There’s a lot to like about Violent Night, and I really don’t want to spoil too much because, despite the 3.8 stars that we gave it, it’s pretty enjoyable. David Harbour (Black Widow, Stranger Things) plays a disillusioned Santa Claus who is on his annual trip to spread holiday cheer. Along the way, he finds himself trapped in a house besieged by bad guys. So, he John McClains it and starts delivering cans of whoop@$$ instead of dolls and skateboards.

Violent Night

The film’s biggest weakness is that it doesn’t know what it wants to be: a farce, a serious action flick with a ridiculous premise, or a screwball comedy? Instead of picking one of those, it is all three at different times. Violent Night works best when it takes itself seriously. The ridiculousness of Santa, in full garb, absolutely wrecking bad guys is enough to provide the desired laughs; sprinkle in a little girl in danger, and you’ve got yourself a movie. However, the inclusion of cartoon-like characters behaving in ways that no human would behave in rips you out of the moment and ruins any emotional investment you might have had. Unfortunately, this flick has its fair share of this.

I dinged the performances pretty hard in our metrics because of two things: 1) Most of the actors and actresses were fine, but gave us nothing to write home about. 2) Morgan Steel, played by Cam Gigandet (Twilight), is easily the most egregiously distracting character. Remember Ellis from Die Hard? Mogan Steel is Ellis without the charisma or intelligence.

Steel is an insipid aspiring actor and the gold-digging boyfriend of Alva Litestone, played by Edi Patterson (who has made multiple single-episode appearances on TV programs). He’s also the movie equivalent of erectile dysfunction. Here’s a great example: in the midst of a hostage situation, in which he is one of the hostages, he gives the Litestone matriarch, Gertrude, played by a wasted (talent-wise, she wasn’t drunk or anything) Beverly D’Angelo (National Lampoon’s Vacation series) a full-color film pitch packet and tries to convince her that it’s a gift of a golden opportunity. Again, he’s 10 feet away from a machine gun-wielding maniac whom he saw commit murder a few moments ago, but somehow thinks that now is the time to pitch a movie. The over-the-top ridiculousness of Morgan Steel could work in the proper context (see Cousin Eddie in National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation); the problem is that the movie shifts tones from Die Hard to Dumb and Dumber at neck-breaking speed, giving the audience no time to relax into a comfortable flow. Also, unlike National Lampoon, Morgan isn’t the only ridiculously over-the-top character.

So, what’s good about Violent Night? When it is on point with the primary storyline, Santa is stuck in a house full of murderers whom he must brutally kill to save a young girl. Violent Night is magically delicious. It’s dark and funny, brutal and exciting, and David Harbour is perfect as Santa in every scene. Seriously, if it weren’t for the goofball characters mucking things up, I’d have given the movie 4 or 5 stars for performance just for him. Fortunately, the movie is only very occasionally interrupted by the goofballs.

There’s also an homage to Home Alone that, at first blush, looks like it won’t work, but it lands like paint cans on Marv’s head, wickedly funny.

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