Violent Night Featurette Highlights Santa's Rampage

By Patrick Cavanaugh

The many family-centric activities that are associated with Christmas makes it one of the more wholesome holidays, which is exactly why genre films have a long history of embracing elements of the season to juxtapose with intense or unsettling subject matter, with Violent Night set to be the latest film to take an unconventional look at the holiday. A new featurette for the film showcases how the magical figure of Santa Claus has been pushed to the brink after decades of people embracing the more capitalistic elements of the season, igniting brutality within him. Check out the Violent Night featurette below before it lands in theaters on December 2nd.

The featurette is described, "Bare-knuckle action. Christmas cheer. And a dash of magic. Take a look inside the ingredients that make Violent Night 'an instant holiday classic.'"

The film is described, "To hell with 'all is calm.' From 87North, the bare-knuckle producers of Nobody, John Wick, Atomic Blonde, Deadpool 2, Bullet Train, and Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw comes a holiday action-comedy that says you should always bet on red.

"When a team of mercenaries breaks into a wealthy family compound on Christmas Eve, taking everyone inside hostage, the team isn't prepared for a surprise combatant: Santa Claus (David Harbour, Black Widow, Stranger Things series) is on the grounds, and he's about to show why this Nick is no saint.

"The film also stars Emmy winner John Leguizamo (John Wick), Cam Gigandet (Without Remorse), Alex Hassell (Cowboy Bebop), Alexis Louder (The Tomorrow War), Edi Patterson (The Righteous Gemstones), and Beverly D'Angelo (National Lampoon's Vacation franchise).

"Directed by razor-edged Norwegian director Tommy Wirkola (Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters, Dead Snow franchise), Violent Night is produced by 87North's Kelly McCormick, David Leitch, and Guy Danella. The original screenplay is by Pat Casey & Josh Miller, the writers of Sonic the Hedgehog. The film's executive producer is Marc S. Fischer."

Director Wirkola previously described how one of his biggest influences on the film was the unconventional holiday classic Die Hard.

"Die Hard really had a lot of heart, which is what I wanted to do with this. Like yes, we can go as crazy as we want with the action and the humor and the gore, but it doesn't work unless we have a heart, and I really want this to feel like a Christmas movie," Wirkola detailed. "When people leave the cinema I want them to go out feeling like they saw a great Christmas movie, and hopefully want to see it again next Christmas. That was the goal, so we'll see if we succeed."  

Violent Night lands in theaters on December 2nd.

Are you looking forward to the new film? Let us know in the comments or contact Patrick Cavanaugh directly on Twitter to talk all things Star Wars and horror!

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