VIOLENT NIGHT (2022) – My rating: 4/10

Violent Night is a Christmas action-comedy directed by Tommy Wirkolal and written by Pat Casey and Josh Miller. The story is about a magical Santa Claus who finds himself fighting off mercenaries that have taken a wealthy family hostage in their home. Violent Night is one of the worse movies I’ve seen since the likes of “The Menu” and “Bros”.

On Christmas Eve, Santa Claus (David Harbour), who appears to have tied on one too many, continues to pour down the drinks at a Bristol pub while lamenting that children have become increasingly materialistic, in a world unaware he actually exists. Determined to resume delivering gifts, Santa emerges to the roof and flies off in his reindeer-driven sleigh. In Greenwich, Connecticut, Jason Lightstone (Alex Hassell), his estranged wife Linda (Alexis Louder), and their daughter Trudy (Leah Brady) visit his mother Gertrude’s (Beverly D’Angelo) mansion to celebrate Christmas with his alcoholic sister Alva (Edi Patterson), her new boyfriend and wannabe-action star Morgan Steel (Cam Gigandet), and Alva’s son Bertrude (Alexander Elliot),  BTW: the name Bertrude is not a typo and is explained in the movie. Thanks to gifting Trudy with an old walkie-talkie so she could “talk to Santa”, Jason and Linda overhear her only wish: to become a family again. Drunkenly delivering gifts, Santa arrives at the Lightstone estate, where the caterers reveal themselves to be mercenaries with Christmas-themed codenames. Led by “Mr. Scrooge”/Jimmy Martinez (John Leguizamo), they slaughter the staff and take the family hostage. Santa is discovered by one of the henchmen, whose gunfire scares away the reindeer along with his sled, and they fight until Santa knocks him out of a window to his death. Stranded, Santa decides to save Trudy and her family from Scrooge, who demands the $300 million in cash from the mansion’s vault.

Violent Night is one of the most violent movies I’ve ever seen. Santa becomes a killing machine that slaughters in ways that make you cringe.  Everything from decapitation to empaling to burning up victims alive is how this film defines a rescue using Santa Claus.  I suspect Violent Night was meant to mimic “Home Alone” with an upgrade to adult situations with a touch of comedy.  Some of the scenes were so violent, I had to look away.  I would rather see a bloody surgery.  Fowl language was also in abundance as children being present was not a deterrent or problem.  The situation was surreal and the motive was greed. Santa and Mr. Scrooge seem to be in a contest for the bloodiest and most gruesome kills.  There’s no way I could make any of this materialize as a feasible chain of events that could be believed.  While Santa was magical, no amount of magic could have helped this scenario.  In the end, it boiled down to good vs evil.  The problem is the good was not much better than the evil.  I guess, “all’s well that ends well” would be an appropriate cliche to wrap up this horrific movie.  Don’t bring your children to see Violent Night, it might suggest serial killing as an exceptable way of life.

The film has grossed $29 million worldwide. The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes said critics did not find the film “as wildly entertaining as its concept might suggest” but that it may be enjoyable “for those seeking harder-edged holiday fare”. The website assessed that 71% of 168 critics’ reviews are positive, with an average rating of 6.3/10. I would define Violent Night as a dark comedy horror film instead of an action comedy.  Also, the suggestion of Christmas would never be associated with this movie. Violent Night is currently airing in theaters — Check It Out!