Tommy Wirkola‘s Violent Night is taking the holiday movie season by storm (and force). As you already know, David Harbour plays an action-hero version of Santa Claus who eliminates mercenaries during a hostage crisis on Christmas Eve. Commercials are everywhere, selling what’s now dubbed “Die Hard meets Home Alone.” That’s very much correct as a description of Violent Night, but it’s stated like the concept is brand-spankin’ new — which is not true. Horror fans already know there’s a title on Shudder called Deadly Games that beat Violent Night to that logline punch, which deserves just as much attention as the hard-hitting Harbour headliner.
If Violent Night became your new Christmas tradition, I implore you to check out Deadly Games (Shudder’s subscription is under $5 a month, equal to or less than the price for most VOD rentals). Both are wicked riffs on Home Alone that would complement wonderfully if watched as a double bill. Violent Night gives audiences Santa as a machismo action stud straight out of the ’80s, while Deadly Games presents “Santa” as a home invader villain to be defeated by a child, his pooch, and his grandfather. “One embraces the fun of the action-hero power fantasy (Violent Night), the other eviscerates it (Deadly Games),” Twitter user @GenreFilmAddict so perfectly encapsulates. My favorite activity is using mainstream films to recommend less talked about outsider gems, and Violent Night grants the perfect introduction to a lost French thriller only recently rediscovered.
Deadly Games has a complicated history, which is why you probably have not heard about its existence. If you have? Then you already know everything I’m going to write and why Deadly Games deserves so much more seasonal exposure.
‘Deadly Games’
René Manzor‘s 3615 code Père Noël was released in France on January 17, 1990 (under an alternate title that would eventually become Deadly Games — along with three other variations). There would be no stateside distribution until the American Genre Film Archive brought a restored version to Austin’s 2018 Fantastic Fest film festival — the official North American premiere. The mood was electric, and the film played gangbusters, sparking distribution talks that’d eventually lead to Deadly Games appearing on Shudder. Vinegar Syndrome also released a special edition Blu-ray, finally making the horrific Christmas cult classic available to wider audiences.
Now, Home Alone was released on November 16, 1990 — and Manzor was not pleased with the similarities between projects. “They remade my movie,” Manzor once claimed. Manzor wanted to press charges on the grounds of plagiarism, but no official lawsuit was ever pursued. One would have to believe that parties involved with Home Alone caught Manzor’s 3615 code Père Noël during a festival screening or somehow had knowledge about an in-development international production that never got American notoriety until decades later. It’s the same conundrum of how Hell Fest and Blood Fest can exist simultaneously and hit theaters so closely that their trailers dropped not all that far apart. Hence why Manzor’s “Home Alone before Home Alone” hasn’t been in American Christmastime viewership conversations — conspiracies, bum distribution luck, and inaccessibility are the culprits.
‘Violent Night’
Should Deadly Games have been luckier and found a U.S. release around the same time it played French theaters, Violent Night pull quotes would read differently. Maybe something like, “A kickass role reversal of Deadly Games!” Or, “Deserves to be praised right alongside Deadly Games!” The most significant differences are deviations in tone since Violent Night sports bone-crushing John Wick DNA thanks to its associations with stuntman turned filmmaker David Leitch. Deadly Games is a darker iteration of Home Alone that favors horror as a child has his innocence robbed by a deranged Santa who thinks he’s playing hide-and-seek. One’s the fun-loving sibling into punny wordplay and popcorn-popper entertainment, the other a broodier brother who dares explore the depths of holiday sadness without restraint.
Although, comparisons come quickly despite the slight differences in subgenres. Violent Night and Deadly Games are endlessly obsessed with ’80s action flicks like Rambo and Die Hard, as Manzor’s pint-sized protagonist Thomas de Frémont (Alain Musy, the son of Manzor) mirrors his persona after Hollywood’s musclebound cinematic heroes. They feature traps rigged Home Alone style that inflict pain, with Violent Night incorporating bloody deaths where Deadly Games is satisfied with causing (mostly) nonlethal pain unto Le Père Noël (a terrifying Patrick Floersheim). Both are elaborate fights for survival in labyrinthian mansions where the Christmas spirit flows like eggnog, and both are indebted to Home Alone in the best ways. As antidotes to the typical Christmas movie marathons, Violent Night and Deadly Games are a tastier combo than hot cocoa and peppermint schnapps.
Heck, there might even be a direct reference in Violent Night to Deadly Games:
As soon as I saw the "direct line to santa" radio I was like "IS THAT A DEADLY GAMES REF??"
— Abby Olcese (@abbyolcese) December 3, 2022
You might think Violent Night is the more depraved and dangerous of the two titles based on its decapitations and Harbour’s rugged physical performance through fight choreography. However, I’d argue Deadly Games better highlights the survival horror aspects of both scenarios. Thomas is introduced as a tech wizard with his own homemade surveillance camera system and tracking radar gadget, napping in his decommissioned fighter jet bed. Yet, throughout his defensive stand, he tearfully breaks down and bawls — allowed to be a scared-as-anything child still. Deadly Games abuses the holly-jolly hell out of Thomas, including the brutal murder of his protective dog J.R. (paid off in a later burial scene) or his deeply emotional reflections during tearful montages set to the soundtrack’s only licensed song, Bonnie Tyler’s “Merry Christmas.”
Trudy (Leah Brady) in Violent Night is allowed to retain that sparkle of adolescent whimsy because she gets to find out that Santa, his reindeer, and bottomless toy sack are all real — Thomas uses an outdated Minitel videotex service to contact Santa, but instead summons a maniac who tries to kill him. All while trying to avenge his beloved pet, keep his diabetic and partially blind “Papy” (Louis Ducreux) alive, and evade capture long enough to spend Christmas morning with his mother (gone for the night, managing a Printemps department store).
‘Deadly Games’
“It’s my fault mom, I wanted to see Santa Claus.” The haunted look in Thomas’ eyes, the camera’s pan over a mentally unwell mall Santa’s scorched and beaten body who just wanted to play, Bonnie Tyler lyrics kicking in for the umpteenth time, asking us, “Why does he have to cry to become a man?” The way Thomas endures immense trauma and is shaped by unspeakable anguish is reflected in the way Harbour’s Santa finds a new version of himself through a painful gauntlet, albeit Harbour’s is a hopeful rebirth — while Thomas is now set up for years of yuletide-themed therapy sessions.
The easiest, foolproof way to introduce viewers to obscure movies is to have a mainstream comparison point. Deadly Games has always had Home Alone, but they don’t exactly pair well together — the general comedy fan might be unable to stomach horror sensibilities. Violent Night is properly calibrated as a Deadly Games companion, keeping genre intensity forefront, even as an action-forward gore fest. As the popularity of Violent Night vaults Wirkola’s deadly delight atop nontraditional Christmas movie lists, many other similar titles that never had the benefit of such appeal latch on like festive barnacles for the ride. Deadly Games deserves the same mainstream treatment but never was afforded the opportunity.
Let’s change that, one back-to-back showing of Violent Night and Deadly Games at a time.
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