Christmas Evil (1980)

Beautiful, moving film.

When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

Ok... Let's be honest. It cannot be the best movie but is quite enjoyable. The movie has the potential to develop a great plot for future movies

A toy factory worker (Fiona Apple's father), mentally scarred as a child upon learning Santa Claus is not real, suffers a nervous breakdown after being belittled at work, and embarks on a Yuletide killing spree.I had a copy of this movie on my desk for over a year (thanks, Vinegar Syndrome) but somehow never found the time. Finally, in December 2016, I put it in and gave it a watch. And, sadly, despite a few good scenes and the possibility of this being the first killer Santa movie, it runs a bit too slow and too long to be a really strong slasher.On the bright side, it has Jeffrey DeMunn before he really became a horror icon through his work with Frank Darabont.

Christmas Evil begins with an introduction, where a young boy cuts himself with a piece of broken glass- from a snowglobe he smashed- after discovering his mother receiving oral pleasure from a man in a Santa costume.This causes him to forever associate the pain he felt from this trauma, with Christmas (you'd think this would turn him into a full blown misogynist, but it doesn't). Rendering him all stalky- with a particularly keen interest in the neighbours...and a Santa fetish, of course.He takes this role very seriously, too. Keeping tabs on all the local children (via voyeurism); documenting their good and bad behaviour.One Christmas, after witnessing the greed of management at the toy factory where he works, he snaps, and fully embraces his Santa alter-ego, on the one day of the year that the rest of the world might accept it.Everything goes well for him at first. He even comes off as benevolent for a while. But things start to take a darker turn when people start to mock and belittle him, after which he starts to get all slashy...and it's all downhill from there.But he never comes off, truly, as a monster. Rather, someone who is mentally unstable, but well meaning, acting out, out of frustration.You can make of that what you will, but it ultimately leads to the film's conclusion...which is both bizarre and wholly unexpected.In fact, I think it might be one of the weirdest conclusions I've ever seen in a horror flick. But the whole thing is pretty weird, in an awkward sort of way, so I guess it is a reflection of that too.The whole thing plods along pretty slowly, and comes off more awkward than it does entertaining (probably due to the absence of gore, in this gore-saturated day in age), but it's watchable. And it's certainly something different than usual...so there's that.5 out of 10.

Meek middle-aged toy factory worker Harry Stadling (superbly played with heartbreaking pathos and conviction by Brandon Maggart) has a decidedly unhealthy fixation on Santa Claus: He lives in a home adorned with a motley array of St. Nick-themed items, tries to get his indifferent coworkers to take pride in the toys that they manufacture, and even spies on the neighborhood kids with binoculars and keeps tabs on their behavior in a series of ledgers. However, one fateful Christmas Eve Harry has a severe mental meltdown and goes dangerously off the deep end with his Santa obsession.Those expecting a typical and conventional slice'n'dice body count opus will be seriously disappointed; instead writer/director Lewis Jackson offers something much better and more ambitious: A quirky, vivid, and often darkly humorous psychological character study of a deeply tragic and troubled soul who elicits from the viewer a complex blend of fear and pity. Best of all, Jackson not only grounds the premise in a thoroughly believable workaday blue collar reality, but also provides a handy helping of spot-on stinging social commentary on the crass commercialization of the yuletide season. Moreover, this film delivers a wonderful wealth of inspired oddball moments: A raucous Christmas office party that degenerates into a drunken fracas, Harry marking a bratty kid's house with muddy hand prints, Harry happily dancing at another Christmas party (Harry's speech to a bunch of little children at this particular party is an absolute loopy hoot!), Harry getting stuck in a chimney, Harry being chased by an angry torch-wielding mob, a police station line-up of sidewalk Santas, and a truly bonkers magical ending that's probably all in Harry's unbalanced head.While Maggart clearly dominates the movie with his top-notch portrayal of a fascinatingly sincere and well-meaning, yet still lethal and unhinged individual, he nonetheless receives sturdy support from Jeffrey DeMunn as Harry's fed-up long-suffering younger brother Philip, Dianne Hall as Philip's more sweet and tolerant wife Jackie, Joe Jamrog as lazy and irresponsible coworker Frank, and Peter Friedman as callous executive Mr. Grosch. Philip Cosnoff does a wickedly dead-on caricature of Geraldo Rivera as preening television reporter Ricardo Bauma. Popping up in small parts are such familiar faces as Mark Margolis, Patricia Richardson, Rutanya Alda, and Raymond J. Barry. Kudos are also in order for Ricardo Aronovich's lustrous cinematography and the wonky electronic score by Joel Harris, Julia Heyward, and Don Christensen. A marvelously singular treat.

One Christmas night, little Harry sees Santa kissing mommy. And, you know, not on the lips either. Cut to thirty years later when he has grown up to be a toy factory worker, stalker of little children, keeper of naughty or nice ledgers and an all around Christmas lunatic. And once again the jolliest time of the year is approaching and Harry (Brandon Maggart) is starting to feel the pressure of the Yuletide.Christmas Evil stands apart from its slasher horror brethren by the virtue of its quality. Maggart is a very believable lead as a man that has never quite fit in with the adult society and is constantly being exploited because of his helpful, downtrodden attitude. The film opens beautifully with slowly revealed signs about the lengths of his obsession with Christmas and when he finally has had enough, it feels believable. Like you'd almost do the exact same thing if put into the same situation.The film is also shot very well and contains some genuinely nice Christmas imagery. Sure you can see the limitations of the budget, but the camera-work is nicely done, all the actors are directed well and the pacing works, keeping you on the edge of your seat as Harry wanders the town in his getup. All the Christmas gags and jokes are also hilarious, especially keeping in mind that the film has a very dark sense of humour, being a slasher film.I liked the film. It's not a masterpiece and I kind of hope they had focused a bit more on Harry's slow descend into madness. Now the dark comedy is there, but not the creepiness. Still, well worth a watch for all horror fans, especially around the holidays.