December 6, 2024

Violent Night Overview

Violent Night is a 2022 action/dark comedy Christmas-themed film directed by Tommy Wirkola and written by Pat Casey and Josh Miller. The movie stars Stranger Things star, David Harbour as Santa Claus.

The Christmas film is a Universal Pictures release that will open nationwide in all theaters this Friday. This film is rated R for “strong bloody violence, language, and some sexual references”. The total running time for the film is 112 minutes.

Overview

The 2022 holiday season is officially upon us and what better way to kick it off than by watching a violent Santa put pool balls into a Christmas stocking and see him cave in someone’s face?

Violent Night has taken the Christmas season’s naughty or nice dichotomy deeply to heart. Which offers several moments of gore and wounds that spurt mini fountains of blood and the true meaning of the Christmas holiday. For everyone, there has to be some sense of joy out of seeing Santa suck on the tip of a candy cane to sharpen it and then stab it into a bad guy’s neck.

This movie is about an elite team of mercenaries attacking and breaking into an estate of a very wealthy family on Christmas Eve, taking everyone hostage inside, Santa Claus must respond to and answer the daughter’s Christmas wish and save the day.

The writers Pat Casey and Josh Miller gave Santa an origin story as a centuries-old Viking raider with a fondness for crushing skulls with a hammer.

In the film, we initially meet Santa in the present day at an English pub. It is on Christmas Eve and there are other men dressed as Santa that night. On this night, Santa is just worn-out and fed up. The children are just starting to demand more and more. He even goes as far as calling them junkies.

While doing the normal rounds, he lingers around for too long at the Lightstone family compound in Connecticut. A ruthless gang stormed the home and is hoping to relieve the family of $300 million. The film soon moves into “Die Hard” territory as terrorists play cat-and-mouse with a good guy in the building.

During the film, Santa connects with one of the hostages – a little girl of the family who still believes in Santa. He proves that Christmas is alive by murdering every single bad guy, aided by the little girl with the Home Alone booby-trapping skills.


Sources used:

https://apnews.com/article/violent-night-film-reviews-entertainment-holidays-christmas-aafc2b013eb41c21284b59e07557158d

https://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wireStory/review-slice-holiday-spirit-violent-night-94175510#:~:text=%E2%80%9CViolent%20Night%2C%E2%80%9D%20a%20Universal,Running%20time%3A%20112%20minutes.