Violent Night

I cannot even tell you how much I loved the movie! I loved it so much that I watched it twice: First by myself, and with my son for the second time. We both are big movie buffs and it took me a lot of effort not to spoil the movie for my son by answering his rhetorical questions during the movie.

When we left the theater, I asked my son how she liked the movie. I knew he liked it because he laughed a lot during the show, but this is our usual routine: After a movie we always talk impressions. My son thought for a second and then said, "This is probably my favorite genre of movies now."

"You mean Christmas movies?" I asked, teasing.

"No, mom, action 'stoner' movies," my son replied laughing.

"You mean movies made by someone who is stoned?" I asked.

"Of course, who in their right sober mind could come up with sh*t like this? At least the writers were definitely stoned. The director, I'm not sure, but he definitely understands how the stoned mind works."

My son, of course, meant the over-the-top, Tarantino-esque violence and crass "stoner" humor of the movie. If you can't stand violence of any type, this is not a movie for you. I don't like realistic violence and gore in the movies either, but when it is as unreal and grotesque as in the Violent Night, it makes it absurd and funny to the point where you start laughing at [spoiler alert!] a lump of bloody meat that used to be a man before Santa took him for a ride through a narrow chimney. The chimney, by the way, appeared out of nowhere in the middle of a winter forest, not even attached to any house, which adds to the intended comedic effect.

There was too much violence in the movie, for sure, and some of it was gory and realistic, but the movie is titled "Violent Night." If you can think of it abstractly, in the detached way, you will even enjoy it. For example, I liked the entire sequence with booby traps set up by Trudy, the little girl who is one of the main characters in the movie, to prevent the bad guys from getting to her in her hiding place in the attic. That sequence was such a great homage to the Home Alone movies that you will be counting similarities with delight (glued boots, torn pieces of hair with scalp, sawed-off ladder steps, etc.). That sequence did take me back to good Home Alone times, and I hope everyone will enjoy it too even though it ended badly for both intruders.

The most compelling character in the movie was, of course, Santa Clause. His humanity and vulnerability are purposefully contrasted with his big fat frame and boorishness, and David Harbour is cast for it perfectly. Santa loves his beer, real home-made cookies with non-organic whole milk, and would burb, fart, and vomit with no reservation. His "origin story" that goes back 1,000 years, is an interesting fresh spin on the Santa Clause as a post of redemption. His relationship with Mrs. Clause is not wasted in the plotline either.

However, the biggest peg of the character is that Santa Clause hates people's obsession with money and material things, which makes him resent his own job more often than not, because most gift requests he receives are about material presents and cash. He knows who is geniunely naughty or nice even without the magic scroll he has as a tool, although he will use it for verification often. But even without the scroll, he could tell that Trudy, the little girl who asks him for help, is a real deal. He answers that call and the rest is... the movie I hope you will enjoy just as much as I did.