Christmas Evil Review
Christmas Evil: Troma Entertainment
Runtime: 89 mins Release Date: November 21st, 1980
Director: Lewis Jackson
Starring: Bruce Campbell, Sarah Berry, Dan Hicks
Screenplay: Brandon Maggart, Jeffrey DeMunn, Dianne Fitzgerald Score: Richard Trank
Distributor: Troma Entertainment
It’s 1946, and a mother and her two children wait on the stairs and spot Santa Claus on Christmas Eve. One boy is convinced it’s the real Santa, while the younger one believes it’s their father in costume. After Santa leaves, the boys argue before falling asleep. Later, the older boy wakes to noises downstairs and discovers his mother fooling around with "Santa." Distraught by this discovery, he smashes a Santa snow globe and uses the broken glass to cut his hand, letting blood drip ritualistically onto the figure. This marks the start of an unhealthy obsession.
Fast forward to 1980: that boy is now an adult named Harry with a life consumed by Santa worship. His apartment is covered in Christmas decorations year-round, and he wears sleepwear resembling Santa’s clothes. He even works at a toy factory, and obsessively catalogs children’s behaviour in books, while spying on them from rooftops. Over the first act of the film he slowly loses touch with reality, beginning to believe he is Santa, he even begins crafting a suit and preparing for Christmas. After being wronged by some coworkers and his brother as well as discovering his factory lied about donating toys to a hospital, he snaps. He steals toys from the factory, and embarks on a mission to deliver presents to the "nice" and punish the "naughty."
Christmas Evil is a sleeper grindhouse film that was released in 1980, it gained quite the following despite not even having a complete release till 2012 on video. The film was originally called You Better Watch Out but distributors changed the name and sold it as a slasher film with their marketing in hopes of making more money. The thing is, while there are some good kills in this movie, it is far from a slasher film and is more of a character study of this man and obsession with Santa Claus. It was also recommended to me to watch the film a second time with John Waters' commentary. John Waters is known for his films that featured the famous drag queen Divine, and for his fetishistic films, it’s no surprise that he considers this one of his favorite films.
From Waters’ point of view, it was almost like someone who was trying to pass as a woman when they were in drag, you could even see the joy on Harry’s face when he finally glues the Santa beard and eyebrows to his face, puts on the wig and realizes that he can pass as Santa Claus. As the film goes on his delusion gets increasingly more intense. He begins to believe more and more that he is Santa. Even to the point that while he is clearly driving a car that he painted a sleigh on, he begins to believe that the reindeer are pulling it.
This film really was interesting, and it’s important for me to note again that it’s not a slasher film but more of a character study about this man who’s been deranged by his childhood experiences, while it’s not my favorite horror christmas movie. I feel it’s worth watching if you have an interest in artsier horror films.
