 Once upon a time, my local mom-and-pop
video rental store had 99 cent rentals on catalogue titles
and two-for-one specials on Tuesday’s. When I was
just out of high-school, but before I had a real full
time job, I used to rent six VHS tapes on Tuesday morning,
watch four of them, and rent another four that same day.
Four dollars put me in video heaven - and my VCR on the
fritz - as I rented up nearly every horror film that
the store had. They had Christmas Evil,
but I never felt inclined to rent it. Considering
most of the crap that I did rent during my ten-films-per-week
period, I owe Christmas Evil a serious
apology – I
really should have watched it years ago. But fate works
in strange ways, and recently Christmas Evil arrived
in my mailbox from our promotions department. Finally,
after years of putting it off, I would have to
watch it. But was it worth the wait?
Synapse Films is releasing Christmas Evil in
its original Director’s Cut form (where the film
is titled You Better Watch Out) and
while I haven’t seen any previous release of the
film, I am proud that my first exposure to it
is apparently as it was always intended to be seen.
Although after viewing it, I’m not sure exactly
what could have been cut. But I’ll get to that…
The plot is fairly simple. We start out with that
all-too-standard horror film cliché of a child
witnessing a mind-altering event which will
result in psychosis years later. In this case,
Harry Stadling (played convincingly by Brandon Mattert),
a normal precious little boy, happens to see Santa
Claus getting a little too friendly with his mother
on Christmas Eve, 1947. As a result, Harry’s vision
of Christmas is shattered and he spends his entire
life obsessed with bringing back the innocence to the
holiday. He even works for a toy manufacturer called
Jolly Dream. Harry’s
obsession goes beyond any semblance of normalcy and
after he gets a promotion at work, he become s angered
at the company's disregard for quality toys and it
triggers his repressed desire to actually become Santa
Claus.
Harry spies on all the neighborhood kids, deciding
which ones are naughty or nice – it isn’t
an act of sexual perversion, but it is unsettling nevertheless.
He prepares his own handmade Santa outfit steals all
the toys from his toy factory and… donates them
to a children’s hospital. You see, Harry’s
motivation isn’t murder (in fact, the first murder
isn’t committed until 52 minutes into the film);
it’s to bring back the true meaning of Christmas.
He really, really tries hard, but in order to accomplish
his noble goal, Harry feels compelled to murder
a few of his co-workers who get in his way.
 It’s this fact that sets Christmas Evil apart
from similar films. See, Christmas wasn’t intended
to be a bastardized monument to consumerism. Santa
Claus wasn’t
just the happy gift-giver that our society perceives
him to be. Other cultures variations on Santa paint
him as the bringer of both good and bad, while
normally, the worst thing we tell children is that
he brings bad boys and girls’ coal or nothing
at all. In this regard, there is a lot of depth to Christmas
Evil that isn’t present in other Christmas
themed horror films. It isn’t a slasher film;
in fact, it isn’t really a horror film in any
traditional sense. It has a lot more in common with
Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho than
it does Silent Night, Deadly Night.
It's a really strong dramatic thriller.
What I like most about the film is its attention to
supporting characters. They might not be the most developed,
but you can’t help but feel for
Harry’s brother Philip (Jeffrey DeMunn) who is
more than concerned with Harry’s mental state
but has no idea how to address it. Philip’s wife
Jackie (Dianne Hull) realizes that Harry is a bit batty
but thinks him completely harmless. She's a
great supporting character, because she helps ground
Philip into non-action, allowing the sequence of events
to happen.
The set design is impressive as hell. The whole film
is so incredibly thick with New York seasonal atmosphere
and often shot at bizarre angles that were not as
popular at the time of filming as they are today.
The whole thing plays as a child’s true Christmas
nightmare, but a safe and absurd one. If there are
infinite parallel Earths, there is one where Christmas
Evil is a Christmas treat celebrated as much
as any other (except for He-Man & She-Ra:
A Christmas Special, naturally). While I don’t
look at this film necessarily as a genre picture, I
do look at it as a very enjoyable, demented little
film.
If you are in the market for something less family
friendly this year, Christmas Evil should
be a great diversion from the norm.
