Violent Night

Violent Night

When a team of mercenaries breaks into a wealthy family compound on Christmas Eve, taking everyone inside hostage, the team isn’t prepared for a surprise combatant: Santa Claus is on the grounds, and he’s about to show why this Nick is no saint.

  • Released: 2022-11-30
  • Runtime: 111 minutes
  • Genre: Action, Comedy
  • Stars: David Harbour, John Leguizamo, Beverly D'Angelo, Alex Hassell, Alexis Louder, Edi Patterson, Cam Gigandet, André Eriksen, Alexander Elliot, Mitra Suri, John B. Lowe, Sean Skene, Vance Halldorson, Thomas Lorber, Adam Hurtig, Ron Borges, Adrian Persad, Marc-André Brisebois, Dylan Rampulla, Maxime Laurin
  • Director: Tommy Wirkola
 Comments
  • Bibliophile100 - 29 May 2024
    Definitely lives up to its name
    Bad guys (and girls) beware! Even if Krampus doesn't come down your chimney this Christmas, be good! Tonight, not the Tim Allen Santa, nor the Kurt Russell, nor the Tom Hanks Santa's will be visiting. This time, it's David Harbour...and he doesn't just give naughty ones coal...he gives a full on, sledgehammer wielding, butt kicking beat down!! Welcome to the most action packed Christmas film yet! Welcome...to Violent Night!

    Directed by Norwegian film man, Tommy Wirkola, we see Santa as a drunk and depressed magic man, whom is actually starting to loose his own faith and happiness in the world's most beloved holiday. However, a miracle and chance has befallen him this fateful night. When he arrives at the large mansion of the Lightstone family, he discovers the whole family is in trouble! Trapped by large gang of evil thieves, led by the truly cruel and mean "Mr. Scrooge" (John Leguizamo), Santa must find it in his heart, and fists, to become a true savior of Christmas!

    The Lightstone family are revealed to have a greedy and selfish side as well. However, two enstranged parents, Jason and Linda, are trying to keep the faith and love alive, especially for their daughter Trudy, whose Christmas wish is for her parents to make up again. Trudy (played by the talented Leah Brady) is without a doubt, the most sweetest, kindest girl I've ever seen! She and Santa have such beloved, touching, heartwarming chemistry together! I absolutely ADORED their conversations together while hiding from the bad guys!! Santa teaches a thing or two about adult lives in the real world to Trudy, while Trudy graciously encourages Santa not to give up hope himself.

    I love the fact that Santa (as shown in The Santa Clause, with Tim Allen) is treated like a mantle, passed from jolly happy person, to jolly happy person. This Santa however, wasn't one of those. Before he became Santa, he used to be a greedy, mean, violent Viking thief, which explains why how today, he despises the naughty and greedy children out there, as they remind him of his past. But Trudy encourages Santa to use his past for good instead, and thanks to her kind loving words, Santa finds his lost faith, spirit, and inner strength to take a stand against Scrooge and his henchmen!

    Prepare to be shocked! The action is incredibly powerful and aggressive (hence the name Violent Night)! Gruesome sights are sure to be seen, but you'll find yourself cheering Saint Nick all the while! You'll also like the rest of the cast, playing the bitter members of the Lightstone family, including: Alex Hassell & Alexis Louder (who play Trudy's parents), Edi Patterson, Cam Gigandet, Ray Strachen, and as the foul mouthed Grandma Gertrude, Beverly D'Angelo!

    Sometimes, to cherish and enjoy the loving moments of the most beautiful holiday of the year, you must bring out a little bit of fight in you to make sure that any lingering evil threatening to destroy that joy and love, stays in its place! And that's just what Santa is ready to do!! Despite Violent Night literally living up to its name, I enjoyed it so much! Prepare for a hardcore holiday, before a heartwarming one!
  • talllwoood13 - 10 February 2024
    boring night
    Visually this movie they did a good job, a diverse set of scenes and.the plot, even though it was forgetful where I won't remember what this movie is about by next Christmas they did a good job. To an extent this is a love letter to actually good Christmas action movies. However this movie is like a blueprint of everything not to do in a movie. Everything is a cliche or satire. It's like that unfunny guy we know in work or school who is telling a joke. No one is laughing, yet they keep going and going. The pacing sucked, they just stretched it out as far as possible to get past that hour and a half of time.

