Christmas Evil Review

Christmas has ironically always been a great time for horror films because everyone seems to enjoy a good flick about elves turned bad, evil Santas, or killer snowman that turn into snow like aliens.  Most of the time the theme is a bit on the ridiculous side, but every so once in awhile there are some great stories of home invasion during the time of year when most people are expecting to see good will which is why they are so effective.  After all, evil at a time of love is pretty harsh and a scary thought.

One of the top horror Xmas films is Christmas Evil which can out in the 80s and was the work of Pan American Pictures with direction by Lewis Jackson.  The film is the story of Brandon Maggart in the role of an old man that is overly obsessed with the idea of Santa Claus and Christmas.  At the start of the film viewers see a family that is watching Santa come into their home with presents which is in reality the father pretending to be Santa creating a nice little holiday scene that everyone would want to have as part of their childhood.

Of course, this is not the end of it as one of the children comes back down the stairs later in the night and sees the Santa (who is unbeknownst to him) is his father having sex with his mother.  According to the story this traumatizes him and he runs back up the stairs and smashes a snow globe to pieces using a piece of glass from the globe to cut himself with.  You would think the parents would have resolved the issue with him at some point, but apparently not since they would ruin the rest of the film.

After this event the film cuts over to the child as an adult that does not have any kids and is not married.  He spends his days working at the Jolly Dream toy factory where he is pushed around and bullied by his co-workers even though he is actually their boss and therefore should be in control of the situation that always seems out of his hands.  In just a few minutes you see that Harry has a few screws lose in his head as he actually sits in his home spying on the neighborhood children making up his own personal list of who is nice and naughty.

As Christmas nears Harry begins to make his own Santa Suit and getting ready for his own version of the holidays although the film does not tell you in advance making you sit back and wait for the ride.  You are not quite sure at this point what he is up to, but with the few cues from the music you do know that whatever happens is most likely going to be just a bit creepy.  Soon it is a well known fact that Harry wants to be the Santa that deems what happens to good and bad boys the way he imagines the reql Santa Clause should have been in his life.

Within a few minutes later you see Santa start to break into homes fully decked out as Santa and you start to wonder just how crazy he is and how far he will go with his lists and his home invasions.  It’s a bit slow moving, but there is intensity to the film and a lack of predictability since the deranged Harry does not give his behavior away that makes it entertaining to slowly watch unfold since it has a ever effective unknown element.

Sometimes you can look right into Harry’s eyes and see this glimpse of manic energy, but then he seems to flip into his Santa character and everything is all right again making it even harder to guess what he is up to.  These moments are great because you know there is only a matter of time when you see him warning trouble makers to behave and be good that he is going to snap and it is going to be pretty stunning when he does.

There is not a lot of gore, but the times that Harry does take action and actually commit murder are pretty good making full use of holiday themes such as when a guy has his throat slit with a Christmas star topper.  Some people may consider this to be a comedy, but really it’s a serial thriller about a guy that is so calculating and cold blooded that he honestly believes he is changing the world.  Most of his actions are on the fly and he stumbles at times, but in the back of his mind he truly thinks he is Santa and cleansing the world which is a pretty eerie thought.