Written by Pat Casey And Josh Miller
Directed by Tommy Wirkola
Scrooge (to Santa): "My life's been leading up to this moment. This year will be the last Christmas ever. Christmas dies with you."
It's December 1st and while this isn't the first Christmas movie I watched or reviewed this year, it's definitely one of the most entertaining I'll have watched this month. It took me a year to watch this but at least I caught up with.
David Harbour, who won a lot of people over with Stranger Things cast as Santa Claus was not something I'd expect but given the type of Santa he's playing, he's actuakly perfect for this role. A Santa that's sort of down in the dumps and weary of how materialistic children. Oh and one who gets drunk and puked on a woman.
However instead of being concerned with delivering presents to children, this was a Santa who got himself caught up in the middle of a home invasion/heist with an obscenely wealthy matriarch named Gertrude (Beverly D'Angelo) and her family.
The family in question had Gertrude's son Jason (Alex Hassell) trying to his marriage to Linda (Alexis Louder) back on track while nearly shattering his daughter Trudy's (Leah Brady) iron clad belief in Santa Claus. It's Trudy's team up with Santa that brought some of the best moments in this movie.
As for the baddies in question, you had a code name team led by Scrooge (John Leguizamo) and he definitely lived up to his name throughout the movie. His minions included Krampus (Brendan Fletcher), Gingerbread (Andre Eriksen) and Candy Cane (Mitra Suri) and let's just say that as things progressed, it didn't end well for any of them. There's a lesson in staying off the naughty list.
As for the rest of the movie, we had Santa mourning his fractured relationship with Mrs Claus, having his magic sack burned and nearly dying until the belief of the family in question revived him. Oh and there was a plot involving a lot of money that even Alva (Edi Patterson) - Gertrude's daughter wasn't best pleased about losing. Still though, it ended on a feel good note for everyone who wasn't a baddie.
- Cam Gigandet had some fun screentime as Morgan Steel, the vacuous action star boyfriend of Alva.
- Alva's son, Bert (Alexander Elliot) provided the mid credit scene with his own warning about crossing Santa Claus.
- Standout music: Burl Ives A Holly Jolly Christmas, Bryan Adams Christmas Time and Slade's Merry Christmas Everybody.
- Chronology: Christmas Eve 2022.
Violent Night was a lot of fun from start to finish. It's very Home Alone meets Die Hard and the better for it. Some genuinely funny scenes, a lot of violence, fair whack of gore and great family dynamics on display. This was absolutely a winner.
Rating: 8 out of 10
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