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One of the funniest jokes in " Scrooged ," the sometimes uneven but vastly underrated 1988 Bill Murray riff on Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol , came right at the beginning with an artificial promotional trailer. Titled "The Night the Reindeer Died," it was a cheerfully cheesy bit of holiday carnage in which terrorists attempt to seize the North Pole until Lee Majors saves the day by gunning down the attackers while the guy in the red suit assures him he is being a good boy this year. As a distillation of the craven lengths that network television programmers go to attract viewers during the Yuletide season—in this case, by taking a made-for-TV knockoff of the typical Chuck Norris vehicle of that time and crudely slapping a thick seasonal glaze on the tip—it was admittedly a one-joke premise. But it happened to be a pretty funny joke, and since it only lasted for about two minutes, it was over before it could begin to wear out its welcome.

Now comes "Violent Night," a film that seems to have been designed by writers Pat Casey and Josh Miller and director Tommy Wirkola to answer the question of what a full-length version of "The Night the Reindeer Died" might have been like, augmented by over-the-top carnage that would have been unthinkable on television back then. The result, perhaps unsurprisingly, is a largely tedious cinematic lump of coal that unsuccessfully tries to stretch its one-joke premise out to 101 minutes in a tonally uneven attempt to position itself as a new alternative holiday classic. Instead, "Violent Night" is about as entertaining as listening to people argue about whether " Die Hard " is a Christmas movie or not (it isn't, FYI) while more or less wasting a genuinely committed performance from David Harbour as the Man in Red himself.

As the film opens, the supremely rich, powerful, and dysfunctional Lightstone family has gathered at the massive compound belonging to matriarch Gertrude ( Beverly D'Angelo ) to celebrate, to use the term promiscuously, the holidays. While her loathsome daughter Alva ( Edi Patterson ), her equally hateful son Bertrude ( Alexander Elliot )—not a typo—and her idiot actor boyfriend ( Cam Gigandet ) blatantly curry her favor and her son Jason ( Alex Hassell ) and his estranged wife Linda ( Alexis Louder ) are trying to work through their problems, only Jason's adorable moppet daughter Trudy ( Leah Brady ) still seems willing to embrace the holiday spirit. But, before long, the familial backstabbing is replaced by gunfire when a group of violent thieves led by a guy nicknamed Scrooge ( John Leguizamo ) arrive to steal $300 million they believe has been nefariously acquired by Gertrude and socked away in a theoretically impenetrable safe.

While all of this is going on, Santa—depicted here as filled with equal parts booze and self-loathing and contemplating packing in his holiday duties for good after one final run—happens to be in the house and winds up getting trapped inside when his reindeer take off during the initial mayhem. Although his first instinct is to flee, he realizes that Trudy is one of the stars of his nice list. He decides to pull himself together and rescue her, utilizing the skills for dispensing savage violence that he cultivated in his pre-Santa days, leading to several scenes in which he gruesomely dispatches the various bad guys using everything from a sledgehammer to a snow blower to a Christmas star tree topper jabbed into someone's eyeball. For her part, Trudy uses her skills of building booby traps that she developed from watching " Home Alone " to fend off the attackers in equally gruesome ways.

"Violent Night" is primarily comprised of bits and pieces borrowed from other holiday films of recent vintage. Most obviously, it intends to be some kind of hybrid of the aforementioned "Die Hard" and "Home Alone." The drunken, foul-mouthed, and cynical version of Santa depicted here, who we see projectile vomiting on a hapless victim while flying off in his sleigh during the pre-credit opening sequence, will no doubt inspire memories of Billy Bob Thornton in " Bad Santa ." The dysfunctional family gathering interrupted by criminals is straight out of " The Ref ." The presence of D'Angelo serves as a living reminder of " National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation ," though her part is a 180-degree turn from the warm and loving mother she played there. Hell, even the conceit of Santa fighting off bad guys in bloody fashion was done a couple of years ago in the weirdo project " Fatman ," in which Mel Gibson's version of Santa fights off an assassin hired by a monstrously entitled brat who objected to receiving a lump of coal. 

The problem with "Violent Night" is not its unoriginal premise but how little is done with it. Santa violently dispatching bad guys is a one-joke premise that could have been developed into something interesting, perhaps using gruesome physical violence as a way of commenting on the emotional brutality that holiday classics like " A Christmas Carol " and " It's a Wonderful Life " traffic in. Instead, Wirkola is content to stick with the same joke of Santa killing bad guys in grotesque ways (and this is an undeniably hard-R film) that quickly grow tiresome. Even that might have worked on some fundamental level as a gory black comedy, but then the film ineptly tries for sentiment towards the end by asking us to care about the fates of the most hateful family members. "Violent Night" also seems weirdly reticent to fully exploit the notion that it's Santa Claus doling out the violence—there's only one point where he fully utilizes his unique powers against one of the attackers and, perhaps inevitably, it's the only kill that sticks in the mind afterward.

The one saving grace of "Violent Night" is Harbour's performance. Like the rest of the film, his character is basically a joke, but one he commits to impressively throughout, whether knocking off the new additions to his naughty list or communicating with Trudy over walkie-talkies. Granted, he may not replace Edmund Gwenn as the ideal movie Santa anytime soon, but his work here is the one sweet plum in the middle of an otherwise rancid cinematic pudding.

Now playing in theaters. 

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A moderately insightful critic, full-on Swiftie and all-around  bon vivant , Peter Sobczynski, in addition to his work at this site, is also a contributor to The Spool and can be heard weekly discussing new Blu-Ray releases on the Movie Madness podcast on the Now Playing network.

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Film Credits

Violent Night (2022)

Rated R for strong bloody violence, language throughout and some sexual references.

112 minutes

David Harbour as Santa Claus

Beverly D'Angelo as Gertrude Lightstone

John Leguizamo as Scrooge

Cam Gigandet as Morgan Lightstone

Edi Patterson as Alva Lightstone

Brendan Fletcher as Krampus

Alex Hassell as Jason Lightstone

Mike Dopud as Commander Thorp

Alexis Louder as Linda

• Tommy Wirkola
• Josh Miller
• Patrick Casey

Cinematographer

• Matthew Weston
• Dominic Lewis

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Scrooge, who’s been casing the joint for months, knows that there’s $300 million hidden in the vault below, and he has arranged it so that everyone — catering staff, security agents — is secretly working for him. What he wasn’t counting on is Santa Claus, who’s making his yearly Christmas pitstop. Santa is a bit of a Scrooge himself: a drunk and a curmudgeon who can’t get over what consumerist zombies today’s kids have become. But he’s also got special powers. Do I mean his ability to glide, with a twinkling twitch of his nose, up and down chimneys? Or the golden digital scrolls he unfurls with a list of what each kid has done that’s naughty or nice? Certainly all that.

