Editor’s Note: Below are spoilers for Violent Night.
cruel night has all the makings of a future Christmas classic. It has a unique presentation: Santa Claus (David Harbor) is forced to deal with a horde of armed criminals when they invade the home of a wealthy family. It’s also much bloodier than your average Christmas dish, thanks to the director. Tommy Wirkola (ur.Hansel and Gretel witch hunters) and producer David Leitch (Deadpool 2 bullet train). But underneath all the gore and profanity lies a surprisingly touching story about the idea of the “spirit of Christmas”—namely, the feelings of peace and goodwill on Earth that tend to fill most people’s hearts in holiday-themed films.
And it feels like Santa lost. The film opens with him sitting in a bar, drowning his sorrows in beer rather than milk and cookies. “The whole planet lives on greed,” he growls, lamenting that the children are starting to believe in him more and more. The montage just seems to get the point across: Santa comes to a house full of Amazon boxes and leaves a pile of coal for a drunk father who left his little daughter too close to the TV. It even casts as it passes the Washington Monument. Simply put, Jolly Old Saint Nick doesn’t feel particularly fun.
How Santa Rekindles the Spirit of Christmas
Everything changes when he visits the family compound owned by the wealthy Lightstone family. At first glance, they seem to be exactly the people that Santa has come to despise. Matriarch GertrudeBeverly D’Angelo) is rarely seen without a drink in hand, and daughter Alva (Edie Patterson) is more concerned with keeping her mother’s will than showing any kind of marital love. The only people who seem to be real people are Getruda’s son Jason (Alex Hassel), who is trying to reunite with his ex-wife Linda (Alexis Lauder) and give it to his daughter Trudy (Leah Brady) Merry Christmas.
In fact, it is Trudy’s belief in Santa that saves the day. Forgetting to take her to the mall to see Santa, Jason comes up with the smart idea of gifting her a walkie-talkie which he says will provide a direct link to Santa. He’s more right than he thinks: after meeting one of the thieves who broke into the Lightstone mansion, the real Santa takes the walkie-talkie and ends up contacting Trudy. Throughout the film, they talk about Santa’s bloody past as a Viking warrior, Nycomund the Red, and how Santa struggles to keep his Christmas spirit alive. Even when things get bleak, Trudy refuses to lose faith in Santa, which gives him the energy he needs to take down the invaders with extreme prejudice.
Mr Scrooge topped the list of the most naughty Santa
On the contrary, the leader of the thieves “Mr. Scrooge” (John Leguizamo) more than deserved a spot on Santa’s naughty list. He is determined to get away with the $300 million stored in Gertrude’s vault, no matter who he has to kill to get it. And he seems to scorn the very idea of Christmas, even opening fire on the ornate Lightstone Christmas tree with a machine gun. Eventually, Scrooge reveals the reason for his hatred of Christmas: during one of the holiday seasons, his father was fired and couldn’t afford their annual Christmas celebration. He decided to rob their nearest neighbors, but ended up causing the death of an elderly man. Therefore, he sees the perfect opportunity to kill Santa and end Christmas for good, but fails as Santa uses his ability to travel down chimneys to deal brutally with his opponent.
However, their quarrel takes its toll on Santa and he dies. Desperate, Trudy tries to convince the rest of her family to believe in Santa - and they do so, resurrecting him and his belief in Christmas. Jason even burns $300 million to keep warm, really selfless. Despite having survived a long and stormy night, Santa takes off into the snowy sky and his Christmas spirit grows even stronger.
cruel night now plays in theaters.
Source: Collider
