and when I learned they had given it 7.1 out of 10 stars, I knew I had to watch. This is not the norm for IMDB. One, the rating was high and the fact that it was a holiday horror movie made that even more meaningful. I was very impressed with this movie. To sum it up, it is basically Home Alone, Die Hard, and Silent Night, Deadly Night all mashed up with a steroid shot. Let’s talk about Violent Night.

Violent Night Added to my Holiday Film Regiment

The annual regiment for me is Home Alone, Silent Night, Deadly Night, National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, and Die Hard. As I said, this movie is basically three of these in one but, I’m still going to keep watching the others too. I must give credit to the writers on this one. I expect that they watch these movies too and here’s why I think so.

Violent Night has direct references to Die Hard and Home Alone in it. At one point, a character takes a gift from Santa’s bag and says that it’s a “DVD copy of Die Hard.” Another child character tells Santa that she can booby trap a house because of a movie she watched or something along these lines. She is clearly referring to Home Alone. Some of the traps are identical. For instance, there is the nail on the step and the tar on the floor. The nail on the step works out a little different in this one though. I’ll just have to start the tradition earlier in the season. If there would have been house bomb from Christmas Lights, National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation would have been represented too. Honestly, I was looking for this.

David Harbour has found his Niche with Violent Night and Stranger Things

You know how some actors are just great at certain roles? You know, you throw them in a genre role matching their style and you know you’ll have a hit? For instance, Robert De Niro and Al Pacino are always going to play an awesome gangster. Johnny Depp is always going to be awesome but can certainly play any odd character very well. Arnold or Sly will be great in action films. They just seem to be that person or character almost in real life. If I found out Robert De Niro was an underboss, it wouldn’t surprise me in the least. It’s the same thing with David Harbour.

In Stranger Things, David Harbour plays a rough around the edges sheriff whose been through some tough times. He reacts out of anger and throws adult temper tantrums. He also likes to drink. Take all that, put a beard and a Santa Claus suit on him and you’re looking at the lead role of this film. It works surprisingly well. We think of Santa as “Jolly Ol’ Saint Nick” but, this movie suggests a more human side to this character. He has troubles and hardships in life just like all of us. I had never given this idea any thought so, it’s a fresh look at Santa Claus. Hollywood doesn’t offer “fresh looks” much anymore. This was a surprise and a good change.

Comedy, Ultra Violence, Crafty Wordplay…

Violent Night has enough seriousness to balance perfectly with the touch of comedy that it has – the balance is beautifully done. There’s a lot of holiday word play that is funny. For instance, the bad guy calls himself “Mr. Scrooge” and Santa Claus fusses at this reindeer for pooping on someone’s roof. Another comical thing was the use of Christmas lights to bind people. I don’t know that this would really work. Maybe I’ll try it on my wife. Anyway, seeing Santa Claus tied in a chair with Christmas lights is funny. Yes, the lights are on. There were no car chases in this movie but, a snowmobile chase scene does find its way in. Some wordplay I liked were “Christmas dies tonight”, perhaps this was a play on “Evil dies tonight” from recent Halloween films, and many instances of holiday sayings interjected with profanity. Now, on to that ultra-violence.

A Hammer Named “Skull Crusher”, a Hint at the Ultra Violence

To ease into this part, there’s a backstory given about Santa Claus which suggests he was a Viking warrior. This was cool in and of itself but, Viking warriors were nasty. His weapon of choice was a war hammer named “Skull Crusher.” The violence is present in the movie throughout, but there is a spike when he finds a sledgehammer in a tool shed. He’s back at home on a snow and blood covered Norwegian battlefield and this point. A war hammer named “Skull Crusher” is an indicator of the violence that ensues.

Yes, there is a lot of knee smashing and “skull crushing” that takes place. There is a lot of blood but not too much gore. Many scenes feature guns and the unexplainable sledgehammer winning over machine gun fight after fight is about 5 minutes of the film. Some holiday creativity made its way in too with a spit sharpened candy cane dagger. Perhaps my favorite act of violence though was one that I saw coming but still enjoyed. Have you ever though what might happen if Santa took someone who wasn’t magic up the chimney with him? Apparently, the writers of this movie did too. The result is well done.

A Christmas and Not So Christmas Storyline

Around Christmas time, we watch a lot of Christmas movies. My wife and daughters enjoy binging on these things throughout the last half of November and all of December yearly. You know, the Hallmark kind. The ones that have the same 5 actors playing different roles in which the story is generally always the same? There’s a love interest that takes place around Christmas and the happy holiday ending shows up. Anyway, Violent Night has these elements too. This is great because the focus is clearly on violence, and they still managed to make it Christmas movie-ish on top of it.

The idea behind this movie is that a family is having their Christmas celebration and they are Walton wealthy. I think they have 300 million in their vault or something along those lines. A team of bad guys led by “Mr. Scrooge” breaks in and holds the family hostage while they plan to take the money. It is Christmas Eve, so Santa visits as usual and gets mixed up in the situation. The bad guy’s team features some unique characters. Two that stood out were a psychopath with an assault rifle dressed as an elf and a less than intelligent female expert knife fighter. Of course, you have the whiskey drinking, foul mouthed, “skull crusher” wielding Santa Claus that they must content with too. This might not be expected but, there are a lot of turns in the plot that are well done.

Violent Night had an estimated budget of 20 million dollars according to IMDB (2022). So, the production of this film wasn’t lacking financial support and it shows. I think this gives it a leg up on Silent Night, Deadly Night which had a budget of a little over 1 million dollars (IMDB, 2022). Home Alone had a budget of 18 million dollars and Diehard came in at an estimated 28 million dollars (IMDB, 2022). The quality of the acting is there, casting fit so well, the filming locations are great and well chosen, the production and effects are as good as any out there, and the writing was great.

David Harbour plays The Real Santa Claus

Here’s something cool, at least I think, about this movie. Santa Claus is really Santa Claus. It’s not like Silent Night, Deadly Night where it’s a psychopath that happens to be wearing a Santa suit, it’s the real guy. He really has magic and can come down and go up a chimney. He has a sleigh led by flying reindeer. His list is an odd digital scroll that is a very interesting approach and idea. The sack full of toys for boys and girls is over his shoulder and it contains presents. It also has a blackhole effect that he uses to his advantage too.

Conclusion

I was very impressed with this movie, and I generally don’t find myself saying that about anything new. Perhaps it was the great casting? Perhaps it was the combination of several of my favorite movies for this time of year? I don’t know – I can put my finger on one reason but, I will watch this one annually. My overall thought must be this, and it’s simple, the title of this film fits. There was no nudity or sex and little gore but, the violence was intense. It was definitely a violent night for Ol’ Saint Nick who was jolly as skull crusher lived up to its namesake.

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A couple of questions from me. Does anyone know why Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer is never in this stuff? Is there a separate copyright to that character or something? Also, did anyone catch any National Lampoons Christmas Vacation references that I missed? If so, please let me know in the comments.