Over the last week, everyone in entertainment media, including me, has churned out hand-wringing articles about how the acclaimed awards films are all fizzling at the box office. One after another, “Tár,” “The Banshees of Inisherin,” “She Said,” “Triangle of Sadness,” and “Till” are all crawling their way to a gross of maybe $10 million. (“The Fabelmans,” with a more high-profile pedigree, will probably crawl its way to $20 million.) We know that this is the age of Marvel, so “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” is the triumphant counterexample. But even in 2022, people don’t just go to Marvel movies. One of the things that’s defeated adult moviegoing is the insatiable hunger for unabashed junk food like “Violent Night.” The movie has no comic-book hook; it’s a trash-compactor genre buffet that smashes together a dozen things you’ve seen before. But that’s the hook. “Violent Night” is amusing in a few spots, wearying in more than a few others, but to complain about it in the way that I’m doing is to come off as churlish. It’s a movie that feeds the beast.

David Harbour gives off of a ping of likability, and that makes him the right actor to play a down-in-the-dumps, vengeance-is-mine Santa who is really, beneath his bloody mottled gray curls, the Christmas mensch we want him to be. John Leguizamo, as always, refuses to phone anything in; as Scrooge the sociopath who hates Christmas, he makes every obscenity pop. Beverly D’Angelo, Edi Patterson, and Cam Gigandet play the rest of the Lightstone clan as walking high-camp horrors, and Alexis Louder, as Jason’s estranged wife, lends a lone note of stubborn sanity to the proceedings. “Violent Night,” with its action-thriller soundtrack built around themes from classic Christmas songs, is a movie that makes you think: What’s next, “Massacre on 34th St.”? Christmas movies, like all Hollywood pulp, build on one another, and maybe this is just one more age-of-nothing-sacred holiday mish-mash, but “Violent Night,” depending on how it performs, could open the door to a new kind of down-and-dirty Christmas/action hybrid. Just imagine hearing lines like “God bless us, every one, motherfucker!” The possibilities are endless.

Reviewed at AMC Lincoln Square, Nov. 28, 2022. MPA Rating: R. Running time: 101 MIN.

• Production: A Universal Pictures release of an 87North production. Producers: Guy Danella, David Leitch, Kelly McCormick. Executive producer: Marc S. Fischer.
• Crew: Director: Tommy Wirkola. Screenplay: Josh Miller, Pat Casey. Camera: Matthew Weston. Editor: Jim Page. Music: Dominic Lewis.
• With: David Harbour, John Leguizamo, Beverly D’Angelo, Alex Hassell, Alexis Louder, Trudy Lightstone, Edi Patterson, Cam Gigandet, Brendan Fletcher, Mike Dopud.

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Violent Night Reviews

Closing the film with Slade’s “Merry Xmas Everybody” was the perfect ending to a near-perfect film, and it’s definitely a must-see this holiday season.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Aug 3, 2024

Did we need a shallow dive into a deeper, new lore about Santa? No. Do we need the inevitable sequel with Valkyrie Mrs. Claus? Probably not...

Full Review | Original Score: C | Jul 3, 2024

What elevates “Violent Night” from a mindless, holiday-themed action film was its ability to balance the violence and the heartwarming emotions.

Full Review | Jun 8, 2024

A mean-spirited film with nothing to redeem.

Full Review | Oct 4, 2023

It’s brimming with both warmth and cynicism, cementing a Santa perfectly attuned to the times and emblematic of the joy and anguish that pervades this time of year... a new Christmas classic.

Full Review | Aug 6, 2023

Violent Night is one of the biggest surprises of the year, instantly becoming a contemporary Christmas classic! David Harbour expertly embodies a shockingly brutal, savage version of Santa Claus that somehow still delivers lovely messages.

Full Review | Original Score: A- | Jul 25, 2023

Violent Night is an instant CHRISTMAS CLASSIC. A bloody, gnarly, & goofy time that brings the laughs, the action, & Especially the Christmas magic! David Harbour is the definitive most realistic Santa Claus you could put into a movie

Full Review | Jul 25, 2023

No sane person will consider Violent Night a perennial classic, but Harbour inspires enough ho-ho-hos and cheeky holiday mayhem to warrant a watch.

Full Review | May 26, 2023

If there’s one thing about Harbour that has always sung, it’s the charisma he can generate with just about material and any actor on screen. He’s also a very big man, standing tall and making a dad bod seem more desirable than Zac Efron ever could.

Full Review | Original Score: B+ | Feb 8, 2023

If I want a bad Santa, I’ll watch Bad Santa. That’s not to say there isn’t some measure of worthy seasonal jeer in Violent Night.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4 | Feb 5, 2023

It’s not a holiday classic like Die Hard, but it is a decent temporary remedy for the mandatory holiday cheer.

Full Review | Jan 27, 2023

"Violent Night" is as-advertised. It’s more vicious than one might expect from this action comedy, but it starts at a high-level of foulness when Santa upchucks on someone and just continues on from there.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Jan 26, 2023

Fun take on Santa Claus but we have to hold Harbour up to Billy Bob standards.

Full Review | Original Score: 5/10 | Jan 16, 2023

Excessively violent, laced with a thick vein of jet-black humor, bolstered by a formidable turn from Harbour, and packed to the rafters with hard-hitting scraps, Violent Night knows exactly what it wants to be, but doesn’t really try to be anything else.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Jan 11, 2023

David Harbour owns the screen as the at-first grumpy but still very caring and ultimately badass Mr. Claus.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/5 | Jan 6, 2023

“Die Hard,” and Michael Dougherty’s “Krampus,” meets “Bad Santa,” with full shot of Christmas adrenaline.

Full Review | Jan 1, 2023

An excellent Harbour leads the cast, and a terrific Legui-zamo makes for a perfect antagonist.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/5 | Dec 28, 2022

It’s heartwarming violence, a very merry massacre, and holly jolly hammer time but it also put me in the Christmas spirit.

Full Review | Dec 28, 2022

Many movies have attempted to replicate the festive insouciant brutality of <i>Die Hard</i>. No movie has come closer to this lofty goal than this dementedly delicious nightmare before Christmas.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Dec 24, 2022

Bad Santa as John McClane may believe it is being a kind of subversive anti-Christmas movie alternative but its best moments involve not violence but our hero rediscovering the joy that the season once provided as its own relief from the world's evils.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/4 | Dec 22, 2022

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Violent Night

When an elite team of mercenaries breaks into a family compound on Christmas Eve, a disgruntled Santa Claus must take them out to save both the hostages and his Holiday. When an elite team of mercenaries breaks into a family compound on Christmas Eve, a disgruntled Santa Claus must take them out to save both the hostages and his Holiday. When an elite team of mercenaries breaks into a family compound on Christmas Eve, a disgruntled Santa Claus must take them out to save both the hostages and his Holiday.

