Violent Night Featurette Spotlights Santa's Combat Training for Action-Comedy

By Patrick Cavanaugh

In the upcoming Violent Night, David Harbour's Santa Claus takes on a group of highly trained paramilitary thieves who have invaded a home on Christmas Eve, forcing Kris Kringle to embrace some unconventional tactics to take on the intruders who have clearly put themselves on the naughty list. In a new featurette for the film, audiences can see how some of the film's more impressive combat sequences came together and exactly what it takes to embrace the spirit of a bloodthirsty Saint Nick. Check out the featurette for Violent Night below before the films lands in theaters on December 2nd.

The featurette is described, "MTV Challenge's Cory Wharton, RDCWorld's Mark Phillips, and Watcher's Ryan Bergara and Shane Madej see if they have what it takes to become a mercenary fighting Santa Claus with the help of Violent Night's stunt coordinator & 2nd unit director, Jonathan Eusebio."

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, which shouldn't come as much of a surprise to any viewers who have gotten a taste of the film's action.

"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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