Violent Night

Violent Night (2022) is about Santa Claus caught in the middle of a hostage raid. Santa is tired. He thinks people only want money now, drinks in bars, and is considering giving it up. He enters a mansion to leave presents. The same night a crew hits the house: there are three hundred million dollars in the vault and the family is taken hostage. He is trapped inside and his only contact is a small girl in the house who talks to him on a walkie talkie and believes in him. The idea is Santa's past. Centuries ago he was a Viking warrior named Nikomund, and how he moved into this work is told in fragments. The sledgehammer he carries comes from then. The action is deliberately extreme. One section is built on traps set by a child and refers directly to Home Alone; the difference is that here the traps kill, and the film says so outright. Tommy Wirkola directed; he is Norwegian and had made films about Nazi zombies. David Harbour plays Santa. John Leguizamo plays the crew leader and the character has a personal grievance against Christmas. The film deliberately imitates the Die Hard template: one building, a hostage raid, one man. It was made cheaply and exceeded expectations commercially. It runs 112 minutes. Good for: an alternative Christmas film, action comedy, and black humour. Less good for: the violence is very graphic and it cannot be watched with children; the swearing is constant.