• Tommy Wirkola
• Josh Miller
• David Harbour
• John Leguizamo
• Beverly D'Angelo
• 607 User reviews
• 237 Critic reviews
• 55 Metascore
• 1 win & 2 nominations

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• Trivia The logo on the catering company van is called "Farkus and Dill" after the bullies in A Christmas Story (1983).
• Goofs Shortly after the dad, Jason, has his finger broken in the nutcracker his hands appear to be fine for the remainder of the film.

Alva : Morgan's going to save us.

Gertrude : Jean-Claude Van Dipshit just ditched us, sweetie.

• Crazy credits There's a scene with Bert vlogging during the credits
• Connections Featured in Chris Stuckmann Movie Reviews: Violent Night (2022)
• Soundtracks A Holly Jolly Christmas Written by Johnny Marks (as John D. Marks) Performed by Burl Ives Courtesy of Geffen Records Under license from Universal Music Enterprises

User reviews 607

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• $20,000,000 (estimated)
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• Dec 4, 2022
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• Runtime 1 hour 52 minutes
• Dolby Atmos
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Violent Night Review

Santa claus is coming to bash some heads..

Violent Night hits theaters on Dec. 2, 2022.

It's the month before Christmas that brings Violent Night, a rowdy skull crusher that dons fierce action might. Director Tommy Wirkola honors Die Hard and Home Alone with care, with hopes that a barbarian Santa would — just kidding, rhymes stop here. There's no reason to distract from my enthusiasm for a smashup of Hallmark holiday traditions and gore-slathered fight sequences from the filmmaker behind both Dead Snows and Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters. Violent Night sells its gingerbread-scented hostage scenario with the tongue-in-cheekiness of winter wonderland innocence, then jacked old Saint Nick goes warrior-berserk with a sledgehammer.

David Harbour is seemingly having a blast as Santa Claus, currently suffering a crisis of faith due to civilization's increasingly naughty habits. Another year flying around the world, gifting bratty kids electronics that'll be outdated in weeks — Santa's Christmas spirit is fading. His next stop? The Lightstone residential compound where matriarch Gertrude (Beverly D'Angelo) once again hosts her son Jason (Alex Hassell), daughter Alva (Edi Patterson), accompanying family, and all the hired catering help. Santa cracks into homemade cookies and vibrates in a luxury massage chair, living the good life until he hears gunshots. Enter John Leguizamo as a Christmas-hating criminal ("Mr. Scrooge," he calls himself) in search of Gertrude's vaulted millions, blasting his handgun and threatening even Jason's wee daughter Trudy (Leah Brady) — which Santa doesn't approve of.

Violent Night darkens your average syndicated Christmastime drama with coal residue by introducing the Lightstones as dysfunctional elites who've lost the jolly with their holly. Alva is a catty alcoholic, her husband Morgan (Cam Gigandet) is a D-list action star wannabe in search of producers, and Gertrude's introduction includes metaphorically roasting a senator's chestnuts without remorse. Violent Night takes Michael Dougherty’s Krampus approach of teaching wholesome holiday lessons with heavy doses of danger, except Violent Night swaps horrific creatures for mangled henchpersons standing within Santa's reach. No jack-in-the-box monsters, only whirring snowplow blades, icicle spikes, and sharpened ice skates as Santa's makeshift arsenal.

Pat Casey and Josh Miller's screenplay is aggressively on the nose, calling out influences and storytelling beats like Rudolph pointing to his blinking red schnoz. Scenes don't just cheekily recreate Home Alone — characters will say how much a sequence resembles Home Alone aloud. Violent Night lives to entertain by turning famous Christmas carol lines into badass Santa catchphrases during battle or by bastardizing Trudy’s yuletide innocence. The script can read as initially corny since momentum takes a few beats to start snowballing, but then the decapitations begin, and Wirkola's brutal sensibilities usher in primetime seasons beatings.

What's your favorite Christmas horror movie?

Harbour's transformation into a grizzled, tattooed Santa shows an actor loving every second on screen. Santa's not invincible, nor are choreographed fight sequences fantastically outmatched. Harbour stands Redwood-thick in his red leather outfit, using everything from electrified star toppers to glittery garland for an upper hand against Scrooge's hired psychopaths (each with cute seasonal codenames like Frosty and Jingle). It's the John McClaneisms like calmly lying exhausted next to dead bodies or hearty laughter as soldiers explode after he stuffs a grenade in their "stocking." Beverly D'Angelo, Cam Gigandet, and the rest are playing cemented stereotypes, while Harbour reinvents Santa Claus as a brawny action hero with only twinkly nose magic, an endless toy sack, and a readable scroll with "naughty" enemy names. The reset is all Harbour translating precious holiday imagery into rough-and-tumble mercenary punishment.

With a zippier opening, Violent Night would’ve reached a rung higher. When Harbour's off camera, there's less to be enthusiastic about. Leguizamo can easily pull off the bah-humbug bulletstorm persona, but not all his supporting baddies carry the same presence. Harbour's the not-so-secret weapon of Violent Night, which becomes apparent when Wirkola stages a game-changing combat sequence set to another radio-friendly Christmas hit that elevates intensity and sets a new standard moving forward. That's when Violent Night locks into overdrive, when gory tidings erupt and the naughtiest are shown no mercy, the same way 1989's Deadly Games morphs from a “playful” Christmas thriller into suspenseful December warfare.

12 Must-See Christmas Horror Movies

In Violent Night, nothing is calm and fiery explosions are bright. Director Tommy Wirkola protects sentimental holiday cheer within a David Harbour showcase that gets nuttier than peanut brittle. Wirkola doesn't hold back as Home Alone becomes a graphic traps-that-kill homage or Santa pulverizes bone under heavy steel, embracing the B-Movie extremes that more than earn its hard "R" rating. Violent Night might take a hot minute to find its footing and keeps plucking low-hanging wordplay sugar plums, but at full strength, nobody's stopping Santa from making this year the reddest Christmas imaginable.

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‘violent night’ review: david harbour plays a sledgehammer-wielding santa in an amusingly twisted christmas-com.

The 'Stranger Things' star plays Santa Claus, who's forced to come to the rescue when armed mercenaries invade a rich family's home on Christmas Eve, in the latest from director Tommy Wirkola.

