VIOLENT NIGHT: A Bloody Gift

Everybody wants something different for Christmas. It’s a Wonderful Life for mom, A Christmas Story for uncle Tim, and Die Hard for grandma. The sweet, the saccharine, the funny, and the violent have always fit under the tree and in the theaters, but the latter gets served up a little less frequently since bloody mayhem and yuletide greetings are a hard mix to get right.

Violent Night comes along to satiate those who want some kicks, punches, and gunplay for the holiday, unabashedly imagining a Santa that’s adept at thwarting the break-in he stumbles into. Mind you, this is the real Santa. Not as jolly as the lore goes, but rotund and with a bag of presents that sometimes comes in handy (and for good comedic effect, often doesn’t).

This isn’t attempting anything novel, but originality isn’t its aim. What it thrives on is enthusiasm, which it spurts on you like an infectious arterial spray. It’s not for the fainthearted (and it’s definitely not for children), but its target audience will appreciate the rare treat.

It Is What It Is

All movies require you to buy into their conceit to some extent, but Violent Night is a particularly rigid kind of movie. That being said, you should be able to guess what it offers from its title, and if you’re somehow taken off guard, it reveals its excesses quickly. You meet Santa guzzling beers, spouting obscenities, and very shortly spurting something even grosser. The setup for the break-in is handled with the efficient grace that comes from heavy tropes (the family in danger here are largely ultra-wealthy jerks while the thieves are cold professionals), so it doesn’t take long for things to get gleefully violent. 

Director Tommy Wirkola and writers Josh Miller and Pat Casey know their holiday predecessors. When the film isn’t making direct references to Die Hard and Home Alone it becomes a pastiche of these indelible films. The brazenness with which they take these films’ strengths and repackage them only adds to the appeal; so much of the holidays are about tradition, and in many ways, Violent Night sticks to tradition.

If this isn’t your cup of tea, then the movie doesn’t really care about you. It came to put people who thoroughly deserve it through the grinder, and it does that with aplomb.

Merry Violence

There’s danger in such precision becoming repetitive, with Santa tearing through bad guys and spouting one-liners until the conceit loses its appeal, but Wirkola and company bring enough variation to the formula that none of it feels ho-hum.

Part of this comes from good old-fashioned leaning into the holiday trimmings, because what Christmas action movie is complete without the accoutrement getting folded in? Santa is largely making up his rescue attempt as he goes, so he utilizes tinsel, lights, and whatever else is laying around the extensively adorned house. Some of these ideas work better than others, such as when a tree topper is used for a satisfyingly protracted death vs when a string of lights as rope makes the screen too busy, but the attempts keep things brisk and lively, and when they don’t work, they are quickly abandoned.

Its secret weapon, though, is its consistent humor, which hits just as hard as its violence. That is to say that it’s familiar but satisfying, with none of the quips likely to make it into the quotable pantheon. At the moment, though, they’re solid enough to get some hearty laughs. 

Perfect Casting

The ringer for Violent Night is the odd appeal of David Harbour. The big but gentle guy that everyone fell in love with as Hopper in Stranger Things feels born to don the red suit and down as much liquor as he can, and the slight backstory they come up with to explain his battle-readiness is a perfect fit for his hulking presence.

Even the lingering sadness behind Harbour’s eyes is utilized here, as his Santa’s grumpiness comes from a loss of purpose that can only be rekindled by embracing his naughty past. Dispatching thieves turns out to be exactly what he needs, and in a movie built on the familiar, this rudimentary character arc combined with Harbour’s adeptness at playing a loveable grump provides all the narrative momentum the film needs.

John Leguizamo holds up well against him as the leader of the group breaking into the house, and in the few times, they get to spar, Harbour’s weariness plays well against Leguizamo’s brash certainty. And their final, climactic battle, well, that’s a treat I won’t spoil.

Leah Brady as the nice little girl who spurs Santa into action never gets too cutesy and Brendan Fletcher has fun as a devilish psychopath while the rest of the cast fills out the myriad family members and baddies with an appropriate level of competent blandness. The film neither needs nor wants to spend too much time on them. They are fodder for Harbour’s Santa to either dispatch or draw fuel from, and Wirkola is smart enough to know that the movie would only be weighed down by spending too much time with anyone else.

Conclusion: Violent Night

Violent Night is a worthy addition to the Christmas action-comedy lineup thanks to its regurgitation of the hits, but its sizable helping of blood and gore isn’t enough to make it truly stand out. The only true note of inspiration comes from David Harbour’s curmudgeonly Santa, which generates enough spirit to make this a good time for anyone who can stomach it.

Violent Night will be released in theaters beginning December 2, 2022!

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