Christmas Evil
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''Christmas Evil'' (originally titled ''You Better Watch Out'', and also known as ''Terror in Toyland'') is a 1980 American
slasher film A slasher film is a subgenre of horror films involving a killer or a group of killers stalking and murdering a group of people, usually by use of bladed or sharp tools. Although the term "slasher" may occasionally be used informally as a generic ...
written and directed by Lewis Jackson and starring
Brandon Maggart Brandon Maggart (born December 12, 1933) is an American actor, painter, and author. Life and career Maggart was born Roscoe Maggart, Jr., in Carthage, Tennessee. His acting career began in the early 1950s, at the University of Tennessee. He sa ...
. The plot follows a deranged man obsessed with
Santa Claus Santa Claus (also known as Saint Nicholas, Saint Nick, Father Christmas, Kris Kringle or Santa) is a legendary figure originating in Western Christian culture who is said to bring gifts during the late evening and overnight hours on Chris ...
who eventually goes on a murderous rampage dressed in a Santa Claus suit. Since its release, it has gained a
cult following A cult following is a group of fans who are highly dedicated to a person, idea, object, movement, or work, often an artist, in particular a performing artist, or an artwork in some medium. The latter is often called a cult classic. A film, boo ...
, including praise and repeated viewings by director
John Waters John Samuel Waters Jr. (born April 22, 1946) is an American filmmaker, actor, writer, and artist. He rose to fame in the early 1970s for his transgressive cult films, including '' Multiple Maniacs'' (1970), '' Pink Flamingos'' (1972) and '' Fe ...
. While not prosecuted for obscenity, ''Christmas Evil'' was seized and confiscated in the United Kingdom under Section 3 of the
Obscene Publications Act 1959 The Obscene Publications Act 1959 ( 7 & 8 Eliz. 2. c. 66) is an Act of Parliament of the United Kingdom Parliament, which significantly reformed the law related to obscenity in England and Wales. Before the passage of the Act, the law on publis ...
, during the
video nasty ''Video nasty'' is a colloquial term popularised by the National Viewers' and Listeners' Association (NVALA) in the United Kingdom to refer to a number of films, typically low-budget horror or exploitation films, distributed on video cassette ...
panic.