By Angie Han

Television Critic

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Have you ever torn open the wrapping on a promising Christmas gift, only to find once you’ve taken it out and assembled its pieces that it’s not really what you’d hoped for at all? That it’s shoddily made, or not quite what it claimed to be, or simply less fun than you’d expected?

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Pat Casey and Josh Miller’s script announces its gleefully tasteless brand of humor right away. The first time we meet this version of Santa, he’s slumped over a bar in Bristol, blearily complaining about his job and decrying how materialistic kids have become these days. Still, once he finally gets off the barstool and up onto the roof, the sight of him soaring away with his reindeer makes for a magical moment for the bartender who happens to witness the whole thing … until he barfs over the slide of his sleigh, and all over her face. This is the kind of Christmas story we’re in for, and this is Violent Night letting you know you can take it or leave it.

From there, Santa goes about his rounds with something less than the bare minimum effort, stewing with resentment even as he stuffs his face with the cookies left for him by all the world’s good kids. But the night takes an unexpected turn with his stop by the Lightstone compound, home to a ruthless businesswoman (Beverly D’Angelo) whose adult children are prone to Succession -esque squabbles for her favor. (Or perhaps that should be The Righteous Gemstones -esque, given the daughter is a Judy Gemstone type played by Judy Gemstone herself, Edi Patterson; Alex Hassell plays the son.)

And so Santa, unable to turn away from Trudy’s whispered pleas for help, finds himself battling his way solo through a building crawling with baddies. Meanwhile, Trudy, who’s managed to sneak away to the attic, sets about improvising traps to protect herself. In other words, Violent Night becomes a riff on both Die Hard and Home Alone , but taken to their hard-R logical extremes under Wirkola’s over-the-top gory direction. Santa doesn’t dispatch his enemies swiftly or cleanly but smashes their faces with ornaments and chops off their heads with ice skates, in brutal fistfights choreographed by Jonathan “Jojo” Eusebio ( John Wick: Chapter 3 — Parabellum ); Trudy takes Kevin McAllister’s already painful-looking booby traps and turns them into full-on blood-soaked affairs.

Yet so powerful is this mysterious Yuletide spirit that its spell ultimately reaches Violent Night itself. Santa may be a bitterly self-loathing man who never looks more alive than when he’s stabbing a dude’s eye with a candy cane, but Harbour also brings a touching sincerity to his interactions with Trudy. And in between the graphic violence and twisted jokes, the film actually manages to serve up all the hallmarks of a classic Christmas movie: the reminder that the day is about more than material gifts, the redemptive power of a child’s belief in Santa, the importance of family togetherness in a greedy and selfish world.

The difference is that in this movie, when a little girl’s face lights up to see one of Santa’s signature accoutrements, its not his sack of toys or his reindeer she’s delighted by, but a sledgehammer he’s affectionately named Skullcrusher. And that the line “Santa Claus is coming to town” is uttered not as a cry of celebration, but in a growl as a hilarious threat.

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Violent Night Review (2022 Movie)

Violent Night is a classic Christmas movie with a twist. Packed with brutal violence and hilarious moments, this isn’t a family holiday movie.

Violent Night Movie Review

Every holiday season we cuddle up on the couch with popcorn, family, and a classic Christmas movie. From Home Alone to Elf, there are a lot of great ones, but nothing recently has had the potential to go down in history as an all time classic, until now. Violent Night is brutal and inappropriate, and is exactly what viewers will expect from the trailer.

Produced by David Leitch, who also worked on all of the John Wick movies, Atomic Blonde, Deadpool 2, and most recently Bullet Train, Violent Night was pretty much guaranteed to be a good time — and it does not disappoint.

This movie sees Santa Claus coming to the rescue after mercenaries break into a rich family’s home on Christmas. David Harbour plays Saint Nick and trust us when we say you do not want to be on his naughty list.

How Much Do They Push The Violence Envelope?

With violent being in the title, we all knew it was going to deliver some epic violence, and it does. It is top notch and feels very much like John Wick combined with Home Alone. There are some massive set pieces in this movie, with the ones toward the end really standing out. They are brutal and fun, exactly what the audience will be looking for when going to see a movie like Violent Night.

We watched this movie at the first ever audience screening, at New York Comic Con 2022, and seeing it in a packed room of three thousand super fans is the way to do it. Sure, it probably made the experience quite a bit more enjoyable, but since it is coming to theaters everywhere, we recommend seeing it that way, versus waiting to watch it at home. There are many jaw dropping and laugh out loud moments — exactly what you want in a movie like this — that will make seeing it with an audience that much more fun.

One concern that some viewers might have is that the violence will be too over the top. Violent Night has an absurd moment, don’t get us wrong, but it never feels like it is gory just for the sake of being gory. It is relatively tame overall, which allows it to focus more on the story when necessary. 

Not Just An Action Movie, It’s Funny Too

The humor and comedic timing from David Harbour is what makes this film more than just action packed and brutal. There are some truly hilarious moments from Santa Claus, as Harbour is the one carrying Violent Night. It is easily the funniest movie of the year so far, as he fully embraces this character and the pure ridiculousness of the situation. 

The dynamics between characters are perfectly executed. The story itself feels like many other Christmas movies, but with an R rating. It is so inappropriate, which could be the only thing to hurt its chances on becoming a true Christmas classic. Adults and older teenagers though, will be watching this every holiday season! 

Since it is a regular Christmas movie that also means it doesn’t go that deep. The story is very average. There are no real twists and turns, and audiences are given the same holiday messages and themes. Still, there really was not need to make this a deep movie. The fact that the filmmakers don’t overcomplicate this movie with deeper meaning and unfitting messages is what makes it so enjoyable to watch.

At the end of the day, Violent Night is an absolute blast. It is one of the funniest movies of the year. Packed with brutal action that will have you squealing and laughing, Violent Night is a must watch.

Rating: 8 out of 10

Next: nobody movie review: an action packed complete blast.

About Violent Night

To hell with “all is calm.”

From 87North, the bare-knuckle producers of Nobody, John Wick, Atomic Blonde, Deadpool 2, Bullet Train and Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw comes a coal-dark holiday action-comedy that says you should always bet on red.

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 (David Harbour, Black Widow, Stranger Things series) is on the grounds, and he’s about to show why this Nick is no saint.

Violent Night comes out in theaters on December 2nd, 2022.

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‘Violent Night’ Review: Yucks, Not Yule

Tommy Wirkola’s film tries to pass off sadism as comedy.

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By Elisabeth Vincentelli

There is truth in advertising: “Violent Night” is set on Christmas and it’s gore-in-Santa’s-beard brutal.

