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The violent Christmas film was not part of the first few decades of Hollywood moviemaking. I wonder if the days of the Production Code would have even allowed such a thing. It would have been considered an affront to this Christian nation (the folks behind the Production Code were generally super Catholic). Of course, “Christmas, but violent” can be a crutch. It doesn’t work in and of itself as ironic juxtaposition at this point. Shane Black has made too many movies. On the spectrum of such films, 2022’s Violent Night is somewhere in the middle.
I saved Violent Night as a movie to watch while I was on my exercise bike, and for that, it was ideal. That is, to a degree, damning with faint praise, but it is praise. It was solid and worth a watch. It kept me engaged which I was not fully mentally focused on it, what with my legs pumping away. Movies like this are needed. We don’t all have a book to bring on a plane.
My presumption was that this would be a horror film, but it’s much more of a thriller, but like a comedy thriller? In terms of beefs with Violent Night, the comedy comes to the front of mind. There’s a lot of sweaty attempts at humor in the movie. Also, not to be all “Where’s Poochie?” but I definitely had a, “Whenever Santa isn’t on the screen people should be asking ‘Where’s Santa?’” feel at times. Those are the best parts of the film.
David Harbour, who I am a fan of, gets to do action stuff as Santa Claus. He’s violent and vengeful, but on the right side of things, as opposed to several Christmas horror films. The action works better than the comedy. Santa works better than any other character. There is, I suppose, a smidge of something fresh to the action thanks to the milieu and the present of Jolly Old Saint Nick, but not enough to patch over the down points.