Plot

In suburban
New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...
, on
Christmas Eve Christmas Eve is the evening or entire day before Christmas, the festival commemorating nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus. Christmas Day is observance of Christmas by country, observed around the world, and Christma ...
1947, a young boy named Harry Stadling, his younger brother Phil, and their mother watch as a man dressed as
Santa Claus Santa Claus (also known as Saint Nicholas, Saint Nick, Father Christmas, Kris Kringle or Santa) is a legendary figure originating in Western Christian culture who is said to bring gifts during the late evening and overnight hours on Chris ...
comes down their chimney, eats the milk and cookies they provided for him, and leaves presents under the tree. Later, when Harry gets out of bed to investigate some noises he heard downstairs, he sees his mother being sexually groped by the Santa man. Traumatized, Harry rushes up to the attic and cuts his hand with a shard of glass from a shattered
snow globe A snow globe (also called a waterglobe, snowstorm, or snowdome) is a transparent sphere, traditionally made of glass, enclosing a miniaturized scene of some sort, often together with a model of a town, neighborhood, landscape or figure. The sp ...
. Thirty-three years later, an adult Harry works in a low-level position at the Jolly Dreams toy factory, where his colleagues consider him a " schmuck" and make fun of him. At home, he has taken it upon himself to become the next true Santa: he sleeps in costume, and his apartment is resplendent with Christmas décor. He spies on neighborhood children to see if they are being "good" or "bad" and keeps detailed records of their behavior. Harry's coworker Frank asks Harry to cover his shift on the assembly line in order to be with his family. However, on his way home from work, Harry sees Frank drinking with friends at a local bar. Distressed by the man's duplicity, Harry breaks one of his
dollhouse A dollhouse or doll's house is a toy house made in miniature. Since the early 20th century dollhouses have primarily been the domain of children, but their collection and crafting is also a hobby for many adults. English-speakers in North Americ ...
figures while humming Christmas tunes. The following day, he cancels
Thanksgiving dinner The centerpiece of contemporary Thanksgiving in the United States and Canada is Thanksgiving dinner, a large meal generally centered on a large roasted turkey. Thanksgiving is the largest eating event in the United States as measured by retail ...
with Phil and his family. Phil has been constantly angered by his brother's odd behavior, while Phil's wife Jackie is more sympathetic. At the company Christmas party, the owner of Jolly Dreams, Mr. Wiseman, announces that the company will donate toys to the children of the local hospital, provided production increases sufficiently and the employees contribute with their own money. Mr. Fletcher, one of the company's high-ranking executives, introduces Harry to new training executive George Grosch, who devised the donation scheme. Harry is angry and disgusted at both for not really caring about the children. That night, he fills bags with toys he stole from the factory and other bags with dirt. On Christmas Eve, while glueing a Santa beard to his face, he enters a
fugue state Dissociative fugue ( ), previously referred to as a fugue state or psychogenic fugue,Dissociative Fugue (formerly Psychogenic Fugue) 'DSM-IV 300.13, Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition'' is a rare psychiatric con ...
that has him convinced that he truly is Santa Claus. Garbed in his Santa suit, Harry starts doing his rounds on the van that he decorated with a sleigh picture, and that he believes to have been trained by
Santa Claus's reindeer In traditional Western festive legend and popular culture, Santa Claus's reindeer are said to pull a sleigh through the night sky to help Santa Claus deliver gifts to children on Christmas Eve. While various legends offer differing details ...
. He first sneaks into his brother's home and delivers toys for his nephews; then leaves a bagful of dirt at the doorstep of "bad boy" Moss Garcia. Later, Harry drops off toys at the hospital, where he is greeted cheerfully by the staff. On the street, Harry is taunted by a group of teenagers leaving
Midnight Mass In many Western Christian traditions, Midnight Mass is the first liturgy of Christmastide that is celebrated on the night of Christmas Eve, traditionally beginning at midnight when Christmas Eve gives way to Christmas Day. This popular Christm ...
, and he brutally murders them in a fit of rage with a toy soldier and hatchet. Later, Harry is welcomed at a neighborhood Christmas party, where people think he is just some harmless Santa impersonator; he dances and cheers everyone up and makes sure the attending children know they will have to be good boys and girls to receive their gifts. He then breaks into Frank's home, kills him with his sack of gifts and a Christmas tree star, and leaves toys behind for the kids. He makes a run for his van just as Frank's wife finds her dead husband. On Christmas morning, his Santa suit disheveled and dirty, Harry returns to Jolly Dreams and activates the assembly lines, breaking all the toys, which he considers subpar. Later, his van becomes stuck in the snow on a beautifully decorated street with plenty of lights, sending him further into a delusional state. The residents shortly recognize him as the murderer and form a torch-bearing mob to pursue him. Harry manages to free his van from the snow and drives to his brother's house, where Phil has already started to suspect something is seriously wrong with his brother. Harry confronts Phil, accusing him to have been the root cause of his childhood trauma, as Phil was the one who revealed to Harry that the Santa they saw was actually their father. Phil quickly realizes that Harry is the homicidal Santa from the news, and chokes him unconscious. He loads him into the front seat of the van; Harry soon regains his consciousness, punches Phil and drives off again. The angry mob forces him and his van off a bridge; the van is shown to be flying off toward the Moon as a voice-over reads the end of "
The Night Before Christmas "A Visit from St. Nicholas", routinely referred to as "The Night Before Christmas" and "Twas the Night Before Christmas" from its first line, is a poem first published anonymously under the title "Account of a Visit from St. Nicholas" in 1823. A ...
".