    There were some creative kills where it felt like a slightly dialed back Mortal Kombat fatality. However the cast sucked. Not a single memorable actor was in this. Is it possible for John Leguizamo to be in a good movie? I'd seriously consider watching that 1993 Mario movie over this again. This is like Gymkata, Blind Rage or Hobo With A Shotgun where it should have been laughed out of the room where the studio(s) shouldn't have touched it.

    There wasn't enough fighting, thankfully they didn't hire Seth Rogan to be in this or I would have turned this off for sure. I'm still shocked this made money in the box office. Seriously skip this. Go watch Cobra with Sylvester Stallone instead. The opening to the worlds manliest movie is a Christmas movie, a better movie too.
  • malavante - 29 December 2023
    Awesome santa. Better than expected. Unnecessarily gory
    Is definitely NOT for under 13. Have many weird comebacks, yet enjoyable, to Die Hard and Home Alone combined. David Harbour delivers an excellent rendition of a Santa really worthy yo be a Mortal Kombat One character; John Legizamo is excellent too After a thousand gunshots the movie somehow still hold many plot holes (pun intended), but who cares when you are enjoying Finish Him combos.

    The only really bad part is trying to make an action movie and go with the trend of extra violent extra gory extra ketchup blood sprinkling all over the camera and limbs and heads rolling around.

    I will enjoy it one more time some other christmas in the future.
  • The-Sarkologist - 8 January 2023
    Yeah, Why Not
    With all of the talk over whether Die Hard is a Christmas movie or not, eventually a film was going to appear that was going to take that idea to the extreme. Well, that film happens to be this one, and I should point out that it certainly doesn't take itself seriously. Sure, it seems ludicrous that Santa will find himself trapped in a house that has been taken over by terrorists, and ends up becoming the John McClain of the piece, but the whole thing is that this film doesn't take itself seriously.

    I actually quite liked this film, and I learnt a few interesting things about Santa as well. Like, the fact that while he doesn't mind the cookies, he isn't particularly all that keen on the milk. Rather, if you want to leave something out for Santa on Christmas eve, then maybe a bottle a scotch, the older the better, would do the trick. There are a few other things about Santa's background that honestly, I didn't feel that worked all that well, but I guess they needed something like that to explain why he happens to be such a good fighter. Honestly, in the end, Santa is Santa and I don't think those explanations are warranted.

    I guess the idea really comes down to the question of belief in Santa Claus, but then a lot of these Christmas movies end up boiling down to that. Mind you, I suspect that there is some connection between belief in Santa and belief in God, though while there is an historical basis for Jesus, you could say that there is an historical basis for Santa as well (though in my mind there is a lot more corruption in the story that has come down to us). Actually, the interesting thing is how Santa is bemoaning the commercialisation of Christmas (when in reality the modern version of Santa that we have was developed to push the commercialisation of Christmas), and it also seems as if belief in him is at an all time low. Yeah, that seems to mimic the idea that things exist for only as long as people believe in them, which is true to an extent.

    Still, all of that philosophising aside (which is evident in the film, and you could certainly write a bit about it, which is why I actually write stuff like this) this is still a pretty cool, and quite fun, film. There are certainly enough things in this film that hail back to Die Hard - such as opening the vault, and even some elements from Die Hard II (such as the snow mobiles), which I certainly appreciated. In this way it's nodding to the original, but also telling us how a Christmas movie really should be made, and that is having Santa come along a beat up a bunch of bad guys with a sledge hammer.
  • Sleepin_Dragon - 6 January 2023
    Better than I expected, in the Die Hard field.
    A wealthy family home is invaded by a group of criminals, their only hope is Santa Claus.