That is the one shred of honesty in a terminally cynical movie that tries to pass off lamebrained sadism as edgy comedy. Please — there is not enough edge here to cut through a fruitcake.

David Harbour, cruising on his “Stranger Things” fame, portrays a Santa Claus in the grip of existential malaise: He’s been doing the gig for centuries and for what? Nothing can please those modern consumerist, ungrateful brats. In between deliveries he drowns his despair in booze, with predictable results — idle minds might wonder what those white chunks are in the vomit close-up.

Santa’s schedule eventually brings him to the estate of the ultrawealthy Lightstone clan. The matriarch, Gertrude (Beverly D’Angelo), rules over her company and her family with an iron fist and a potty mouth. That last is because everybody in Hollywood knows that nothing is funnier than a swearing grandma, with the exception of a swearing kid. Enter 7-year-old Trudy (Leah Brady), Gertrude’s granddaughter, who is happy to oblige. Tellingly all of the movie’s would-be meme-able lines are unprintable in this newspaper. The best, which isn’t saying much, is delivered with appropriate bile by John Leguizamo’s character, a mercenary code-named Scrooge whose band of heavily weaponized acolytes has breached the Lightstone compound and is holding the entire family hostage.

That Scrooge’s quip nakedly riffs on John McClane’s famous send-off in “Die Hard” only adds to the feeling that “Violent Night” is essentially a remake of that earlier movie, with Santa as the surprise meddler who foils the bad guys’ plans. Instead of communicating with a cop, he exchanges information with Trudy via providential walkie-talkies. The little girl graduates to a more active participation and, because she has seen “Home Alone,” you can guess where this is going. Watching Trudy laugh happily at the carnage she orchestrated is more unsettling than the sight of men being impaled on various sharp objects.

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Violent night.

• Common Sense Says
• Parents Say 25 Reviews
• Kids Say 31 Reviews

Common Sense Media Review

Gore, language in over-the-top but appealing Santa movie.

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that Violent Night is an over-the-top Christmas-themed action comedy about Santa Claus (David Harbour) trying to help a family being held hostage. It has tons of blood, gore, and strong language, but it's also irreverent and engaging. Violence is extreme, with fighting, guns and shooting,…

Why Age 16+?

Over-the-top violence, with guns and shooting, fighting, punching, kicking, stab

Strong, frequent language includes "f--k," "motherf----r," "c--ksucker," "s--t,"

Santa drinks and appears extremely drunk in a bar. He steals beer and other drin

Kissing. Strong sex-related dialogue.

Boxes with the Amazon logo are featured in one funny shot.

Any Positive Content?

This Santa Claus is hardly traditional. He's troubled by excessive greed in the

Santa Claus is a White male, but the rest of the cast is more diverse. A White m

Messages about believing in yourself and in the true spirit of Christmas (joy an

Violence & Scariness

Over-the-top violence, with guns and shooting, fighting, punching, kicking, stabbing, slicing, and knife-throwing. Fighting with a sledgehammer and other hand-held weapons and blunt objects. Characters are killed. Blood spurts, gurgling blood. A body is demolished, turned into a headless, bloody mess. Heads are bashed and limbs broken. Character stabbed in eye with Christmas decoration, then electrocuted; skull on fire. Characters thrown around, slammed against walls, other hard objects. Falling from window, character impaled. Character blown up by grenade. Woman, child punched in face. Women threatened by gun. Character's finger snapped in nutcracker figurine. Characters impaled by sharp objects. Characters bashed with heavy objects. Character stitching up bloody wound. Snowmobile crash. Blood-smeared weapon, dripping blood. Violent dialogue.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

Strong, frequent language includes "f--k," "motherf----r," "c--ksucker," "s--t," "bulls--t," "t-ts," "a--hole," "bitch," "goddamn," "bastard," "ass," "whore," "d--k," "balls," "hell," "damn," "crap," "butthole," "anus," "idiot," "shut the f--k up." "Jesus Christ" as an exclamation.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Drinking, Drugs & Smoking

Santa drinks and appears extremely drunk in a bar. He steals beer and other drinks. He "shotguns" a beer. He belches and vomits. Other characters drink pints of beer in a bar. Wealthy characters at Christmas party drink martinis and wine. A woman pours half a bottle of alcohol into a glass in one scene. There are no consequences for drinking.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Drinking, Drugs & Smoking in your kid's entertainment guide.

Sex, Romance & Nudity

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity in your kid's entertainment guide.

Products & Purchases

Positive role models.

This Santa Claus is hardly traditional. He's troubled by excessive greed in the world, he drinks a lot, he's burned out and thinking of quitting. But he's still moved by people who aren't selfish and who believe in the spirit of giving, and it motivates him to continue on and continue spreading joy. Young Trudy is a delightful character, all positivity and sweetness, which is especially admirable given that she was raised wealthy and could have turned out selfish and greedy.

Diverse Representations

Santa Claus is a White male, but the rest of the cast is more diverse. A White man is married to a Black woman; their biracial daughter is the heart of the movie. The band of villains is led by a character played by Puerto Rican-Colombian actor John Leguizamo and also includes Filipino Canadian actor Stephanie Sy. Additional actors of color appear in smaller roles.

Did we miss something on diversity? Suggest an update.

Positive Messages

Messages about believing in yourself and in the true spirit of Christmas (joy and giving), as well as some secondary messages cautioning against greed and selfishness -- but all of these are muted by the movie's embrace of extreme violence.

Parents need to know that Violent Night is an over-the-top Christmas-themed action comedy about Santa Claus ( David Harbour ) trying to help a family being held hostage. It has tons of blood, gore, and strong language, but it's also irreverent and engaging. Violence is extreme, with fighting, guns and shooting, hitting with hand-held weapons and blunt objects, stabbing, slicing, gore, blood spurts, bloody wounds, gurgling blood, heads bashed, limbs broken, eyes gouged, characters electrocuted, explosions, threats, and much more. Swearing includes uses of "f--k," "s--t," "c--ksucker," "bitch," "a--hole," "goddamn," etc. There's also some strong sex-related dialogue and kissing. Santa drinks a lot (and gets drunk), and secondary characters drink socially and during tense situations. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

Where to Watch

Videos and photos.

Parent and Kid Reviews

• Parents say (25)
• Kids say (31)

Based on 25 parent reviews

very fun love it

What's the story.

