Killing Santa and Killer Santa
In the spirit of the holiday, I decided to review a couple Christmas horror movies. I chose Christmas Evil (November 1980) and Don’t Open Til Christmas (December 1984) in the United Kingdom.
Don’t Open Til Christmas is set in London. At the start of this movie a man in a Santa suit and a woman are murdered when they meet in an alley way to have sex. The main character, Kate Brioski, sees her father murdered in front of her at a party while wearing a Santa suit. It is here that we realize this killer has something against Santa! There are two detectives investigating these three murders but they don’t seem to be getting anywhere as the Santa body count piles up. Kate begins to get frustrated and starts doing some investigating of her own.
I don’t want to spoil it so I will stop here. I really enjoyed this film. It was fun with some creative kills! One Santa had his dick cut off while using the restroom and bled to death. What a horrible way to go! Are the men reading this cringing? Another Santa has his face shoved into the grill he was roasting chestnuts on. There was even an electrocution of a non Santa. There is also a woman who almost gets it when she ends up in an alley wearing nothing but a Santa cloak but the killer lets her go after running a straight razor over her naked body. Yes, there are boobs in this movie!
By the end of the film the killer’s motive is revealed and the movie ends on a violent yet comical note. Overall, this movie was a lot of fun and held my interest.
LITTLE MISS HORROR NERD’S RATING: 3/5
Trivia:
– Edward Purdom who played Inspector Ian Harris agreed to star in this film only if he could also direct. He then quit the directing portion and two more directors were hired; One of whom lasted two days and was then fired.
– Dick Randall (whose films were known for sex, blood, and humor) produced this film as well as whole host of other horror films including Pieces and Slaughter High.
Christmas Evil was directed by Lewis Jackson and stars Brandon Maggart as a Harry Stadling, a deranged man who wants to become Santa Claus. Harry endured a disturbing event as a child involving Santa. This event had such a negative impact that Harry is warped and decides to become Santa to show that Santa can be good. Harry works for a toy factory and leads a sort of solitary existence except his relationship with his brother — which is not a good one.
Harry takes to sleeping in his Santa suit and spying on the neighborhood kids to see if they have been good or bad. He eventually loses it and on Christmas Eve steals toys from work to deliver to disadvantaged kids at the hospital. Afterwords, he goes on a killing spree. Harry murders people he considers bad, such as a co-worker who called out that Harry had to cover for but Harry then spied in the local bar on the way home.
This movie was extremely bizarre and another case where I felt like I was on acid while watching a movie. That said, I did actually like this film it was just not what I had expected. This is not a straight up slasher film and if that is what you are looking for do not bother. It is more of a dark comedy with some intelligence. I didn’t find in the least bit scary and there was minimal gore and NO boobs! This is basically the story of one man’s descent into madness.
LITTLE MISS HORROR NERD’S RATING: 3/5
TRIVIA:
– Synapse Films released a special edition of Christmas Evil in 2006. It includes audio commentary from the Director and from cult filmmaker John Waters who has been quoted saying it is the “greatest Christmas movie ever made”.
– Christmas Evil was originally released as You Better Watch Out.
– Kathleen Turner was turned down for the role of Harry’s sister-in-law.
