To be frank, Christmas isn’t my favorite holiday movie genre and it’s hard for me to get excited about anything new that comes out this season.
That’s largely due to growing up with the best Christmas movies in the past including stop-motion or animated ones and live-action flicks, too.
But, every once in a while, there’s a movie geared toward adults that grabs my attention and I deem it worthy of carving time out of my schedule to see it.
Enter “Violent Night,” an odd Christmas action-comedy movie that dropped into theaters at the start of December.
I just have to say that if you’re a fan of “Die Hard” (1988) as a Christmas movie, then you’ll love this one, too!
Even though I’m sure Violent Night has a higher body count of bad guys and a few more creative death sequences, too.
Violent Night is a Christmas action-comedy film starring David Harbour as Santa Claus, who fights mercenaries who have taken a wealthy family hostage in their home.
It is directed by Tommy Wirkola and written by Pat Casey and Josh Miller.
It also stars John Leguizamo, Alex Hassell, Alexis Louder, Edi Patterson, Cam Gigandet, Leah Brady, Alexander Elliot, and Beverly D’Angelo.
The film is 112 minutes long and rated R for strong bloody violence, language throughout, and some sexual references.
On Christmas Eve, Santa Claus drinks at a Bristol pub and laments that children have become increasingly materialistic, in a world unaware he actually exists.
Flying off with his reindeer and sleigh, he accidentally vomits on the bartender.
In Greenwich, Connecticut, Jason Lightstone (Hassell) along with his estranged wife Linda (Louder), and their daughter Trudy (Brady) visit his mother Gertrude’s (D’Angelo) mansion to celebrate Christmas.
Jason’s family gets to enjoy quality time with his alcoholic sister Alva (Patterson), her new boyfriend and wannabe-action star Morgan Steel (Gigandet), and Alva’s online streamer son “Bert” Bertrude (Elliot).
Finding an old walkie-talkie for Trudy to “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” (Leguizamo), they slaughter the staff and take the family hostage.
Santa is discovered by one of the henchmen, whose gunfire scares away the reindeer, 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.
Santa kills another henchman and takes his radio, coming across Trudy’s channel, and finds the mercenaries on his magical naughty list.
When Trudy’s walkie-talkie is discovered, Jason tells their captors that she is simply playing make-believe and declares that Santa is not real, causing her to run and hide in the attic.
Santa reassures Trudy over the radio, revealing that he was once Nikamund the Red, a bloodthirsty Viking warrior, and finds comfort in his 1,100 years of marriage to Mrs. Claus.
One of the henchmen, Krampus, forces the family to present their gifts to Gertrude, who is surprised by a card from Jason.
Wounded, Santa is captured by Scrooge, who bears a childhood grudge against Christmas.
Santa’s knowledge of their real identities convinces henchmen Gingerbread and Candy Cane that he is real, and he uses his magic to escape through the chimney.
From that moment on, it’s totally open season Santa, and the man in red has to channel his Viking roots once more.
