We are seeing some pretty a-typical Santa Claus stories coming out of Hollywood these past few years. Though The Christmas Chronicles 2 certainly tried its best, it couldn't exactly make us forget completely about a sunglass-wearing, sarcasm bomb-dropping, Dodge Challenger-driving Santa Claus singing hard rock versions of Christmas carols with the other detainees in jail.
There has been a recent uptick in these kinds of films that show traditionally innocent and for-kids figures stepping into the roles of grisly, tattooed, swearing, and drunken action heroes. Though not widely enjoyed nor well reviewed, Mel Gibson's 2020 film Fatman is an excellent example of this trend. It took its bizarre twist, a hideout vigilantly type of Santa Claus, seriously and played it straight, and some say the film is not totally unwatchable. Meanwhile, filmmaker Rhys Waterford is going at the concept hard with his forthcoming movie Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey and with subsequent, similar films in the works.
Now, audiences can look forward to Violent Night, starring David Harbour as Santa Claus. He is a lean, mean, Christmas Spirit-enforcing machine caught up in a war against mercenaries. Why are these movies being made? They don't seem to be merely in the name of humor. Fatman was quite serious. Blood and Honey is shaping up to be more than just a nightmarish dark comedy. Violent Night will almost certainly go beyond the insane concept of a disgruntled, edgelord Santa turning into an f-bomb-dropping John Wick in the name of Christmas.
Speaking of, Violent Night is from the same acclaimed director as John Wick, David Leitch, and will star David Harbour as Santa, John Leguizamo, Beverly D'Angelo (National Lampoon's Vacation), Alex Hassell (The Tragedy of Macbeth), and Edi Patterson (Righteous Gemstones), Alexis Louder (The Tomorrow War), and Cam Gigandet (The Magnificent Seven). The movie promises to be quite the holiday treat, and early footage delighted fans at the 2022 CinemaCon.
David Harbour as an R-Rated Santa
While there is no trailer yet available for the film, we know that Santa Claus will be bringing on the heat with a mercenary group that has kidnaped a family on Christmas Eve, rendering Saint Nick the only man for the job of liberating them. It will be gory, violent, and very R-rated.
David Harbour candidly spoke about the movie at CinemaCon, saying:
"What about movies that make you sweat? Don't you love action movies? Who doesn't love a great action movie, right? How about Christmas movies? So, what about a movie that's a great action movie, and the greatest Christmas movie in one? Die Hard. F-cking Die Hard. Now what if...wait a minute, wait a minute. What if kick ass director Tommy Wirkola and the badass producers at 87North, you know, the maniacs who did Atomic Blonde and John Wick and Nobody and Hobbs and Shaw, were behind it all? And, wait a minute, what if I started in it as f-cking Santa Claus? Oh, do I swing a mother f-cking hammer? Yes. What you're about to see is not an actual trailer, I don't think, but you better not cry to somebody. You better not pout. I'm telling you why. Because Santa Claus is coming to town. Let's f-cking go.”
The plot has the potential to touch base with all the last few decades' most iconic movies. There's a home hostage plot reminiscent of Home Alone, an angry Santa Claus like Kurt Russell's in The Christmas Chronicles, and Christmas spirit like in Elf when one of the young girls is being held hostage by the mercenaries calls Santa and begs him for help. He replies, "Santa Claus is coming to town."
Why are Alternative Santa Movies Being Made?
What broader themes do this movie, and others like it, hope to achieve? Is this all merely in the name of surprising and first-of-its-kind genre-bending? Is it a predictable product of the declinism and disillusionment seizing much of the population and, by extension, Hollywood? Well, yes! It's both! What will the effect of these movies be?
Violent Night will probably make the biggest splash of them all because of the billed talent between Leitch and Harbour. It will most likely start as an enjoyable, different, and satisfying action thriller featuring a pantomime of a beloved children's figure. It will act as a time capsule of the general state of things when it's looked back on. Still, we have to wait for the movie to be sure.
Ultimately, these movies are a fun utilization of audiences' desire to see stereotypes broken down, expectations smashed and lies overwritten as Santa Claus shows us all what he's really made of.
Release Date
Violent Night will be released to theaters by Universal Pictures on December 2, 2022, in plenty of time for Christmas. One thing's for sure; it will be the first significant and anticipated Christmas movie in theaters that is definitely not for kids since Die Hard.