Believe in Christmas Cheers. Or Else: Christmas Evil (1980)

A STICKYRED SPECIAL HOLIDAY REVIEW

Christmas Evil (1980) (AKA " You Better Watch Out")
Rating: ****
Starring: Brandon Maggart, Jeffrey DeMunn and Dianne Hull

A night in 1947, a night in New Jersey, 

Santa came to town and everything should be jolly. 

But little Harry will learn, not everything is gleam, 
A Christmas Eve gone wrong, a trauma he will redeem...

As a child, Harry caught his mother getting groped around by Santa Claus, really just his father disguised for the holiday. The sight of it traumatized him into disillusioning himself to become the next true Santa once he grows up, refusing to let go of the pure charm and whimsy Jolly Ole' Saint Nick represents. 

Forward ahead to the present, we see a now-adult Harry staying true to his word, styling up his home with Christmas toys and décors, spying on neighborhood children to see if they have been "bad" or "good", and working at the Jolly Dreams toy factory as a promoted supervisor, a job he is willing to trade for a position back at the assembling line.

Things start to devolve horribly for Harry when he spots a supposedly sick co-worker getting drunk at the local dive bar, frustrating him enough to start breaking a few toys from his house, all the while humming Christmas tunes just to calm down. Ironically, Harry would play a similar game of hooky some time after, when he declines to go visit his younger brother Phil (Jeffrey DeMunn) for Thanksgiving, just so he could catch Santa on TV.

And then, during his company's Christmas party, Harry watches as the owner of Jolly Dreams make a televised announcement that, if production increases sufficiently, they'll be able to donate toys to the disadvantaged children over at Willowy Springs State Hospital. Seeing this as a sign, Harry finally succumbs to his dementia and convinced himself that he is the one true Santa, destined to bring joy to all the good boys and girls.

Thus begins Harry's night; on Christmas Eve, in his basement workshop, he smelts his own toy soldiers. (and small axes) Once he's alone after-hours, he then steals a stock of his company's toys and, in a rather wholesome scene, donates them to Willowy Springs. Overjoyed with this success, he wanders by a church in a daze and, much to everyone's horror, murders a group of mouthy young mass-goers with his own weaponized toys...

I remember seeing this film with my expectations very little after reading all the bashing reviews against it. But, to my surprise, this movie just... works.

It sincerely blew me away; yeah, it's slow and very tedious, but that's because it took the time to flesh out its characters, a trait that I will admit may come off as annoying and disappointing for those expecting a full-blown slasher film. No, this here is more in the vein of slowburn time-bomb horror thrillers like Don't Go In The House (1980), making Christmas Evil (1980) practically a cheesy character drama disguised as a hack-and-slash flick.

This being said, unlike most holiday slashers, Christmas Evil (1980) has moments of genuine warmth and a forgiving attitude towards our supposed villain, Harry. The fella simply doesn't fit the typical murderous maniac figure as despite his unhinged child-like judgment, there is still a giving and loving nature underneath his unstable emotional state, which have him jumping back and forth from being a killer with a temper, to a forlorn man lost in fantasy. He simply wanted to make Christmas as wholesome as it was when he still believed in magic, and the fact that the story focuses more on this delusions than a need to kill means that there's not a lot of murdering going on here, just a look into the breakdown of a misunderstood yet disturbed individual.

However, the film does reek of strong cinema cheese not unlike your typical slasher, hammy moments that balances our the gloomy drama and providing a few intentional or unintentional laughs. One particular scene have Harry, staying close to his new Santa Claus persona, trying to dive down a chimney only to get stuck. And then there's this tribute to classic Hammer films where a mob of angry parents opted to chase him with flaming torches ala Frankenstein (1931), a scene as silly as it is sort of symbolic on how the mob saw him a monster, despite his good intentions.

Christmas Evil (1980) would eventually become a mini-cult classic over the years and an unsung indie film triumph. Whether as a slasher film or not, it's a quick tap on the back to remind us what the holiday is really all about. Presents come and go and so does holiday breaks, but should happiness and innocence go away from both child and the child-like, then what is left for Christmas to offer? A "slasher" with a Christmas message, Christmas Evil (1980) deserves second look from both fans and haters, for tis' the Holidays has come and ole Santa Claus is coming to town~!

Bodycount:
1 male stabbed in the eye with a toy soldier's sword
1 male had his head hacked with toy axe
1 female had her head hacked with toy axe
1 male had his throat cut with a Christmas Star
1 male drove off a bridge and crashes off-camera
Total: 5

MERRY CHRISTMAS!