Christmas Evil

The innocent sounding song, "Santa Claus is Coming to Town," might as well be a warning to the world's children that, "You Better Watch Out," in a way similar to "One, Two, Freddy's coming for you," from A Nightmare on Elm Street"(1984). Although just as others have said, this isn't exactly the Christmas slasher like "Silent Night, Deadly Night"(1984) you'd think it be, but instead it's a surprisingly entertaining character piece, that ended up being well worth the watch this Christmas season.

Upper class neighbourhood almost immediately form a lynch mob when they see Santa. They had torches and everything. Something something Hanukkah.

Dashing through the town, in a beatup Chevrolet. House to house we go, killing all the way! Stabbing jerks with toys, while chased by torches light - what shit it is, confusing sex with mom, killing every adult in sight! [Together!:] Jingle bells, Santa smells, in a rape van not a sleigh. O how great, it is to see the sorrow Maggart conveys. O! Jingle bells, the story tells, of a world with heart coal-black. What did you expect, when a forlorn man decides he can fight back?

I think a lot of people find these kind of "holiday horrors" to be antithetical to the spirit of said holidays like they take baseless or cynical shots at the holiday and maybe some of them do but this one definitely does not. If anything this one is in the same realm of Its a Wonderful Life/Charlie Brown and Christmas Carol in it's embracing of the spirit of the season. Lessons to be learned and cynicism to be fought.

A real oddity. Thought this was going to be a slasher; it's more of a seasonally-affected character study of a rather disturbed individual. Maggart does a great job; it's a pity he didn't have many other decent roles. It's occasionally bleak, occasionally violent, and occasionally bizarrely uplifting. Not sure about that ending, though. Trashy, peculiar Xmas fun. Bonus points for an early Mark Margolis appearance.

This demented ramble is elevated by a truly inspired performance by Maggart, who takes the role as seriously as Perkins in Psycho or Thorton in Bad Santa. This flick really proves that a good actor can somehow make even the most absurd of narratives weirdly poignant. What should be comedic action is often tense and the chuckles come only after a second of self-reflection. It's just there's such a wholehearted sincerity here that the absurdity doesn't hit home until you're done.

Not as grand as 'Silent Night, Deadly Night', but a whole lot better than I thought it would be. It's too slow, but surprisingly effective as a demented little character piece. With some better kills and a stronger ending, this could've been a Christmas semi-classic.

Featuring a genuinely great performance by Maggart in the lead & a surprisingly sympathetic psycho santa as its main character, it's a very fun & very festive ride that feels at times like a campy slasher and other times like a Hallmark holiday special. The plot is pretty simple & the pacing is pretty slow, and the title is more than a little misleading, but the positives manage to outweigh the negatives here. Not perfect, not amazing, but a very enjoyable Christmas horror that's worth a look.

An interesting film. Less a horror film than a suspenseful character study. Brandon Maggart does really well as a man going insane, everyone else's acting however was barely adequate. The direction and music were average at best.

Taxi Driver meets The Santa Claus. I was surprised how character driven this odd little film was. Less a slasher and more a dive into the madness of a loner.

Utterly weird movie where a man snaps and becomes Evil Santa, going on an epic crime spree. Merry Fucked Up Christmas, everyone!

The biggest argument I have ever had with my partner was about whether Santa was caressing his wife or, uh, something else. It got heated. If this film was made even, like, two years later, it'd be way more of a traditional slasher.

Poor Harry sees Santa trying to boink mommy and it traumatizes him so badly he grows up into a disturbed Santa If anything is truly creepy about this film it's how he spied on neighbor kids making his own naughty / nice list Perhaps it wouldn't be so bad with a shortened film length but drags too much It's not the worst movie I've ever seen but it's pretty bad

Oh, my! I've lost count of the amount of times I've giggled at a strange man entering my home, but golly, never did I react like that when he sniffed my mother's crotch.

This is a pretty strange little Christmas horror movie. It's technically a slasher, but it doesn't really become one until after halfway through, and even then, it's not a great one. Fairly low body count and not particularly interesting kills. It's more of a character study, I guess, but not a very good one either. There were definitely some pretty amazing/amazingly terrible moments in the latter half, but the first half was a real slog.

This was actually quite good. It's not really a slasher even though it has been sold as one. It's a bit slow moving, but definitely worth it due to Maggart's performance and an unique if very disturbed atmosphere. No Wonder John Waters appreciates this. Director Jackson seems to have a very solid vision and makes most of his limited budget. I count this among the better xmas films.

A beautiful fight against cynicism.

the best xmas movie ive ever seen

More than a slasher flick, less than a character study; among the better Christmas horror movies, though.

This is a strange, strange movie, but it's also pretty captivating and fascinatingly bizarre. Brandon Maggart is pretty fantastic as the disturbed main character.

Needed a bit more slashing but it's okay.

St Maud Nicolas.

A Wise Blood Christmas. One of a kind. And one of the funniest things I've seen in a long while. From the creepy news guy in black to the Santa lineup to the raucous visual references of German expressionism in the climactic chase scene, this is unlike anything ever. Not a recommendation. AKA You Better Watch Out.

Fun and original. Slowly paced but the build up pays off in the third act.

There is a unique idea for a character study here, but the movie overall is unexpectedly tame, and the execution, plot, and acting are poor.

watched: 2016, 2020

Seen on John Waters' recommendation.

Really slow.

Maggart is first-rate. One of the oddest post-_Halloween_ slashers, this has precious little gore and plays its story more for black comedy than straight horror but is too long and meandering to be very effective. Maggart's captivating performance is the sole reason to seek it out.

damn you moss garcia