Posts Tagged ‘Santa Claus’

Metro: Slashing through the snow: 7 holiday horror movies

Screen Shot 2015-12-04 at 11.37.29 AM

By Richard Crouse – Metro Canada

Without Black Christmas, a groundbreaking 1974 Canadian horror film there might never have been a Jason Voorhees, Freddy Krueger or Michael Myers. These characters owe much to one film made in Toronto, a movie Film Threat magazine calls “the first modern slasher movie.”

The film enters its fourth decade this year, a milestone celebrated with the release of Black Christmas, the Season’s Grievings Edition in late November. The story of a sorority house terrorized by a murderous stranger has been given the deluxe Blu-ray treatment, packed with a Santa’s sleigh of new features. It is one of the great Christmas horror movies, but it isn’t the only one.

Here’s a look at holiday films without an ounce of tinsel treacle.

Silent Night, Deadly Night

Originally called Slayride, this movie about a teen who goes on a murderous rampage dressed as Santa after his parents are killed, changed its name for release. In its first weekend it out-grossed Nightmare on Elm Street, but then parents angry at Santa’s portrayal as an axe murderer picketed theatres, and the box office dried up.

Santa Claus

K. Gordon Murray was a film producer best known for snapping up the rights to foreign films, dubbing them into English for American audiences. His best-known pick-up was Santa Claus, a strange Yuletide flick about St. Nick and Merlin doing battle with Lucifer.

Originally produced in Spanish and featuring a Santa Claus who doesn’t live at the North Pole, but above it, in a magic castle in outer space, it isn’t exactly scary, but may be the weirdest movie on this list.

Elves

When most people think of Dan Haggerty visions of the gruff but kind-hearted mountain man from the 1970s TV show The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams come to mind. B-movie fans, however, remember him as Mike McGavin, a down-on-his-luck department store Santa who does battle with a bloodthirsty Nazi elf in Elves. It suffers from cheesy dialogue — “I had a rough day at work… Santa got murdered” — and the fact that a movie called Elves features only one elf, but it’s so ho-ho-ho-horrible it’s fun to watch.

The Nightmare Before Christmas

Imagine if our collective image of Santa Claus had been shaped by Allegory of Gluttony and Lust painter Hieronymus Bosch instead of some nameless commercial artist at Coca-Cola and you’ll get an idea of the dark edge of Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas.

The jolly fat man in the red suit is gone, hijacked by a skeleton in a pinstriped suit. The story of the mayor of Halloweentown who kidnaps and impersonates ‘Sandy Claws’ to bring his own brand of good will to the world is a Disney release but it is one of the rare ones that isn’t meant for the entire family.

Silent Night, Zombie Night

Walking Dead fans might get a charge out of Silent Night, Zombie Night, a Christmas viral outbreak movie so realistic a concerned citizen called the police during filming, citing gang violence. The LAPD showed up by foot, car and air only to find movie zombies battling with prop weapons.

Christmas Evil

Christmas Evil is the best of the Santa as serial killer movies and before you ask, there are quite a few of them. In this one a boy is traumatized after walking in on his parents in flagrante with dad dressed as Santa. He develops daddy issues and a Santa fixation and one Christmas Eve brings murder home for the holidays.

YULE LOVE IT! RICHARDCROUSE.CA’S CHRISTMAS GIFT LIST! DAY FOUR!

ylJIWzFi1U0164E5jjsojx2EvUG“You see Santa Claus tonight you better run boy, you better run for ya life!” –  Silent Night, Bloody Night (1984, now in HD on DVD for the first time)

From the Film Chest Media and Video Services Corp press release:

It’s Christmas Eve in a small town, but the local children aren’t dreaming of sugarplum fairies in Silent Night, Bloody Night, on DVD Dec. 17, from Film Chest and Canada’s Video Services Corp.

A ’70s drive-in, B-movie flick, Silent Night, Bloody Night  gained notoriety in the mid-1980s when it was featured on Elvira’s Movie Macabre, gaining a dedicated cult following. Now don’t miss a bloody drop … Enjoy this thriller in HD for the first time ever!

In Silent Night, Bloody Night, a young man inherits a mansion once used as an insane asylum … and in which his grandfather died in a fire. When he puts it up for sale, an axe-wielding madman – who has been hiding in the residence – threatens anyone who comes near. Who is this deranged murderer … And why are the local townspeople acting so strange?

Starring John Carradine (The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, The Grapes of Wrath, Stagecoach), Patrick O’Neal (Under Siege, The Way We Were) and Walter Abel (Island in the Sky, Mr. Skeffington, Holiday Inn, Fury). Directed by Theodore Gershuny (TV’s Tales From the Darkside).

Silent Night, Bloody Night is presented in widescreen with an aspect ratio of 16×9 and mono sound.

More info HERE!