In VIOLENT NIGHT, it's Christmas Eve, and Santa Claus ( David Harbour ) is feeling burned out by a world with too much greed and too little Christmas spirit. Meanwhile, Jason Lightstone (Alex Hassell) is heading to an annual holiday family gathering with his estranged wife, Linda ( Alexis Louder ), and their daughter, Trudy (Leah Brady). They'll be spending the holiday with Jason's insanely wealthy mother, Gertrude Lightstone ( Beverly D'Angelo ), his nasty sister ( Edi Patterson ), and her family. Just as Santa arrives there to deliver gifts -- and takes a break to sample some fine liquor along with his cookies -- the criminal mastermind called "Mr. Scrooge" ( John Leguizamo ) breaks in with his gang of minions, intending to steal $300 million from Gertrude's vault. But the money appears to be missing, and the Lightstones are taken hostage. However, because Trudy is a true believer, Santa musters up some long-buried strength and courage to fight those on the "Naughty" list and hopefully save the day.

Is It Any Good?

Full of blood, gore, and strong language, this is no kids' movie, but Harbour's lovable performance and a gleeful irreverence around the familiar action scenes make this a fun holiday gift. Violent Night takes cues from many other Christmas movies, from Bad Santa , Elf , and Home Alone , to Fatman and even Die Hard itself. But nothing feels copied, and nothing feels like homage. Violent Night somehow gets away with an attitude of "let's have lots of fun, and who cares what gets wrecked in the process!" Norwegian director Tommy Wirkola is known for this kind of movie, including the wild Nazi zombie movie Dead Snow (2009) and the zany Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters .

In these movies, Wirkola proves that he knows his horror movie history, that he loves horror movies that are aware they're horror movies, and that he's not afraid to climb on top of this rickety stack, reinventing every basic moment every step of the way. It's an approach that might have been exhausting, watching one brutal killing after another as they get bloodier and bloodier, if not for Harbour. He brings exactly the right tone to his Santa Claus and keeps things centered. He's weary and cynical, never too excited, and yet still full of love and hope. We can watch him take out a trained army with nothing more than a sledgehammer and still want to give him a big bear hug when it's done. (Never mind that the white trim on his red coat has turned pink from the blood spatter.)

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about Violent Night 's violence . How did it make you feel? Was it exciting? Shocking? What did the movie show or not show to achieve this effect? Why is that important?

How is drinking depicted? Do characters overindulge? Is this glamorized? Are there consequences? Why does that matter?

What does the movie have to say about commercialism and greed? Are these things rewarded, or are they shown to be bad? How?

Do you find it entertaining to watch irreverent Christmas movies? Why, or why not? Does this movie still manage to celebrate the spirit of giving and spreading joy?

Movie Details

• In theaters : December 2, 2022
• On DVD or streaming : January 24, 2023
• Cast : David Harbour , John Leguizamo , Beverly D'Angelo
• Director : Tommy Wirkola
• Inclusion Information : Latino actors, Female actors
• Studio : Universal Pictures
• Genre : Comedy
• Topics : Holidays
• Run time : 101 minutes
• MPAA rating : R
• MPAA explanation : strong bloody violence, language throughout and some sexual references
• Last updated : May 31, 2024

Did we miss something on diversity?

Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by suggesting a diversity update.

Suggest an Update

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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.

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Violent Night Review: David Harbour Delivers Seasons Beatings

Even moviegoers tired of the “bad santa” genre will rejoice.

While they’re more limited in their windows of opportunity, holiday themed movies face similar challenges that you’d see posed to the sequel of a major franchise. Most takes on Santa Claus have already been done, while his iconic presence has been spun as both naughty and nice. Director Tommy Wirkola’s offering into that latter bucket of canon is the David Harbour -starring Violent Night , which provides an exciting mix of heart and hurt for anyone who encounters this red-suited hero.

Fans of Scrooged, another twisted Christmas delight done right, are probably among the more skeptical viewers approaching this movie. That’s because the fake action film from that comedy, The Night The Reindeer Died , is one of the first references that was brought up when people tried to wrap their heads around the story of Santa (David Harbour) and his long night fighting against a group of thieves led by an enigmatic leader ( John Leguizamo ). While a feature-length version of that faux blockbuster could be awesome, that’s not what you’re getting with Violent Night . 

Rather, the movie navigates three tones that glue this gingerbread house of pain together rather effectively. Writers Pat Casey and Josh Miller of Sonic The Hedgehog fame have run the table, packaging a dark comedy that also works in R-rated action brutality and heartwarming Christmas magic. Whether you can’t get enough of a surprisingly violent Santa, or you’ve lumped this concept in with fruitcake as traditions not to touch, the mixture of genres in Violent Night ties the film up with a pretty, yet gnarly, bow.

A smorgasbord of dark comedy, brutal action, and tender Santa drama make Violent Night one surprising sleigh/slay ride.

Just making a movie with an edgy Santa isn’t enough, as decades of The Santa Clause films have given way to movies like Bad Santa and Fatman that carried the torch into more adult-appropriate material. Those last two projects seem to have fused together to provide Violent Night with the kernel its Santa seems to have grown out of. However, building a fresh yet familiar take on St. Nick needs to pair with a story that isn’t just excuses to execute a new kill every couple of minutes. 

It does take a little while for the bloodshed to kick off, so don’t go into the theater thinking it’s just going to be wall-to-wall action. Rather, Violent Night lets us spend a little time with David Harbour’s Santa, as he seriously contemplates giving up on an ever-commercialized world. Layering in plots of a rich family that’s having a proper holiday meltdown, and the group of terrorists trying to steal a gigantic payday, there’s a lot more going on than just “Santa kills a bunch of people while cracking one-liners.”

Don’t get me wrong, you still get that level of enjoyment out of Violent Night , but the fun part is that it’s not a concept executed just for the sake of pumping out another grizzled Kris Kringle. Selling the movie on that violence is clever, as I was actually surprised by how funny and touching sections of this movie happened to be. The story takes a more grown up look at the spirit of giving and being grateful for family. There’s also a healthy amount of callbacks to Die Hard and Home Alone while doing so.

David Harbour’s Santa is both a jolly holiday figurehead and a snarky bloodsoaked warrior, which makes the entire movie work.

Even in the trailers that heralded Violent Night’s journey to the movies, it was clear that David Harbour was all in on playing Santa Claus. It might sound like an obvious observation, but it has to be said: if you don’t believe in your holiday movie’s Santa, it’s going to be an uphill battle to make anything work in the universe you’re trying to craft. I believed in David Harbour’s Santa Claus, both as the kindly, but world-weary man with the bag, and the killer with a sledgehammer named Skullcrusher.

Neither half of that vital equation is made to be the comic relief either. When Harbour’s Santa is delivering presents and critiquing each house’s cookie game, it feels just as at home as the moments where he’s improvising weapons in the fight for his life. Delivering lines like “Seasons beatings” is a precise exercise, provided you want it to play seriously. Violent Night wants you to buy into David Harbour’s performance, and the man commits to the bit every step of the way.

