Christmas Evil (1980)

Simply Perfect

A Masterpiece!

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

Over the years, I thought this movie was just okay. During Christmas 2016, I started buying up new Christmas horror movies such as Secret Santa, All Through the House, Cannibal Claus, and Jack Frost on blu-ray. I decided to buy this on Blu-Ray too. I gotta say, it's really starting to grow on me after seeing it clearer and crisper. The story is interesting about a creepy guy named Harry Stadling who works at a toy company and obsessed with Christmas, and even spies on children to see if they're being naughty or nice and writes about them in a book. Harry really is an interesting character. He tries to become Santa. He dresses like him all year long. This year, he puts on a Santa suit, complete with glued on whiskers and goes around delivering toys from his company (Jolly Dreams Toy Factory) to needy children at the local orphanage. One minute he's happy and jolly, partying with people, then the next he's slaughtering people at church. Brandon Maggart who plays Harry did his job well. Harry is a true psychopath. You never know what he'll do next. It's almost as good as Silent Night, Deadly Night. If you want a good creepy Christmas horror classic, you'll love Christmas EVIL!!!

Watched this after hearing how it got over looked when the controversial, if not great Silent Night, Deadly Night, 4 years later in 1984 got pulled from cinemas because soppy parents were protesting against the film of a psycho dressed as Santa going around murdering people! It's no wonder Christmas Evil/You Better Watch Out got overlooked, it sucked f**king balls! I mean it was slow, boring & had little to no action in it, & when there was it was either too little to late, or just plane sh!te! The effects are 50/50. If not 30 or 20/50 as they aren't even that satisfying being 180% honest!The story follows a young lad who is scared for life after he sees his mum having oral sex with Santa (his dad) after this he doesn't see Santa let alone Christmas in the same way again! He then has a very slow X100 meltdown about this grim childhood experience!The story dragged for 90 odd minutes & again could've had a better body count as it lacked badly. By about 50 minutes into the film, something happened but it was not only too little too late! But it was badly done that event Halloween 1978 was better than this sh!te! With only 3 body counts vs 90 minutes of pure & utter boredom, this film sucked balls! Too much story & lack of action which makes Hunger Games: Mocking Jay Part 1 2014 way better than this sh!te! It sucked so bad I found it painful & tortures to watch it was that bad!!Overall I give this a 1/10 it was sh!te!

Meek middle-aged toy factory worker Harry Stadling (superbly played with heartbreaking pathos and conviction by Brandon Maggart) has a decidedly unhealthy fixation on Santa Claus: He lives in a home adorned with a motley array of St. Nick-themed items, tries to get his indifferent coworkers to take pride in the toys that they manufacture, and even spies on the neighborhood kids with binoculars and keeps tabs on their behavior in a series of ledgers. However, one fateful Christmas Eve Harry has a severe mental meltdown and goes dangerously off the deep end with his Santa obsession.Those expecting a typical and conventional slice'n'dice body count opus will be seriously disappointed; instead writer/director Lewis Jackson offers something much better and more ambitious: A quirky, vivid, and often darkly humorous psychological character study of a deeply tragic and troubled soul who elicits from the viewer a complex blend of fear and pity. Best of all, Jackson not only grounds the premise in a thoroughly believable workaday blue collar reality, but also provides a handy helping of spot-on stinging social commentary on the crass commercialization of the yuletide season. Moreover, this film delivers a wonderful wealth of inspired oddball moments: A raucous Christmas office party that degenerates into a drunken fracas, Harry marking a bratty kid's house with muddy hand prints, Harry happily dancing at another Christmas party (Harry's speech to a bunch of little children at this particular party is an absolute loopy hoot!), Harry getting stuck in a chimney, Harry being chased by an angry torch-wielding mob, a police station line-up of sidewalk Santas, and a truly bonkers magical ending that's probably all in Harry's unbalanced head.While Maggart clearly dominates the movie with his top-notch portrayal of a fascinatingly sincere and well-meaning, yet still lethal and unhinged individual, he nonetheless receives sturdy support from Jeffrey DeMunn as Harry's fed-up long-suffering younger brother Philip, Dianne Hall as Philip's more sweet and tolerant wife Jackie, Joe Jamrog as lazy and irresponsible coworker Frank, and Peter Friedman as callous executive Mr. Grosch. Philip Cosnoff does a wickedly dead-on caricature of Geraldo Rivera as preening television reporter Ricardo Bauma. Popping up in small parts are such familiar faces as Mark Margolis, Patricia Richardson, Rutanya Alda, and Raymond J. Barry. Kudos are also in order for Ricardo Aronovich's lustrous cinematography and the wonky electronic score by Joel Harris, Julia Heyward, and Don Christensen. A marvelously singular treat.

Poor Harry, all he wants is to show his colleagues, family and neighbors how much Christmas means to him. But he's a little on the nutty side, literally obsessed with Christmas, from tacky ornaments filling his house to writing down the shortcomings of the kids on his block. It isn't long before he snaps, decides to be Santa and starts attacking! What can I say, this movie is great! Not only does it have that nostalgic slasher film atmosphere, but it also features decent acting, a comedic yet creepy cast of characters and festive soundtrack. You won't get much better from Friday the 13th or A Nightmare on Elm Street, this one is very underrated!