    I think this film may surprise a few, I was pleasantly surprised, action packed, violent, quietly amusing, I have a feeling that for those of us that adore Die Hard, and embrace it as a Christmas movie, this is probably going to be up your Street. I'm not sure it's deserving of cult status, but don't ask me why, I have a feeling that in years to come, this may well develop something of a following.

    The clue is in the title, Violent Night, and boy this film doesn't hold back, in terms of violence and manner of deaths, this film packs a real punch, you will see all sorts, people dismembered, shot, impaled, it really doesn't hold back.

    If Santa did actually pop down for a visit, I can imagine him being this disillusioned, this irritated, with a genuinely low opinion of people, this is where the film scores in my opinion, the performance of David Harbour, who is genuinely very good.

    Enjoyable music throughout, good special effects, plenty of action, Violent Night was a Christmas surprise.

    7/10.
  • stopandstare52 - 4 January 2023
    It's a Six
    My scale 4 Below Average 5 Average - wouldn't bother watching again 6 Above average - might watch a little if its on tv again 7 Good - worth a watch, would recommend 8 Great - one of the best of the year 9 Excellent - one of the best of the decade and/or personal favorite 10 Amazing - one of the greatest of all time.

    Let's start by acknowledging that David Harbour as Santa is an excellent choice. Just like with his character from Stranger Things, he is the perfect blend of manly badass and tender dad. He kicks ass, tells jokes, while being very sensitive to little girl's emotions.

    Besides that, easily forgettable movie.

    Might watch some of it when it's on tv again next Christmas... maybe? Or if someone else really likes it for some reason, and must watch it as their Christmas movie pick, then I will tolerate watching it.
  • jsumm96 - 2 January 2023
    A Christmas classic?
    So with its humorously violent and wacky premise, and paying homage to Christmas classics such as Die Hard and Home Alone, Violent Night may very well become another Christmas classic in years to come.

    It offers everything you could hope for with the over the top violence and exaggerated characters, and for this type of film I thought there was actually some pretty decent character development as the plot progressed.

    The only real reason I've stuck with an 8 rating is that it doesn't offer too many new ideas with its over the top feel, and there are a few tropes with the villains that have been done many times before in the action genre, but overall Violent Night is a solid watch.
  • fashinrashin - 1 January 2023
    Ya filthy animal
    Everyone does a good job in this though I do think it could have been 12 minutes shorter and therefore better.

    Editing people, editing.

    The funniest parts was the little girl channeling " home Alone" torture on the bad guys.

    Some of that was really MEDIEVAL !

    I bet there is a sequel .

    I hope they bring back the little kid and Santa because those actors really stood out As did Beverly D'angelo John Leguizamo is an A1 bad guy haha.

    The gags with the reindeer were great too, They should get their own movie Bad Santa is the best but this is quite good, and it must have been a blast to make Bravo.
  • nitabawa - 31 December 2022
    Didn't enjoy
    Movie was gruesome and too violent for a Santa movie. Too much blood, violence, killing and not funny at all. Was so hard to sit through the whole movie. I should have just walked out.

    Santa is a fantasy and to see him in blood, beaten and in pain was hard to watch. There should have been more Christmas magic as they keep mentioning in the movie. Santa had blood on his face beard throughout the movie. Not one scene was without violence and blood. What I enjoyed was the lil girl character and her interaction with Santa....

    No wonder we were the only ones watching the movie the entire theater.
  • mbell-56214 - 29 December 2022
    So predictable
    Not sure why this movie has so many high reviews.

    The opening scenes in Bristol UK were laughable and totally unnecessary to the story...anyone from the UK will know only to well that Bristol does not have skyscrapers as seen in the roof top scene. Straight away this makes the film a complete joke to anyone in the UK.

    Some of the action scenes were pretty good, but it really took too long to get going. There was too much lame writing in this movie for those action scenes to save it, and it all felt incredibly predictable. There are so many better action movies out there, and so many better Christmas movies out there.