Any action movie hailing from 87North Productions is instantly going to be on the radar of genre fans everywhere, but December’s Violent Night is upping the insanity to an entirely new level by having David Harbour dish out season’s beatings as an ass-kicking Santa Claus who tries to save a family from certain doom after they’re taken hostage by money-hungry home invaders.
Dead Snow and Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters‘ Tommy Wirkola is on directorial duties, and combining festive frolics with the team behind the John Wick franchise, Atomic Blonde, Bob Odenkirk’s Nobody, Netflix’s Kate, and Bullet Train guarantees that the violent set pieces are going to be expertly-choreographed and suitably hard-hitting.
The first trailer dropped earlier this week to give audiences a taster of what’s in store when Violent Night lands on December 2, and the reactions coming out of the first screening at New York Comic Con highlight that the skull-crushing Christmas caper is destined to live up to expectations and then some.
Mel Gibson’s Fatman covered similar ground last year, albeit with more of a darkly comedic thriller element than outright explosive action, with Violent Night set to deliver on its promise as an instant cult classic that fans are going to religiously fire up right around the most wonderful time of the year on an annual basis.
Santa Claus as an action hero isn’t something we ever thought we’d get excited about, but we’ll be damned if the hype for Violent Night hasn’t just been ratcheted up by several notches.