It also helps that the entire ensemble in Violent Night puts up those same level of commitment, further tying the universe together. As the members of John Leguizamo’s team, or any adult for that matter, start to question whether or not Santa Claus is actually real, the way that thread unfolds doesn’t push itself too far in any direction. 

What really brings everything home are the moments between Santa and the young Trudy Lightstone (Leah Brady). Both having their own crises of faith at the holidays, the two characters challenge each other to see the good in the Christmas season. Sometimes, the movies that are totally based on that concept alone fail to land the concept, but somehow an R-rated, bloody as hell, dark as coal comedy built in that very subplot and made it work.

Violent Night is a rare holiday treat that plays outside the box, while honoring other offbeat holiday classics.

Director Tommy Wirkola wants audiences to enjoy Violent Night in all of its gory delights, but he also wants audiences to leave believing they’ve enjoyed a Christmas movie. The man behind the very rowdy Dead Snow and Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters has fulfilled that quest, as he and his cast and crew kept a close eye on where the tone is headed at any given moment. 

There are moments that both fans of Home Alone and Die Hard will get a kick out of, as Violent Night tips its hat in some creative ways. Its tribute to the former is particularly inspired, as you can now see what an R-rated version of that classic might have looked like. Raiding the toy boxes of Christmas mainstays, the intent isn’t to just turn on the nostalgia like a string of lights. Creatively mashing these themes together creates something new enough for people to really get behind, while also wanting to revisit those favorites. 

Whether or not Violent Night has legs in the long run of holiday movies is still to be determined. No matter how good your turn at bat happens to be, sometimes it just takes a moment for the public to rally around what could eventually become a yearly tradition. For the moment, those readers looking for a truly fun Santa film that busts out of the cookie cutter patterns have a new champion to watch enter the ring. 

Violent Night is a holiday action sugar rush that never forgets to be brutal, funny and heartwarming, whatever the occasion calls for. The nice will be vindicated and the naughty will tremble in fear, as David Harbour’s is coming to town with his own brand of justice and a taste for only the finest Christmas cookies.

Mike Reyes is the Senior Movie Contributor at CinemaBlend, though that title’s more of a guideline really. Passionate about entertainment since grade school, the movies have always held a special place in his life, which explains his current occupation. Mike graduated from Drew University with a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science, but swore off of running for public office a long time ago. Mike's expertise ranges from James Bond to everything Alita, making for a brilliantly eclectic resume. He fights for the user.

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Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Violent Night’ on Streaming, Starring David Harbour as a Santa Who Can Unleash Hell When He Has To

Where to stream:.

• Violent Night

Violent Night (now streaming on Amazon Prime Video ) casts Stranger Things star David Harbour as a badass Santa who can handle his booze and his warhammer better than he handles his reindeer. This gleefully, gloriously dumb, unapologetically brutal thing is about one hammer-smashed face away from putting the X-rating in Xmas. As they say, your mileage may vary for this sort of tongue-in-cheek fodder – so let’s see if it’s in poor taste or if it’ll have us laughing all the way.

VIOLENT NIGHT : STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

The Gist: BELLCHH. It’s Christmas Eve, and Santa’s (Harbour) crocked. He laments how kids just want money and video games anymore. He’s been doing this too long. His heart’s not in it. Is he a Salvation Army corner Santa or a mall Santa or a hired-for-parties Santa? Hmm. The bartender follows his drunk ass up to the roof and is shocked to see him on the sleigh with the reindeer and all that, and she looks up just in time for him to thunder-chunder his guts out all over her. He flies all over the world, eating cookies, stealing liquor, pulling gifts from his magic sack, shotgunning beers, side-of-his-nosing up chimneys with a stardust twinkle, pissing off the side of the sleigh. He’s the real deal. He’s magic. But he’s also human.

Meanwhile, in Greenwich, Connecticut, Jason (Alex Hassell) and Linda (Alexis Louder) are gutting out the holiday for their dear, sweet, perfect, adorable, innocent, beloved daughter Trudy (Leah Brady). They’re splitsville, but Trudy wanted Mom and Dad to be together for Christmas at Grandma’s. It’s a lot to ask, more so for Linda, because Jason’s family has billions in the bank, and his mother Gertrude (Beverly “Ellen Griswold” D’Angelo!) is a Piece of Work. Jason’s sister Alva (Edi Patterson) is also a Piece of Work who’s raising a Piece of Work influencer teen boy Bert (Alexander Elliot) and dating a Piece of Work actor (Cam Gigandet). Joy to the world for all the selfish entitled a-holes.

The house is so big, Santa can bump down the chimney, swig some 90-year-old brandy and futz around without anybody hearing him. It’s also so big, there’s a vault in the basement containing 300 mil in cash. And so a man who identifies himself only as Scrooge (John Leguizamo) crashes the party with a crew of heavily armed rapscallions to take everyone hostage and steal the dough. Santa catches wind of the shenanigans and before you know it, he’s kinda John McClaneing through the mansion while Scrooge Hans Grubers his way to the vault. Thing is, John McClane never whaled on the bad guys with a stocking full of pool balls or creamed thugs with a sledgehammer to the tune of ironic Christmas carols.

What Movies Will It Remind You Of?: Violent Night is Die Hard meets Bad Santa meets Fatman with a couple elements of The Northman (yes, The Northman ) and an extended homage to Home Alone .

Performance Worth Watching: Harbour works hard to sell the grizzled-Santa bit, striking the perfect comic tone to deliver lines like SANTA’S GONNA EAT THROUGH THESE GUYS LIKE A PLATE OF COOKIES.

Memorable Dialogue: Santa promises dear little Trudy he’ll rescue her from the creeps:

Santa: I’m gonna take a lump of coal and shove it straight up- Trudy: Their ass? Santa: Come on, sweetie, we wanna keep you on the nice list, you know. Trudy: Sorry, can I say “butthole” then? Santa: That’s borderline.

Sex and Skin: None, perhaps disappointingly.

Our Take: Violent Night is just horrible, moronic garbage – albeit horrible, moronic garbage I can get behind. The not-so-jolly old elf is smack in Harbour’s wheelhouse, and he and Leguizamo deliver spoofy hard-boiled action-movie one-liners with juicy aplomb. This Santa could really use a fresh jolt of Christmas spirit, and he finds it in two things: a little girl’s innocence, and the sweet, sweet release of gratuitous violence. I laughed my ass off. In spite of myself.

