Director: Lewis Jackson
Writer: Lewis Jackson
Producers: Pete Kameron, Burt Kleiner
Cast: Brandon Maggart, Jeffrey DeMunn, Dianne Hull, Ellen McElduff, Brian Hartigan, Peter Neuman, Patricia Richardson, Ray Barry, Sam Grey, Robert Lesser, Andy Fenwick, Joe Jamrog, Wally Moran, Brian Neville, Gus Salud, Elizabeth Ridge, Scott McKay, Peter Friedman, Horace Bailey, Owen Hollander, John Brockman, Burt Kleiner, Shiela Anderson, William Robertson, Philip Casnoff, Michael Klinger, Mark Chamberlin, Mark Margolis, Jim Desmond, Jennifer Novteny, Stephen Mendillo, Ratanya Alda, Audrey Matson, Kerry Broderick
Jolly Dream toy factory supervisor Harry Stadling (Brandon Maggart) has been obsessed with Christmas his whole life. At a very young age, he had his sense of purity about his parents (Ellen McElduff, Brian Hartigan) and Santa Claus shattered one Christmas Eve. The frustrated, adult Harry sees the things he thinks are good and decent being thwarted by cynical modern-day society and the people he encounters in his daily life. Harry decides to become Santa Claus to reward the good and punish the bad.
The Flashback Fanatic movie review
Despite all of the effort involved, I think it’s worth it. If I ever start to question if all of this blood and sweat spent to commemorate the season is getting out of hand, I can take comfort in watching Christmas Evil. I have not quite taken my yuletide preparations to that fetishistic and dangerous extreme.
Christmas Evil is the most offbeat and challenging movie about the yuletide season ever made. It is barely a horror film, wrapped in dark humor, bursting with seasonal traditions, loaded with Christmas cheer, yet confounded by society’s crassness. It does not neatly fit any genre film expectations, which is probably the reason it was not a commercial success.
Only film fans of a morbid bent will probably appreciate Christmas Evil, yet many of them will be letdown if they come to this flick with expectations of a typical horror movie. This is not just a murderous wacko dressing up like the jolly old elf before beginning the body count. The film buff reveling in the confounding of expectations will derive the most joy from this production. The whole theme of the story is that a lot of things in life do not live up to expectations, especially the Christmas season.
One can’t help but like this movie’s menace. Brandon Maggart’s performance captures the marginalized, lonely, and naïve character that has us rooting for him. His Harry Stadling is such a nice guy full of childlike idealism that he can’t be faulted for wishing that everyone had true Christmas spirit. However, like many idealists, Harry can’t accept that everything is not the way he wants and goes to a dangerous extreme to demonstrate his beliefs.
We are introduced to the adult Harry in a manner that immediately establishes his Santa fixation. He sleeps wearing Santa pajamas and cap. His alarm clock is a musical Christmas knick-knack. He begins his day doing morning calisthenics to Christmas music cued up on his phonograph. His home is festooned with an assortment of vintage Santa memorabilia. Since his chalkboard countdown lists 55 days until Christmas, it is a safe bet that all of this stuff is not just set out for the yuletide season but are year-round fixtures in Harry’s quarters. It is certainly no accident that this Santa wannabe works in a toy factory.
A lot of time is spent showing how Harry tries to transform himself into Santa Claus and the preparation involved in fulfilling his Christmas duties. Harry takes a fetishistic satisfaction in the process. This is all done in secret and requires the same obsessive attention to detail and planning as any superhero or supervillain about to begin their clandestine career.
Along the way we see Harry indulging in some of the Santa Claus activity that must be obsessive to an unhealthy degree if it will actually be carried out. He spies on the neighborhood children to write down in his Good Boys & Girls book and Bad Boys & Girls book what nice things and bad things they have done throughout the year. He has a shelf holding multiple years of these volumes. These notations will determine which children receive nice gifts or bad gifts. Not content working in a modern toy factory, Harry takes an old-world approach to handcrafting toys in his own home workshop.
Aside from some neighborhood children, Harry does not seem to relate very well to anyone. Harry’s younger brother Phil (Jeffrey DeMunn) is happily married, has two sons, and lives in the same house Harry and Phil were raised in. Phil’s wife Jackie (Dianne Hull) and his sons like Uncle Harry, but Phil has always resented his older brother’s instability. Phil’s happy and conventional family life seems to further isolate Harry.
Everything builds up to the big night when Harry as Santa Claus makes his rounds. We swing back and forth between scenes that fill us with as much yuletide cheer as any traditional holiday classic and scenes where things get dangerous. This Santa’s idealism motivates him to make the season bright and to punish those that violate the Christmas spirit. Even the film’s happiest scene is undercut with a touch of unease when Harry’s Santa tells some kids at a Christmas party about the need for them to be good . . . or else.
These changes in tone may distance some viewers. To the more perverse among us, that makes this film amusing and unpredictable. It all ends on a weird note of ambiguity that makes us wonder if it is supposed to be a happy ending. I suppose it all depends on just how much one empathizes with Harry and his ideals.
Above all, Christmas Evil still stresses the importance of the kindness, generosity, and sincerity that should be most prevalent during the holiday season. Otherwise, old St. Nick might show up in a less than jolly mood.
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