 The DVD Presentation
The video is nowhere near perfect. But the colors
are vibrant, even if they bleed a bit. Still, Christmas
Evil’s budget was less than $500k and
it played at grindhouse theatres. It’s amazing
that it looks this good at all. The DVD presentation
has to be the absolute best the film has ever looked.
The sound is mono, and while it’s nothing spectacular,
it is clear and services the film well enough. If you
are deaf though, you better ask Santa for a new set
of ears this Christmas, because there are no subtitles
on this disc.
And the Extras Are?
Audio Commentary with director Lewis Jackson –
Lewis Jackson obviously has a lot to say about the
film, but it’s too bad that he gets into the
habit of watching the film. You can’t really
blame him for not having perfect commentary skills.
This is his only film, so it isn’t as though
he had much practice. I did find his comments about
how he was inspired by Fassbinder to be very interesting.
Bonus Audio Commentary with director Lewis Jackson
and director John Waters –
John Waters, director of such films as Pink
Flamingos and, most recently, A Dirty
Shame, is the self-proclaimed biggest fan of Christmas
Evil. This commentary works
because Waters is entertaining and has many questions
for Jackson. Waters has a lot to say about his take
on the fetishism of the film, unsurprising subject
matter considering his own films. Much of Jackson’s
comments on the other commentary are rehashed here
though. If you are only going to listen to one, this
would be it.
 Audition Tape Excerpts – (25:48)
First up we get black and white audition tapes of surprisingly
good video quality from Richard Bright, Carla Borelli,
Larry Pine, JoBeth Williams, Brandon Maggart, Pat
Hodges, Michael Beck & Lindsay Crouse, Jeffrey
DeMunn & Lindsay
Crouse, George Dzundza & Jeffrey DeMunn, and finally
David Rasche & Ellen McElduff. It’s fascinating
to watch different actors’ takes on the same
characters. Particularly since all of these actors
are still working today (primarily in television)
and only Brandon Maggart, Jeffrey DeMunn and Ellen
McElduff actually made it into the film. Lindsay
Crouse is completely underrated; she should
be in more films.
Storyboard Examples –
Despite it being his first and only film, Lewis Jackson
storyboarded the entire thing from start to finish.
We are given three examples here; a deleted
scene where Harry meets his sister-in-law, the opening
pre-credits sequence, and the scene where Harry shaves.
Not only is it impressive that a film of this caliber
was actually storyboarded from start to finish, but
that the storyboards themselves are actually quite
detailed and artistic. A very cool inclusion.
Screening Comment Cards –
Now this is a treat. These are fourteen actual images
of response cards that were filled out from test-screenings
way back when. An example: “I like Harry, where
can I meet him?” This feature is golden;
I’m surprised more films haven’t used this
idea.
Deleted Scenes – (6:30)
Finally, we are treated to three sequences not included
in the final cut of the film. The first sequence involves
Harry and his brother Phil having a phone conversation
about Harry’s dissatisfaction with his new promotion.
It really should have been left in the film. The second
has Harry working on the toy assembly line and having
a minor-nervous breakdown. The final bit seems to be
simply a montage of clips and frames not included in
the feature for whatever reason. These are an interesting
watch, but nothing that would really make Christmas
Evil a better film than it already is.
Also included is an insert with a printed letter from
director Lewis Jackson and a short comic strip about Christmas
Evil by Rick Tremble.
Synapse kills us with the extras on this DVD, and
I couldn’t be a happier guy.
 The Bottom Line
In 2005 I wrote an article for DIMP called Noto’s
Corrupt Christmas Films in which I discussed a
few fucked up holiday films. I intentionally stayed
away from the horror film genre since it’s too
easy with Black Christmas, Silent
Night, Deadly Night, that film’s 14,000
sequels, and the version of Babes In Toyland with
Keanu Reeves. Christmas Evil however,
doesn’t really fall into the “killer Santa” movie
subgenre and it definitely deserves its spot on that
list, even if it’s much more of an art film,
and a fairly well done film at that. Harry will probably
appeal to the same fans of Henry, Norman Bates and
Hannibal Lecter. This movie isn’t really of the
same level of quality as the films featuring those
more popular twisted minds, but what it does have is
the desire to try. Any demented film fan should love
receiving Christmas Evil under the
tree this year.
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