By Corey Bennett
Normally around Christmas time we get a new cheesy Christmas movie about a couple. Now while these movies are great for the time, Violent Night brings in a completely different perspective on Santa.
The movie starts with us being brought to the estate of the wealthy Lightstone family. The leader, Gertrude, rules over this company very violently and is rude to everyone and everything besides her 7-year old granddaughter Trudy.
As the night goes on, we are introduced to the rest of the family and shown both the interior and exterior of the lavishly decorated mansion. Before Trudy gets a magical walkie-talkie with the ability to talk to Santa, when everyone seems fast asleep a man who calls himself Scrooge and his team of naughty listed henchmen” finally decide after months of planning the perfect heist, conduct a home invasion that’ll get them millions of dollars for Christmas. Unfortunately for Santa, his gift path leads him to their estate where he tries to relax for a while with a cookie or two, before he gets involved and forced to throw someone through a window. He tries to escape but his reindeer take off without him, while trying to find a phone to call the cops he stumbles upon a walkie-talkie that allows him to communicate to Trudy.
We get to see more of Santa’s origin story. Which shows him as a large Viking with a hammer he calls “Skullcrusher”. However this does not show us how he was able to get his powers as Santa or what those powers/abilities even are. Including whether or not he is even able to die.
The violence and gore is absolutely perfect. However, it would have been nice to see more of the family members using their own abilities and talking more throughout the movie while they’re being held hostage. That being said, I thoroughly enjoyed this movie and its take on the jolly old man. A rendition we haven’t seen yet of a Celtic Viking warrior saving a little girl and her family from psychopaths.
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