Violent Night (2022)

Tis the season to be bloody...

A knowing cross between Home Alone and Die Hard, this movie manages to have its Christmas cake and eat it. As the title suggests it is as violent as possible yet it also manages to sneak in a soupcon of seasonal magic at the same time. Played by David Harbour, this Santa drinks too much, is bitterly resentful at the way Xmas has turned yet still lights up when he sees a child’s delight opening presents. In relation to the recent online debate as to whether Die Hard is a Christmas movie, I can state that Violent Night (a title that made me laugh when I first heard it) most definitely is a Christmas movie only maybe for people who don’t enjoy the season as much.

 

The theatrical poster was deliberately modelled on those old fashioned Santa images except for his aggressive expression and definitely sets the scene though the film does take a little while to get going. It starts sluggishly to be honest, a bit like one of those afternoon movies with dysfunctional families living in unnaturally huge mansions with more Christmas decorations than a shopping mall. There’s a tree in every room, expensive lights and mountains of tidily wrapped presents. As the narrative progresses each time you think you’ve seen the whole place there’s another wing or a separate building. Who lives in a house like this?

The Lightstone family seem to barely disguise their loathing for each other in a fun take on the usual Christmas familial tensions. What they don’t know is that some of the temporary staff brought in to help deliver this extravagant Christmas are undercover mercenaries and they soon take over the house killing the regular staff in a development that kicks off the film and shows the direction in which it is headed. This group, led by `Mr Scrooge` are after a hidden treasure supposedly kept in the vault.

We’ve already met Santa drowning his seasonal sorrows in a bar and like the other people there we assume he’s just a man in the outfit. It soon transpires he is the real Santa and he even gets an origin story having been a Norse warrior called Nicomund the Red which explains his handiness with weaponry and combat. He is covertly trying to pick off this gang though this is not as easy as it sounds. Amusingly the family arguments continue despite the peril they are in.

The film is at its best in full action mode with inventive and well staged fight sequences that always lean into the Christmas theme. These contretemps are giddily choreographed with close quarters action, nifty editing and a taste for the gruesome. Believe me you’ve never seen festive decorations used so imaginatively. The showpiece sequence takes place in an outhouse as about fifteen armed gunmen are taken out by Santa with a mallet to the accompaniment of an upbeat Xmas song.  It’s crisply edited perhaps to disguise the relative simplicity of the fights (no martial arts here) yet it works well building a momentum.

One of the aspects about Home Alone that goes largely unremarked is that the punishments meted out to intruders by the young Kevin McAllister would likely leave them with significantly more injuries than depicted and in all probability kill them. Violent Night, does not have the same issue. In fact, most attacks on the assailants result in death. When the house is taken and Santa is temporarily incapacitated it falls to youngest family member Trudy, ensconced in the attic to lay traps in true Home Alone style which she even references so they’re not trying to hide it. Only these defences utilising whatever is lying about are fatal. Between the two of them Santa and Trudy manage to kill about thirty people and still find time for some warm festive sentiment as Trudy’s wish for her estranged parents to reunite comes true albeit because of their near death experience.

Director Tommy Wirkola is clearly happier when the fists are flying, the blood is flowing than with the somewhat generic familial tropes though the script can be a little one note at times. He seems to take delight in showing us this expansive well fitted house and then wrecking it room by room. However, there should be funnier lines to be had from such a scenario and it feels as if the script is unsure how far to push this. Is it a comedy or not? It can be difficult to say. Early on a gross out moment as Santa ascends in his sleigh is both visually funny and neatly places the film as taking a more cynical tack but such moments are rare as the movie develops. At the end while it is refreshing to see the family retain their steeliness to some extent they don’t seem overly changed by what has happened though perhaps the resilience of the very rich is like that.

Also one key plot turn sees Trudy’s father Jason supposedly having moved a lot of cash from the vault and hidden it outside. When and how does he do this on his own? We see hm arrive and spend almost the whole duration of the film as a prisoner in the sitting room. The other thing you notice is how all that gushing blood, of which there is much, looks a little too fake and cranberry coloured. Deliberate? However when it comes to adding the Christmas message of believing in good the film does a surprisingly effective job in its final stretch without resorting to sentimentality (well ok not too much).  The moments of actual magic are kept relatively rare- the reindeer scoot away early on and Santa seems to run out of his ability to whizz up chimneys except when the plot really needs him to.

David Harbour is excellent eschewing the overly jolly persona of tradition with a more rough round the edges everyman type who could be a construction worker or something like that. Yet his eyes light up when Santa realises Trudy’s belief in him and it definitely adds something to what might otherwise be a typical slice and dice movie. Leah Brady as Trudy also avoids the schmaltz as well as the mannered quips you might expect from a kick ass juvenile heroine. John Leguizamo gives good attitude as Scrooge, the leader of the mercenaries each of whom also go by names such as Gingerbread, Krampus Frosty and Candy Cane. Of the rest of the family only Beverley D’Angelo as sour matriarch Gertrude gets good enough material to really shine. The sniping between them all at the start feels too scripted and false.

Despite the flaws I actually enjoyed Violent Night as a change from the overly familiar Christmas film staples and provided you don’t mind a bit of seasonal slaughter it’s worth a look and there is a sequel due next Christmas.