Violent Night Review from Universal Pictures!
Another Christmas has come and gone but it doesn’t mean you have to stop watching those seasonal horror flicks. Fortunately, there is a nice variety of Christmas horror films to indulge in including some new offerings this year such as Joe Begos’ Christmas Bloody Christmas (see review here) and this one Violent Night. I could get into trouble announcing Violent Night as horror because it sits more in the realm of an action film. It does however contain a big Christmas dinner helping of graphic violence.
Take David Harbor coming off his popularity as Hopper in Stranger Things and put his ass in a Santa suit. Make him disgruntled yet still kindhearted and convicted. Throw in a group of heavily armed tactical mercenary/thieves at him. Have a little girl in danger who is on the nice list he vows to protect at all costs, and you got yourself a good way to waste an hour and fifty-two minutes.
Violent Night tells the story of the Lightstone family. A legacy of under handed business practices which has built a family empire. A ruthless mother Gertrude played by Beverly D’Angelo (whose four-decade career in movies is outstanding, I know her mostly as Ellen Griswold from the National Lampoon vacation movies) who has fronted the business and will now have to endure her money-grubbing children over the holidays.
We get the obnoxious daughter Alva played by Edi Patterson (Knives Out), her moronic self centered action star boyfriend Morgan Steel played by Cam Gigandet (Twilight, Priest) whose sole purpose is to get Gertrude to fund another one of his movies. Alva’s son Bertrude played by Alexander Elliot (The Hardy Boys) whose ridiculous name is as foolish as his wannabe gangsta social media persona. Then we get Gertrude’s son Jason played by Alex Hassell (His Dark Materials, Cowboy Bebop, The Boys) who is trying to get out of the family business and get back with his ex-wife Linda played by Alexis Louder (Cop Shop, Terminal List, Charmed) and his daughter Trudy played by Leah Brady (Umbrella Academy).
All the bickering, bullshit, and bantering soon ends abruptly. A group of mercenaries headed up by a guy simply going by the name Scrooge played by John Leguizamo (Encanto, The Menu, Fairfax, John Wick) wants the 300 million dollars in the family vault and has taken measures to ensure he gets it. There is one thing he hasn’t counted on and that is good ol’ not so jolly St. Nick.
We’re introduced to Santa Clause played by Arbor who is hanging out in a bar before his yearly gift run. He has become resentful delivering presents to all the ungrateful children of the world he clearly rants about. Saint Nick has become as jaded as the kids he has been delivering gifts to it seems. I really enjoyed Arbors rants in these scenes because they were sharpshooter accurate.
Santa drops by The Lightstone mansion Christmas night and notices Trudy is in trouble. He has an encounter with one of the mercenaries and then vows to stop them as his bond with Trudy is solidified. At first the unlikely hero Santa has his ass handed to him but quickly pulls up his big boy pants and efficiently engages the mercenaries. There is a cool nod to Home Alone in a particular scene when Trudy is hiding in the attic fending off a couple of the mercenaries with successful results before Santa swoops in.
Violent Night has some great witty dialogue, engaging action sequences (especially when Santa singlehandedly takes on a radical assault team with Bryan Adam’s Something About Christmas Time playing in the background) and the violence can be quite jaw dropping. Santa stabs bad guys with sharpened candy canes, bashes in heads with a sledgehammer, decapitates with an ice skate and disintegrates a guy with a hand grenade down the trousers. There is a background story where the viewer finds out Santa was actually a Viking style hammer wielding warrior before he became the family friendly icon. It’s good mindless fun and as I was watching I couldn’t help but think of Richard Donners’ Scrooged from 1988 with Bill Murray when they were airing the ad for the action Christmas movie on the TV station with Lee Majors.
Violent Night is a great holiday time waster for those looking for a little holiday movie cheer splattered with blood and violence. You can enjoy it by the fireplace with your stocking hung by the fireplace and Christmas tree gleaming in the background.
AKA: Noche sin paz, Noite Infeliz, Брутална нощ, Ô violente nuit, Divlja noć, Šílená noc, Άγρια νύχτα,殺神夜, Vérapó, Mi Mefakhed Me’Santa?, Una notte violenta e silenziosa,バイオレント・ナイト, Noite Violenta, Жестокая ночь, Šialená noc,暴戾夜, Vahşi Gece, Люта нічка, Đêm Hung Tàn
Directed by: Tommy Wirkola
Written by: Pat Casey, Josh Miller
Produced by: Guy Danella, David Leitch, Kelly McCormick, Brandy Hagborg, Paul Barry,
Cinematography by: Matthew Weston
Editing by: Jim Page
Special Effects by: Andy Antoine, Crafty Apes, Industrial Pixel VFX
Music by: Dominic Lewis
Cast: David Harbour, John Leguizamo, Beverly D’Angelo, Alex Hassell, Alexis Louder, Edi Pattersonz
Year: 2022
Country: Canada/USA
Language: English
Color: Colour
Runtime: 1h 52min
Studio: 87North
Distributor: Universal Pictures Home Entertainment
