At CinemaCon, the first look at David Harbour’s murderous Santa Claus from the upcoming holiday horror Violent Night was unveiled. Harbour is most recognized for his role as Jim Hopper in the Netflix series Stranger Things, for which he received nominations for both the Emmy and Golden Globe awards. Harbour’s contributions to the acclaimed television series are notable, but he frequently enters the world of blockbuster movies, playing the title role in Hellboy in 2019 and Red Guardian in Black Widow by Marvel.
The idea of the upcoming film Violent Night is that on Christmas Eve, a group of elite mercenaries steal into the compound of a wealthy family. Then the burglars hold everyone captive until Santa suddenly enters to save Christmas. Harbor joined the cast of Violent Night in November 2021 as the starring psychotic Santa, with Tommy Wirkola slated to serve as the film’s director. Harbour will be supported in the role of Santa in Violent Night by John Leguizamo, Beverly D’Angelo, Edi Patterson, Alex Haskell, Cam Gigandet, and Alexis Louder. Production of the movie began in February 2022.
At this year’s CinemaCon, Harbour’s homicidal Santa character in the upcoming holiday thriller received its first official glimpse. Although the first-look clip has not yet been publicly available, Screen Rant was present to see the Violent Night footage for the first time. The famous poem “A Visit from St. Nicholas” and scenes of people getting ready for Christmas are shown at the beginning of the film before burglars unexpectedly break into the house. Before Harbour’s Santa arrives and viciously attacks the criminals, the family appears hopeless and Christmas seems to be turned upside down. Arriving with a sledgehammer in hand, the self-described “Jolly ol’ Saint Nick” smashes one of the invaders with a sock filled with pool cues and electrocutes a second burglar with a Christmas star. Additionally, as if Habour’s deadly Santa wasn’t awful enough, his elves accompany him at every step.
It looks like Violent Night is just the most recent in a rising list of strange Christmas-themed movies. While movies like Krampus explore a far darker and creepier perspective on the season, the infamous Bad Santa films starring Billy Bob Thornton conjure up their own kind of twisted. The terrifying Krampus theme, mixed with an action-packed thrill rush a la John Wick, seems to be more prevalent in Violent Night. With David Leitch, the filmmaker of Deadpool 2, contributing as a producer, Violent Night will undoubtedly contain its fair share of thrills.
The first look description for Violent Night suggests that viewers may expect a crazy holiday trip. When the movie is released, the prospect of running into a violent, sledgehammer-wielding Santa Claus will probably be exciting enough to fill theatre seats. Being cast as a villainous Santa by Harbour, who is now well recognized for his gruff, action-packed performances, further heightens the enjoyment. Currently, it appears like Violent Night will open in theatres on December 2, 2022, just in time for Christmas.
