Available at Amazon.com
Synapse Films present Christmas Evil: Original Directo’s Cut. Written by Lewis Jackson. 95 minutes. Rated R. Originally released in 1980.
Director:
Lewis Jackson
Brandon Maggart..”¦”¦..Harry Stadling
The Movie:
Christmas is a word that brings lots of images to mind: chestnuts roasting on an open fire, Jack Frost nipping at your nose and all sorts of other warn cozy happy thoughts. For director Lewis Jackson, however, it brought different thoughts, darker thoughts, and he brought these thoughts to life in the form of the cult classic film Christmas Evil, or You Better Watch Out as it was intended to be originally titled by Jackson.
Brandon Maggart plays Harry Stadling, a man who is obsessed with Christmas, and Santa Claus. So much so that he wants to BE Santa Claus. Throughout the year he spies on the children in the neighborhood and keeps large journals of which are good and which are bad. He also works in a toy factory where his coworkers mock his Yuletide glee. As Christmas approaches Harry makes a Santa suit, paints a sleigh on his van, steals a bunch of toys from his work and set out to become his idol. Only for this Santa the bad boys and girls get bags of dirt and the bad adults get murdered!
You better watch out indeed!
Sure this film could be written off as a low budget slasher flick, but there is actually more going on than that. It focuses on the psychological aspects of Harry’s dementia carrying more of a creepy tone than a scary one. You actually start to feel for Harry when you see the joy he gets from giving the good kids toys and the sadness and utter defeat he feels when he tries to climb down the chimney but can’t fit. The violent moments are more hilarious than scary making the film classic camp. What really sells the film more than anything is the surprisingly good production value for such a low budget film and magnificent cinematography by Ricardo Aronovich.
Certainly this film isn’t for everyone, its slow pace will turn of some, but if you like dark comedy and camp than this movie is right up your alley. There are many great moments in this film and the ending is fantastic. Harry goes on his Santa spree killing people one minute (in a homage to Psycho) and dancing with children at a Christmas party the next. The film is very successful in creating this disconcerting feel. The end even has a Frankenstein like chase scene as a torch-carrying mob goes after Harry.
If you won’t listen to me, listen to John Waters: “[this is the] best seasonal film of all time. I wish I had kids. I’d make them watch it every year and, if they didn’t like it, they’d be punished!”
Look at the glee in little Angelina’s eyes as she hands Santa the switchblade.
STORY: 8
ACTING: 7
LOOK/FEEL: 7
ORIGINALITY: 9
ENTERTAINMENT VALUE: 9
FINAL SCORE: 8
The DVD:
The Video:
These films are presented widescreen 1.78:1.For the most part the film looks but there is a scratch here and there giving it a very dated feel. This however is more than made up for by the surprisingly good cinematography.
The Audio:
The film is presented in Dolby Digital Mono. There is some good sound in this film and it has a great soundtrack. I’m glad they kept the original sound, I hate when they take older movies and make the 5.1, there really isn’t any point. Present the movie the way it was meant to be seen, like it is here.
Extras:
Commentary with Lewis Jackson and John Waters!: This is a fantastic commentary. Honestly, even if you’ve never seen the film, I highly recommend just watching it with this commentary on. John Waters is a joy to listen to and should to commentary on every movie. Waters compares Harry’s transformation into Santa to a tranny getting into drag and it makes sense.
Commentary with Lewis Jackson:This is the “serious” commentary. Jackson actually has a lot of interesting things to say about the making of the film making this a worthwhile listen. Although not as entertaining as the one with John Waters, this one is really just for hard-core fans of the movie.
Original Storyboard Sequences: Nothing too interesting here. These are pretty weak storyboards but they seemed to help Jackson shoot his film.
Audition Tapes: I didn’t think these were interesting at all. Pretty boring over all.
Comment Cards: These are hilarious! Comment cards from original screenings of the film. It’s interesting to see the variety of responses the film had, most of them pretty bad.
The Inside Pulse
I could only hope that this movie winds up in everyone’s stocking this holiday season, although I’m sure that won’t happen. Still, this silly little film is at the very least worth renting if you’re into camp.
