Violent Night ★★★½
SITTING in my seat waiting for Violent Night to start screening at a Universal Studios preview, I realised I knew nothing about the film.
A quick look at IMDB and how on earth did I not know this Christmas-themed, genre/crossing release was directed by Tommy Wirkola.
Ok, this Norwegian director isn’t a household name, but he’s responsible for 2009’s Dead Snow and its 2014 sequel Dead Snow 2: Red v Dead.
These are two widely revered horror films of recent years, the first being about Nazi zombies arising from the grave to terrorise a group of tourists and the more comic sequel with a tank platoon of Nazis zombies mounting an invasion of a small country town.
I remember the raucous reception that Dead Snow 2 received at a late-night, one-off screening at Perth’s Luna cinema.
Anyway, all this background lead me to turning to my wife and saying ‘I think this is going to be good’ at the Violent Night screening.
Wirkola’s new film isn’t as good as Dead Snow 1 or 2, but it’s still impressive, full of surprises and wildly entertaining.
Imagine a mash-up of the first two Die Hards, with the real Santa Claus playing Bruce Willis’ role, with a very bloody Home Alone and some elements of Norse fantasy and you might come close to describing Violent Night.
Yes, that’s right, the real Santa Claus, played beautifully by the always dependable David Harbour, who in this twisted universe lives amongst us in plain sight.
Wirkola’s Santa is a cynical alcoholic forcing himself to get through one more Christmas Eve of delivering presents to ungrateful brats when he finds himself in the midst of a home siege by ruthless thieves.
With a young girl’s life in the balance, Santa slowly regains some faith in humanity, along the way despatching bad guys with bloody precision using a sledge hammer, ice skate, pointed candy cane and numerous other means at his disposal.
Yes it’s all very bloody, but it’s also frequently and darkly humorous and surprisingly a little touching at times.
Wirkola’s film actually celebrates the magic of Christmas, but in a darkly entertaining way.
Even if you don’t appreciate the film overall, it’s still fun to tick off the numerous nods to those other Christmas film staples.
As a Wirkola fan, I thoroughly enjoyed it.