Violent Night Review: Santa Claus Is Coming to Kill

Fans of the more intense or unsettling corners of cinema know that any movie featuring a holiday theme is sure to stand out from the crowd, with October and All Hallow’s Eve being a popular setting for genre films. Other experiences, however, prefer to juxtapose their intense subject matter with more lighthearted events, with the ’70s and ’80s seeing a rise in action and horror films taking place during the Christmas season. While some of these films offer little more than an opportunity to contradict the on-screen brutality with the seasonal cheer that comes with the holidays, others find unique ways of incorporating long-held mythology and traditions to make that setting intrinsic to the narrative. In the case of Violent Night, audiences are given an experience that rests entirely on the power of Santa Claus, both literally and figuratively, to make for an absurd, brutal, and gleeful adventure.

After more than a millennium of delivering presents to growingly ungrateful girls and boys, Santa Claus (David Harbour) has lost enthusiasm for his yearly excursion around the globe, trading in milk for alcoholic beverages to stave off his depression. When Santa finds himself in the sprawling compound of a wealthy family who has become the target of a highly organized home invasion, the cries from a young girl see him putting his survival tactics to the test, as the only gift this family is asking for this year is to make it out of this nightmare alive.

Every time the holiday season rolls around, debates spark on social media about what movies do or don’t qualify as being Christmas movies, with every viewer having their own opinion. Is it a Christmas movie if it merely happens to unfold in late December and the set is adorned with iconic accouterments or do elements of the festivities have to become integral components of the plot? Regardless of the merits of films like Black Christmas, Die Hard, or Iron Man 3, the events of those films don’t entirely hinge upon Christmas celebrations, as opposed to an unconventional reimagining of the holidays as something like Krampus. For Violent Night, not only does the entire concept center around the holiday and Santa’s trek from the North Pole, but it also manages to channel a number of tropes from other holiday classics to serve as a loving and humorous tribute to the Christmas-movie genre.

From the opening moments of the film, Harbour proves he has what it takes to fully embody Kris Kringle in ways both expected and surprising. As seen in previous efforts, the actor brings with him warmth, charm, and charisma that effortlessly sell how caring he can be. While it would have been easy for Harbour to fully lean into the despondent and outlandish elements of a Santa who has given up on the world, both he and the script manage to convey the idea with the right blend of outlandishness and subtlety that this is a Santa at the end of his rope but also one who can’t give up on Christmas magic entirely. Supporting Harbour are a handful of entertaining performers, as John Leguizamo injects cartoonish menace into the adventure while Edi Patterson delivers some of the funniest lines in the whole movie with nearly every piece of dialogue she utters.

What really makes Violent Night work is that, while it could rest on the laurels of being an outlandish concept, it does manage to inject a surprising amount of holiday cheer. The overall storyline surrounding the family and their greed isn’t entirely memorable, but it does embrace tropes from Hallmark Christmas movies, as the ordeal brings together not only Santa with criminals, but also two parents who have drifted apart, leaving their daughter to hope for their reunion. The young Trudy (Leah Brady) also helps ground Santa with the more emotional parts of the holidays, as it’s her belief in him that helps lift him up when he’s be smashed down, both metaphorically and overtly.

Speaking to that restraint, it comes as a relief that, while there were plenty of opportunities to make tongue-in-cheek puns that would be obvious punchlines (think “season’s beatings” and the like), the script uses such turns of phrase sparingly as to avoid a barrage of groan-inducing catchphrases. Similarly, given the vast library of holiday music to choose from, director Tommy Wirkola went with familiar yet less-obvious tracks to punch up the energy of the experience.

Luckily, just when the film starts to get too saccharine, Violent Night makes good on its title and pivots to a bloody and brutal beatdown between Santa and the intruders, featuring all manner of items associated with the holiday. From garland to candy canes to ornaments, it’s no surprise that the team behind films like Nobody and Bullet Train managed to keep audiences on their toes with the intensity of the highly orchestrated violence. The nature of the film and the orchestration of these fight sequences, though, means that many are poorly lit, as they take place at night and are either illuminated by Christmas decor or by moonlight, which makes a lot of the specifics of the combat indiscernible. While it’s clear that some manner of bodily destruction is unfolding, the lack of lighting and CGI blood bursts make it hard to figure out exactly how Santa is neutralizing his foes. The violence we do get a clear look at, however, includes a more medically accurate tribute to Home Alone and a sequence that will make it so you never look at a chimney the same way again.

There is an absolutely fantastic 80-minute movie buried in Violent Night, though its actual run time is 20 minutes longer than that. There are expository sequences that run too long and narrative deviations that grind the story’s momentum to a halt, and while the attempts to explain how Santa’s history and how he could be so quick to become a bloodthirsty barbarian are admirable, the ideas aren’t entirely fleshed out and leave us scratching our heads. Still, for genre fans who have been on the lookout for a worthy addition to their annual rotation of nontraditional holiday movies to watch each year, Violent Night has a surprising amount of heart for a movie whose focus is to deck the halls with broken bones and bloodshed.

Rating: 4 out of 5

Violent Night lands in theaters on December 2nd.