*Spoilers*

The movie Violent Night starred David Harbour as Santa Claus was a mix of comedy and gore as he is tasked with saving a whole family from intruders. The acting in this movie was exceptional as all the main characters did a phenomenal job portraying their roles. In my opinion, the plot of the movie was really good, but it took a long time to get into. The first hour or so of the movie was not good and it took a while to set up. Tommy Cramer, a Pennridge High School student agreed with my statement, mentioning that the movie, “had great action and a great plot, but it took a while to set up”. The cinematography was great, along with the musical choices throughout the movie.

A family reunion of a rich, broken family during Christmas is broken up by a bunch of intruders. The intruders take everyone hostage as they scurry around the house trying to find money stolen from the government. Jason Lightstone, son of Gertrude Lightstone brings his divorced wife Linda, and their child, Trudy. Before the intruders break in, Jason and Linda give Trudy a walkie-talkie that goes “straight to Santa” to ask for gifts, and Trudy wishes that her parents find love with each other again. Throughout the movie, the bond between Jason and Linda grows stronger and stronger as their lives are on the line. While the intruders are breaking in, Santa Claus is laying in a massage chair, taking a nap, after helping himself to the booze in the room he was in. One of the mercenaries breaks into Santa’s room which catches him off guard and starts the whole plot of the movie, Santa fighting off the intruders.

After the first fight, Santa is enticed to leave, but the reindeer left, and Santa decided it was a better decision to stay and save Trudy. Santa got into fight after fight, going as far as stabbing an intruder with an electric star from a Christmas tree into their eye, putting it in the outlet, and lighting them on fire. Brian Thomson, a Pennridge High School student was impressed with the action in the movie, stating, “the movie, in general, surpassed my expectations, but I was not expecting the action to be that great in a Christmas movie.” As the movie progresses, the intruders can’t seem to find the money, so they go to the living room to threaten the family. Once they get there, Trudy runs off and they punish Jason Lightstone for not telling them where the money is, by putting his finger in a nutcracker’s mouth and breaking it. Trudy flees to the attic and sets up a bunch of booby traps to protect her, as she talks to Santa through the walkie-talkie. The movie turns up a notch with the gore once we get past this part in the movie, as Santa bludgeons some of the intruders with an axe.

My initial reaction to this movie was that it wasn’t that great, but as time went on I grew to like it more and more. The Rotten Tomatoes score of 73% is something I completely agree with, the movie definitely isn’t one of my favorites, but it wasn’t bad either. I recommend this movie if you are a teenager or someone in your early twenties, as most of the humor in this movie isn’t fit for young children, and probably won’t amuse someone who has reached the age of thirty or older.