Moviegoers were recently teased with a stinger of a butt-kicking Santa played by David Harbour (Stranger Things, Black Widow), and now we can finally peak at the present. The trailer for Violent Night dropped on October 5th, and the title says it all; blood, guts, and puns a plenty. The film, directed by Tommy Wirkola (Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters and Dead Snow) and penned by writing team Patrick Casey and Josh Miller (Sonic the Hedgehog films), is set to release on December 2, 2022. Think of it as an early gift for the hyper-violent action thriller fanboys.
The tone of the trailer immediately implies an Army of Darkness-like self-aware spoofy romp with a wise-cracking (and skull-cracking) lead character mowing down a small army of hapless bad guys in every vicious way possible. It’s Home Alone if Kevin were a murderous sociopath. Movies like this are either instant cult classics or just flat-out bombs, so we’ll have to wait a few weeks to see where it lands. But from the trailer, Violent Night at least looks like a fun action exercise.
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
A Slovenly Santa
Universal Pictures
The trailer starts with Santa (Harbour) saddled up at a bar, draining a pint and loudly belching, perfectly setting the tone for the rest of the footage. It immediately points to a typical Harbour outing; a big, friendly but lethal goon who’ll slap you on the back or tear out your spine. The bartender asks if he’s ok to drive, to which Santa replies, “I steer a little, but the reindeer do most of the work.” An off-duty mall Santa asks him how long he’s been at the holly jolly gig: “I started the whole damn thing…” replies our Santa.
The Imperiled Family
The trailer cuts to a sprawling estate and cavernous mansion amid a pleasant snowfall, right out of a grandma’s snow globe. The wealthy family within tucks in their daughter on this Christmas Eve, allowing her one early gift opening; a walkie-talkie. Her father claims that the radio is a direct line to the big red man himself. Enter the villains, led by Ben (John Leguizamo). “Welcome to your worst Christmas ever,” he says, flanked by a guard of varied henchmen locking and loading big guns.
This entry gives off immediate Die Hard vibes, with the Hans Gruber and his crew barging their way into the building; they even add in a bunch of winter camo-wearing soldiers on snowmobiles for a nod to Die Harder. They promptly wipe out the family’s private security and shoot up the towering Christmas tree. Ben sits down the entire family, including matriarch Gertrude (Beverly D’Angelo), and demands access to the $300M in the personal vault (He’s an EXCEPTIONAL thief).
Santa Saves the Day
This is when Santa makes his way down the chimney in a haze of magic dust as opposed to crawling. Santa bites into a delicious cookie and is immediately accosted by one of Ben’s thugs. Putting his hands up and offering to leave, the bad guy takes a shot at him anyway, and so begins the montage of brutal kills that makes up the rest of the trailer.
We learn the little girl’s name is Trudy Lightstone as she chats away with the embattled Santa via her walkie-talkie. This innocent moment gives way to Santa filling a tube sock with pool balls and smashing a bad guy’s hand and face. Next, he impales an eyeball with a tree-topping star, hitting the power and electrocuting the villain through the new orifice.
Some wry humor (which hopefully persists throughout the movie) is injected via Santa looking up Trudy on his naughty/nice list, in this case, a magic scroll. She makes the latter, with details such as “kind to animals,” “sweet to everyone,” and “invited weird kid to party.” It goes back to the killing with Santa prepping a sneak attack tinsel string strangulation, winging a simple snowball at a bad guy’s face, and uttering the cringey but fun pun “Time for some season’s BEATINGS.”
He flings an axe and sharpens a candy cane for a face stab, followed by Ben exclaiming, “There is no such thing as Santa!” Santa describes the villains as being on his naughty list, with a lump of coal in their future, just as he sticks a live grenade down one of the foot solider’s pants. “I’ve gotta watch,” grins Santa, in either a fourth wall break or to an unseen person, as he turns to take in the explosion. The trailer is capped off with Santa taking a rooftop step directly into reindeer droppings, implicating Prancer, who dips his head down in a guilty bow.
It’s a simple, fun premise that promises fast-paced and entertaining action. Whether Violent Night carries any substance for viewers in its big toy bag will have to wait until December.
