It’s almost hard to remember that there was once a period in American history where folks got riled up about the idea of Santa Claus being used in horror movies and other related genre flicks, but it did happen. But we’ve come a long way as a culture from Silent Night, Deadly Night, and the actors who have played Santa in some non-Miracle on 34th Street fashion keep growing by the year: Bill Goldberg, Mel Gibson, and now, David Harbour. Yep, that’s right: Harbour is now Buff Santa Who Murders, and he’ll appear in the new film Violent Night, from the director of the Dead Snow franchise, this holiday season. Universal dropped a trailer for the movie, and boy howdy does this look absolutely ridiculous.
Peep it:
Now, we don’t normally post the accolade and hyperbole-heavy introductions for a short synopsis like this one, but this is just too funny to pass up. Check it:
“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 coal-dark 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.”
See? You get a Passenger 57 reference in there, and we’ll post your whole synopsis. Crazy how that works, right?
Anyway, Violent Night hits theaters on December 2. If you’re in the mood for a genuinely wacky Santa-themed genre film, check out Deadly Games (or Dial Code: Santa Claus as it is also known). It was basically the first movie to do the whole “Die Hard as a more overt Christmas Movie than it already is” picture, and it’s a genuinely stellar time. We’re pretty sure it’s still streaming on Shudder, too.