Welcome back carolers for Day 4 of
Dismember December and as luck would have it we have us an also known
as title. Precursor to Silent Night, Deadly Night our original title
is You Better Watch Out, a lesser known flick compared to the
upheaval that was Silent Night, Deadly Night. Oddly enough a lunatic
goes on a rampage of murder and mayhem while dressed as Santa. This
is Christmas Evil a.k.a. Terror in Toyland a.k.a. You Better Watch
Out.
Look kids! Santa's naughty now! |
Directed by Lewis Jackson (The
Deviates, The Transformation: A Sandwich of Nightmares, Christmas
Evil), a fan favorite of the infamous John Waters (Pink
Flamingos, Female Trouble, Desperate Living, Hairspray, Cry-Baby,
Serial Mom, Pecker and A Dirty Shame)
our film opens with a lovely trip to suburbia (shudder) during the
year 1947 as young Harry sees his mother being felt up by Santa
a.k.a. His dad in a suit and with that the lad is heartbroken. 33
years later, Harry (Brandon Maggart of Purlie, The World
According to Garp, Jennifer Slept Here, Chicken Soup, Dream Date and
The Adventures of Brisco County Jr.)
is working a assembly position at the Jolly Dreams toy factory but at
home...well Harry sees himself as the next tride and true Santa
(THERE CAN BE ONLY ONE!),
with his apartment decked out in lights, ornaments and various toys,
"Santa" watches on the neighborhood children from the roof
of his building...with binoculars...like a creeper and even keeps a
journal of naughty and nice kids.
Another eye gouge?? Must be Fulchi's fault. |
Harry
realizes that several of the assembly workers have been treating him
like some dumb schmuck and taking advantage of him for ages. Seeing
his co-worker Frank (Joe Jamrog of Christmas Evil, Blue
Steel, The Fisher King and United 93)
in a bar when he was supposedly sick making Harry fill-in for him
teeters him from the realms of safe and sane. To make matters worse,
Harry's own brother Phil (Jeffery DeMunn of The X-Files,
The Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile, The Mist, The Walking Dead
and Mob City) cancels
Thanksgiving dinner on him at the last minute. Harry has left this
grounded world and is convinced he is Santa and proceeds to dish
out...Christmas justice??!!! A few rounds of breaking and entering,
he smashes his nephews' toys and replaces them with handmade ones.
Harry
takes out three preppies with an axe and... I am not certain if I
should feel bad or imagine them as hipsters being vanquished instead.
Really hate hipsters. Frank and his buddy George witness the
murders as the Santa flees. Tension rises at Phil's household in
which he is concerned about Harry and wondering if he is doing
alright.
Will
Harry carve out a new Christmas tradition? Will there be anyone left
alive in Jersey? Will anyone notice Jersey devoid of people?
A few
points I would like to make now. The cinematography of this low
budget slasher is AWESOME! Shot with Panaflex in 35mm spherical it
really gives it a good vibe in spite of being in mono via sound.
Falling under Britian's Video Nasty Ban list, our movie an hour and
40 minutes but was deemed too gory to be edited down to 95 mines
instead. I saw the hour and 40 so I guess some nudity and a couple
of close-up zoom hatchet scenes were yanked.
I am
perplexed by what I saw. On one hand, Santa is murdering a fair
amount of people, but he delivered toys to kids in the hospital.
This whole film seems to document a life that was scarred at an early
age and attempted to muddle through it as best as possible.
Attention slasher fans, the body count and death scenes are not over
the top and not a large amount of them. What this film depicts is
about a man's mental and emotional mindset ebbing away and no one
seems to care.
I
loved the police line up of Santas and the fact I recognized
character actor Jeffrey DeMunn or Dale from Walking Dead
and a very young Patrica Richardson
(Jill from Home Improvement and Sheila Brooks from The
West Wing). Not so much a
psychological thriller but it was quirky, odd and kind of fun.
Holiday shopping can be murder,right? |
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