June 17, 2018
Looking at the cover and title, I expected this to be a funny goofy horror film like Jack Frost. What I got was actually an extremely dark and gritty film. The film is about a boy who sees his family murdered by a man in a Santa Claus. Afterwards he goes to live in a convent where he is abused by a mother superior. When he leaves at eighteen he finds a job at a toy store and unfortunately is forced to play Santa Claus one year. After seeing a couple have sex, he snaps and goes on an axe murdering rampage.
The opening scenes with his comatose grandfather warning him about Santa and then the murder/sexual assault create a dark atmosphere that is more typical of mid-70s films. The film also works somewhat as a psychological thriller. The killer's obsession with "being good," that was beaten into him by the mother superior, find its counterpart with Santa Claus, the judge of "good" and "bad." Unable to accept the things he has scene the killer in his mind becomes Santa and goes forth doing what he assumes is Santa's role, punishing "the bad." Also, simply having the killer trounce around in a Santa costume is terrifying! It is so much worse than a monster Santa or the other goofy things movies have done. If I had seen this film as a kid it definitely would've made me terrified of Santa Claus.
There are also a lot of really great deaths in the film. Two that stick out are one girl is picked up by the killer and impaled on the horns of a deer mounted on the wall. The other is one great death follows adult two bullies who steal sleds from two kids. When the second one sleds down the mountain the killer jumps out of a bush and decapitates him. A headless torso gets to the bottom of the hill followed by its rolling head. It is really a great scene!
When the film came out it caused a huge uproar which talk shows giving hour long segments dedicated to exposing how horrible the film was. Actor Mickey Rooney even took part in the crusade against the film (although he stars in the fifth sequel). The concept of Santa Claus was taken by many people to be a sacred idea. This film shattered that sanctity. In a sense it did what art has been doing for years. And it did it with an axe.
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