The Christmas movie you don’t expect: A violent and silent night,

It was a dark and stormy night? Almost: A violent and silent nightor so says the title of the Christmas film you don’t expect, in theaters from December 1st.

Here we are not around Bad Santa. Not even close. It is a splatter holiday thriller directed by Tommy Wirkola with David Harbor in an action hero version on a sleigh and reindeer: in fact a genre all his own, an irresistible mix of ingredients that nobody would ever want to mix on paper.

Here, on the other hand, they not only blend perfectly, but create an explosive mixture (and certainly not and not only in a figurative sense).

The opening scene is almost textbook: at the counter of a bar there are various drunk subjects, all dressed as Santa Claus and each obviously ready to rant about this period made up of capricious brats, petulant parents and a disproportionate amount of elves.

The beauty, however, begins immediately after what it seems the Santa Claus version of Alcoholics Anonymous. Yes, because one of them doesn’t seem to be wearing a fake beard and fake belly at all and it’s obviously David Harbour. It seems that he wants to be everywhere but hopping around chimneys and delivering presents to the four corners of the earth. Nothing could be further from the magic and spirit of the Christmas.

And in fact, he is about to drop everything, retire or wherever his predecessors have gone. He just can’t stand the squalid consumerism that wraps around that Merry Christmas the greeting cards talk about.

Meanwhile in Connecticut in a villa-fortress of a family of bored and cynical billionaires a party organized by the head of the family Gertrude Lightstone (Beverly D’Angelo) takes place. No one, including her, could care less about this reunion of snake-kin but – you know – trust funds need to be replenished and toy boys are scurrying away from an existence without a Lamborghini.

Son Jason (Alex Hassell) tries to keep his wife Linda (Alexis Louder) and daughter Trudy (Leah Brady) safe from the clutches of his mother-mistress but somehow returns to the (rich) fold. The sister, on the other hand, with children and a trophy boyfriend, parasitically clings to every shred of luxury and privilege she can snatch from her parent.

In this setting of opulence and betrayal, a criminal plan is implemented to rob the safe of this kind of castle, which sees Scrooge as its chief (yes, the gang has code names, like in House of Cards but instead of cities there are party characters), played by John Leguizamo. These are not petty thieves but shock troops who offer the entire menu, from kidnapping to torture, from looting to murder.

When Santa Claus finds himself involved in this guerrilla war against his will literally pandemonium happens.

Whatever you are imagining right now double it, indeed triple it because in this film every twist has another twist inside it with an adrenaline-pumping matryoshka effect. The rate of surreality reaches very high peaks precisely because it plays on the contrasts between the brutality of the story and the festive atmosphere, including mistletoe, giant nutcrackers and gingerbread cookies.

In practice it is the staging of the wildest fantasy that anyone would like to put into action when the level of tolerance of the relative under the holidays exceeds the permitted limits. Absolutely not to be missed.

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