About a 6-minute read

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“What if, and just hear me out, what if Jolly Old Saint Nick, Santa Claus himself, was once a Viking berserker whose bloodlust stoked terror in his enemies as he laid waste to unfortunate souls across fields of carnage, transforming them into lakes of crimson?”

“I’d say, buy that man a beer!”

“Okay, but what if people HAVE been doing that for centuries, and now Kris Kringle is an unmotivated, depressed alcoholic who despises what Christmas has become and his role in it?”

“I guess, damn, sorry, Santa.”

“But then, what if this is all just a movie, and Santa is played by David Harbour who runs around a mansion creating Christmas magic for a young girl while absolutely destroying a team of highly trained criminals and kill squad operatives in unbelievably violent ways?”

“I think I missed connecting some of the dots, but that sounds awesome.”

And so, we have Violent Night, a raucous alt-holiday movie that blends lost Christmas spirit, terrible family dynamics, a heist, and a plethora of ultra-violence that would make Die Hard blush. This movie actually does a pretty good job showing how Harry and Marv actually would have come out of Home Alone if their injuries were allowed to be realistic. They wouldn’t have – they’d be dead. Despite the combat, and the bludgeoning, and the stabbing, Violent Night is not a full-time thrill ride. It’s a movie that, on first watch, you probably want to be more. The bones are there, but what’s constructed leads to an initial watch of some letdown sitting atop a foundation of earnest enjoyment. Additional viewings, however, allow Violent Night to just be fun.

That’s where I’m at, past the second viewing. I remember initially seeing Violent Night in the theater, knowing people attached to the movie had ties to the John Wick franchise and excited to see how David Harbour’s grizzly demeanor transferred to a butt-whooping Santa. Then, the movie laid out a cast of caricatures and silly set-ups for the various fight and action sequences that distracted and detracted from that first watch. Some of that disappointment is my own fault for expecting something more serious and violence at a faster pace. I don’t recall Violent Night being marketed as such a film, yet that is what I constructed in my head. It’s really just a silly movie that delivers what it’s supposed to, and that’s all that should be expected.

The second viewing provides the clarity for enjoyment of the stellar holiday installation that is Violent Night, and there are a few things that stand out with the newfound perspective.

• The “caricaturized” characters are not purely gimmicks and instead personify the different people we can encounter in our lives and families. There are schemers, the overly confident, the power-holders, and the caring. To make them interesting in the film, however, they have to be, well, caricatures. The initial shock of how abrasive the characters eventually gives way to a satisfying blending with the crazy plot and hyper-violence.
• One of Violent Night’s main plot pillars is Santa’s journey from the brink back to being filled with holiday spirit. Yes, he’s obnoxious and brash at the beginning; Santa’s years on the job and prior experiences weigh on him as most of the world takes their comfort and good fortune for granted. As the film progresses, Santa is forced to scrape away the crusty shell that’s engulfed him and find the truth in his heart of who he is and what he means to the world, even if it’s only one young girl who’s able to show him the way. While Violent Night makes Santa’s transformation an obvious focus, the finer points can get lost under the gloss and gore until you realize what you’re watching.
• Something I’ve probably been slow to understand as an adult is that Christmas is best experienced through the eyes of a child. I am fortunate to have fantastic holiday memories from my childhood, and for years now, I’ve chased those feelings by trying to create memorable experiences, establishing lasting traditions, and finding nostalgic warmth in the decorations adorning the house. Yet, it’s never the same. The feelings never hit the right level of Christmas anticipation. The smells aren’t piny enough. The colors are devoid of the same warmth. This all happens because those foundational holiday feelings are established as a child, when the lights and crisp snow create a new world, the thought of Santa is rooted in anticipation and magic, and the overall experience of Christmas is something curated for you. As an adult, the magic and joy never fully materialize because you are the person behind the curtain making it all happen. This may be where Violent Night strikes an unintended note in making all the adults insufferable while allowing the youngest child to remain filled with wonder and hope. She’s the one who helps Santa break free from his melancholy and become the savior of Christmas. Message received: view Christmas through a child’s eyes, because it’s those nascent feelings that make the season special.
• Since I expected a John Wick-esque action flick and felt let down, I needed a renewed perspective toward Violent Night’s relationship with violence. Where the Wick franchise quickly moved into gunplay and martial action from its emotionally charged roots, Violent Night uses violence as a reluctant tool of entertainment. There’s tension from the beginning that violence could erupt at any moment. Viewers know it’s coming because the movie is titled Violent Night and the trailers promised a proper frenzy, but the first quarter to first half of the film only teases at violent possibilities with a taste here and there. When the violence finally flows forth, it roars with brutal lethality, taking center stage away from any character development or insightful philosophizing around how one’s past shapes their present and what is at the heart of Christmas. Violent Night spends its latter half as a chaotic buffet of bullets and bludgeoning, and by the end, you can’t help but appreciate the film’s tongue-in-cheek lightheartedness about being a violent, dirty-mouthed movie set against the purity of Christmas.

It’s possible I’ve given Violent Night more credit than it deserves. Perhaps there are no layers and the characters are intentionally overblown to be funny, and maybe Santa is just there to beat up the bad guys. Could it really be that simple and straightforward? And yet, you don’t assemble a cast with David Harbour, Beverly D’Angelo, John Leguizamo, and Cam Gigandet just to create a popcorn-pounding seat-filler, right? Now, that would be preposterous.