By no objective means is this a “good movie.” It aims low and bullseyes an easy target: happy-happy-joy-joy Christmas feelings. Granted, it indulges a couple of those feelings so it doesn’t fall into and get stuck in the depravity pit, but for the most part, it rebels against the feelgood slop of most holiday fodder. It’s not the first movie to flip the table on sentimental Christmas cheer, and follows its own formula of subversion – hey, lookit Santa, he’s barfing and bashing in skulls. Frankly, it doesn’t go any deeper than that, it’s a touch too long at 112 minutes and the Home Alone shit feels overly indulgent. But Violent Night hits the perfect tone for Christmas blasphemy, the movie equivalent of stepping out of the family party for a minute to sneak a shot of whiskey.

Our Call: STREAM IT. No sane person will consider Violent Night a perennial classic, but Harbour inspires enough ho-ho-hos and cheeky holiday mayhem to warrant a watch.

John Serba is a freelance writer and film critic based in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Read more of his work at johnserbaatlarge.com .

• Prime Video
• Stream It Or Skip It

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‘Violent Night’: Trailer, Release Date, Cast, and Everything We Know So Far

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The 10 most action-packed james bond movies, ranked, the 10 best prequel movies, ranked, quick links, watch the violent night trailer, when is violent night’s release date, who's in the violent night cast, who are the creators of violent night, what is violent night’s story.

As much as we love our good ol’ Saint Nick, his unconventional movie avatars are always more appealing. That’s why David Harbour ’s Santa is going to blow your mind. Coming this holiday season, Violent Night is a darker and thrilling (but humorous nevertheless) take on the joyful festival as a badass Father Christmas slays bad people. Although it’s going to be all twisted and quite bloody, it’s all in the spirit of Yuletide.

Directed by Tommy Wirkola , and written by Pat Casey and Josh Miller , Violent Night follows Santa Claus saving the day and Christmas from a group of mercenaries who attack the estate of a wealthy family. From Tim Allen ’s The Santa Clause to Bad Santa and Kurt Russell ’s The Christmas Chronicles , we have seen Santa being not so nice all the time, but that's the exciting part of this kind of movie. Violent Night takes that aspect of St. Nick to a whole other level. Releasing this December, this dark comedy definitely deserves to be on your holiday movie list.

The tickets are yet to go on sale but meanwhile, you can check out our complete guide below to find out the movie’s plot, trailer, release date, cast and characters, and everything else that we know so far about Violent Night . Now, get ready for some season’s beatings (oops, greetings!) and a truly wild Christmas.

Related: Our 5 Favorite Unconventional Movie Santas

Fans have been waiting for so long for the official trailer of Violent Night and it has finally been released. Let us tell you straight up that you don’t want to be on this Santa’s naughty list because he doesn’t just give a lump of coal to bad people. What he does instead is way more dangerous and just what they deserve. It’s like watching Die Hard , the Santa version. Although the clip more or less reveals the entire plot, the fun of the movie is going to be watching Harbour bringing out all his action skills while being the most lovable and adorable mythical figure possible. As you can see, the movie’s title is right on point with what it’s about – Santa fighting with all guns blazing and also setting things ablaze when he sees an innocent family under attack. This Santa is all about instant karma. The trailer definitely proves that this action-comedy film is going to be full of action and thrill, making it a delicious, decadent, holiday treat! Catch a glimpse of what’s coming in the player above.

Violent Night is premiering at the New York Comic Con on October 7, 2022 , followed by its nationwide theatrical release on Friday, December 2, 2022.

Violent Night boasts quite a cast with David Harbour headlining as Father Noel himself. He is joined by John Leguizamo , Beverly D'Angelo , Alex Hassell , Alexis Louder , Cam Gigandet , Edi Patterson , and André Eriksen in various roles. The thrilling Christmas story sees Harbour’s Santa as not so much the elusive mythical figure he is known to be, but very, very real. And he can fight like a superhero! The Stranger Things star has featured in many action thrillers earlier, like Quantum of Solace , The Green Hornet , Suicide Squad , and the 2019 Hellboy , among many others in the same genre as well as in other genres. You can expect to see him in his upcoming projects like Gran Turismo , Thunderbolts , and My Dentist’s Murder Trial , which he is also executive producing.

In other roles, Leguizamo stars as Ben, the leader of the mercenaries; D'Angelo as Gertrude, the matriarch of the family, Alex Hassell as Skyler, one of Gertrude's children who is spending Christmas with his wife and daughter at the family estate; and Alexis Louder as Margie Matthews, Skyler's estranged wife who is spending the holidays at the house so their daughter can have a good Christmas.

Related: 'Violent Night' Poster Features David Harbour as a Brutal Santa Claus

Violent Night comes from Norwegian director Tommy Wirkola, who is recognized for transforming beloved classics into dark and dangerous tales with a modern setting. Take Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters for example. Wirkola is best known for his previous projects like Kill Buljo , the Kill Bill parody, the Norwegian comedy-horror series, Dead Snow and its sequel Dead Snow 2: Red vs. Dead , What Happened to Monday , and The Trip , among others. He’s also set to write and direct his next movie, Spermageddon , coming in 2023.

Pat Casey and Josh Miller pen the screenplay for the comedy thriller, a duo best known for the live-action/animation adventure series Sonic the Hedgehog and its sequel. Violent Night comes from 87North Productions, the same production company that made Nobody and Bullet Train , and is produced by David Leitch and Kelly McCormick , along with Guy Danella . It really looks like you can expect a similar high-octane action-driven narrative to those films in this movie as well.

Violent Night is a power-packed, gritty rendition of the mythical legend that is Santa Claus. As the title proves, this isn’t your average, holly, jolly Christmas story , but it is a Christmas story alright. It’s Christmas Eve and Santa is on his way to fulfill his annual duty of dropping off gifts to his nice list. But little did he expect his work to get interrupted by a bunch of goons, and make a bloody mess of his wonderfully planned night. As soon as he lands at the home of a little girl on that list, he finds himself surrounded by villainous people with weapons and is attacked.

First, all he wants to do is just quietly escape and get on with his night, but the attackers won’t just let him leave. So Santa reveals a side of his character that you have never ever seen before or even imagined. The mercenaries in question are holding the house and its family members hostage for a fat payout. But what they don’t see coming is that their violent act will be returned duly, as Father Christmas takes them on with all his magical powers, tearing them down, one by one. Though the brightest day of the year takes a grim turn, it’s all undoubtedly going to end well because Santa, once again, will make it a very merry Christmas. Well, not for the bad guys.

• David Harbour
• Tommy Wirkola

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Violent Night Review: Santa Slays In This Soon-To-Be Christmas Classic

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