CHRISTMAS EVIL

Christmas Evil Movie Review

We're all familiar with the song "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus"--we hear little Michael Jackson belt it out every year at this time. In the song, Michael tries to convince his brothers he really did see Santa. Now let's imagine Tito convinced Michael that wasn't Santa, but was, in fact, their father in a Santa costume, and as a result of this, Michael is permanently scarred and grows up to be completely disconnected from reality.

Just imagine...

This is essentially what we have going on in this movie...but, you know, it's a guy named Harry Stadling (Brandon Maggart), not Michael Jackson, who sees Mommy and Santa Dad. We catch up with Harry as an adult--he works in a toy factory, is obsessed with Christmas, and, much like Santa, keeps a naughty or nice list for the people around him. After some abuse from co-workers and unfortunate run-ins with some less than desirable people, Harry finally snaps, serving up justice to those on the naughty list while rewarding the kids on the nice list. Watching Harry decline mentally is actually somewhat sad, and in many ways he reminded me of Travis Bickle from Taxi Driver (though Maggart is no De Niro). 

"You talkin' to me?"

There's not a ton of gore in this one, but the couple killings we do see are rather brutal. There are some familiar faces thrown in as well--Jeffrey DeMunn (Dale from The Walking Dead) plays Philip, Harry's brother, and Patricia Richardson makes her film debut, sticking around just long enough to smack her bratty son across the face. An already bizarre film cranks the madness up toward the end, as we see an angry mob with torches in hand chase after Harry--this isn't some Hammer film set in the 1800's here--this is an angry mob, with torches in hand, chasing a guy in a film set in 1980! This holds not even a flicker of a candle to the ending, however--if you've ever seen Grease and wondered what that ending may look like in a slasher flick set during Christmas 1980 (who hasn't had that thought?), you must hunt this film down. 

Merry Christmas to all...

Forty years after the making of this movie, we have seen many flicks that feature a guy dressed like Santa Claus killing people--there are ones out there that contain much more blood and guts, are crisper on a technical standpoint, and certainly slicker than this one--that said, there may not be one that will make you actually think as much as Christmas Evil does, and most likely not another one that makes you feel so bad for the murderer. 

On A Scale Of One To Ten: 7

Christmas Evil Movie Trailer