Christmas Evil, 1980.
Directed by Lewis Jackson.
Starring Brandon Maggart, Jeffrey DeMunn, Dianne Hull and Andy Fenwick.
SYNOPSIS:
After being mentally scarred by the realisation that Santa Claus doesn’t exist, toy factory worker Harry strives to take on the role of St Nicholas himself keeping an eye on the local neighbourhood children and noting who is naughty and nice. After having had enough of his co-workers’ belittlement and exploitation of him, Harry suffers a mental breakdown and eventually coming to believe that he really is Santa Claus, he embarks on a campaign of gift giving for the nice and brutal punishment for the naughty.
After the excellent gift of Black Christmas in yesterday’s review, we now move into the 1980s for our first “killer Santa” film of this series. However, those expecting a gory festive slasher will be in for a surprise, for Christmas Evil (sometimes titled You Better Watch Out) gives us a much deeper and much more depressing slice of Christmas horror.
Brandon Maggart (who oddly enough happens to be the father of acclaimed musician Fiona Apple) is terrific in the lead role as the mentally disturbed Harry. Maggart performs the character as very much a big child at times, just so damned excited about Christmas and everything it entails, and eager to spread the joy with everyone else.
The moments of him dancing around his decoration-caked home to Christmas songs in a Santa suit or practising his Santa laugh in the mirror are pretty funny if a little unnerving to watch.
Maggart also manages to perfectly capture the isolation, loneliness and delusion of Harry’s world. Harry is not necessarily a bad person; he just really loves Christmas and feels that the rest of the world isn’t pulling its weight with regards to everything the holiday entails. The scenes of him angrily humming carols to himself or cackling like a lunatic when he finally dons the white beard are truly tragic to watch.
Admittedly, my sympathy for Harry did wobble a great deal in scenes of him spying on the neighbourhood children through their bedroom windows – it’s really creepy and certainly made me feel somewhat uneasy about the character. The film oddly and hilariously enough does give Harry a nemesis for his naughty list. The dastardly porn reading menace that is Moss Garcia, truly the most heinous of all children, guilty of such foul crimes against humanity as; profane language and picking his nose!
Christmas Evil is often described as a slasher but this is an inaccurate description because the film really isn’t one; instead, it’s more of a dark psychological drama about one man’s descent into madness which is often very tragic to watch. The scenes of Harry in the Santa outfit are mainly him going around attempting to give gifts to children, only occasionally stopping to murder rude parishioners or ungrateful co-workers who took advantage of his kindness.
If anything I felt more depressed than scared, with the scenes of him finally snapping and embracing the Santa persona are truly sad to watch. The finale of the film is also a pretty suspenseful affair as Harry is chased by a Santa hating angry mob, complete with flaming torches. I guess it was too cold for pitchforks. With the film culminating in an ending I can really only describe as dark and somewhat whimsical.
Christmas Evil is a fairly slow burn so those expecting a fast paced gore fest will be disappointed, as this is very much a story that you take your time with. While I enjoyed the film a good deal, I will admit that the pace moved just a tad slow for me. Most problematic though is the fact that the film doesn’t really take advantage of the story concerning the strained relationship between Harry and his younger brother Phillip (played by Frank Darabont regular Jeffrey DeMunn). Here the film presents us with an interesting plot line and while it does do some things with it, such as when Harry seems to blame Phillip for essentially causing his mental problems in the first place, it doesn’t really do enough, with the two only come face to face in the final moments of the film.
Christmas Evil is very much a mixed bag of tricks, but if anything the brilliant performance of Brandon Maggart is enough reason to watch the film at least once. The man is simply outstanding as the sad deluded Harry, whose love for the season has grown to unhealthy levels and whose desire to bring Christmas joy to all ends in tragic results.
Check it out if you’re curious and enjoy a truly terrifying and criminally underrated performance, and to witness the true evil that is MOSS GARCIA!!!!!
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★
Graeme Robertson
Originally published December 16, 2016. Updated April 16, 2018.