Cast

*
Brandon Maggart Brandon Maggart (born December 12, 1933) is an American actor, painter, and author. Life and career Maggart was born Roscoe Maggart, Jr., in Carthage, Tennessee. His acting career began in the early 1950s, at the University of Tennessee. He sa ...
as Harry Stadling ** Gus Salud as Young Harry Stadling *
Jeffrey DeMunn Jeffrey P. DeMunn (born April 25, 1947) is an American stage, film, and television actor known for playing Captain Esteridge in '' The Hitcher'' (1986), Sheriff Herb Geller in '' The Blob'' (1988), Andrei Chikatilo in '' Citizen X'' (1995), Harry ...
as Philip Stadling ** Wally Moran as Young Philip Stadling *
Dianne Hull Dianne Hull (born November 24, 1949) is an American former actress whose film career spanned from 1969 to the early 1990s. The films she has acted in include '' The Magic Garden of Stanley Sweetheart'', '' Aloha, Bobby and Rose'', '' The Arrange ...
as Jackie Stadling * Andy Fenwick as Dennis Stadling * Joe Jamrog as Frank Stoller * Peter Neuman as Moss Garcia *
Mark Chamberlin Mark Chamberlin (June 2, 1955 – March 22, 2011) was an American film and stage actor. He made his feature film debut in '' Christmas Evil'' (1980), and subsequently starred in a leading role in John Irvin's ''Ghost Story'' (1981). His final fe ...
as Charles * Scott McKay as Mr. Fletcher *
Peter Friedman Peter Friedman (born April 24, 1949) is an American stage, film, and television actor. He made his Broadway debut in the Eugene O'Neill play '' The Great God Brown'' in 1972. His other Broadway credits include roles in ''The Rules of the Game'' ( ...
as Mr. Grosch * Burt Kleiner as Mr. Wiseman *
Patricia Richardson Patricia Castle Richardson (born February 23, 1951) is an American actress best known for her portrayal of Jill Taylor on the American Broadcasting Company, ABC sitcom ''Home Improvement (TV series), Home Improvement'', for which she was nominat ...
as Mrs. Garcia *
Raymond J. Barry Raymond John Barry (born March 14, 1939) is an American film, television, and stage actor. He was nominated for the Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Male for his performance in the film '' Steel City''. Personal life Raymond John Ba ...
as Detective Gleason *
Mark Margolis Mark Margolis (, ; November 26, 1939 – August 3, 2023) was an American actor known for his portrayal of the character Hector Salamanca in ''Breaking Bad'' (2009–2011) and '' Better Call Saul'' (2016–2022). His performance in ''Breaking Ba ...
as Christmas Party Accoster *
Rutanya Alda Rutanya Alda (born Rūta Skrastiņa; October 13, 1942) is a Latvian-American actress. She began her career in the late 1960s, and went on to have supporting parts in ''The Deer Hunter'' (1978), ''Rocky II'' (1979), and ''Mommie Dearest'' (1981). ...
as Theresa * Michael Klingher as Peter * Colleen Zenk as Binky


Production

During production, the film had the
working title A working title is a preliminary name for a product or project. The usage is especially common in film and TV, gaming, music and publishing. It is often styled in trade publications as (wt) and is synonymous with production title and tentative ...
''Santa''.


Filming

Principal photography Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production. Personnel Besides the main film personnel, such as the ...
took place in late 1979 and early 1980 in various locations in
New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...
, including Union City,
New Brunswick New Brunswick is a Provinces and Territories of Canada, province of Canada, bordering Quebec to the north, Nova Scotia to the east, the Gulf of Saint Lawrence to the northeast, the Bay of Fundy to the southeast, and the U.S. state of Maine to ...
, Edgewater, Englewood, and Montclair. The toy factory featured in the film was a real toy factory in New Brunswick owned by Lynn Pressman, mother of the film's executive producer, Edward R. Pressman; scenes shot at the toy factory were completed in early December 1979, with additional shooting occurring over three days in February 1980.


Release


Critical response

On
review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews and ratings of products and services, such as films, books, video games, music, software, hardware, or cars. This system then stores the reviews to be used for supporting a website where user ...
website
Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...
, the film has an approval rating of 75% based on 6 reviews, with an average of 6.5/10.
AllMovie AllMovie (previously All Movie Guide) is an online database with information about films, television programs, television series, and screen actors. , AllMovie.com and the AllMovie consumer brand are owned by RhythmOne. History AllMovie was ...
gave the film a positive review, complimenting the film's unique editing style, cinematography, music, and sense of humor, concluding, "''Christmas Evil'' is not for all tastes, but it's well worth the time for those looking for a darker, different kind of yuletide film". Tom Huddleston from '' Time Out'' awarded the film a score of 4 out of 5: "In contrast to most slasher flicks, this isn’t about anything as simple as revenge. Jackson’s concerns are bigger: social responsibility, personal morality, and the gaping gulf between society’s stated aims at Christmastime—charity, hope, goodwill to all men—and the plight of those left on the outside: the children, the mentally ill, the ones who don’t fit in. It’s a great-looking film, too: one shot of a suburban street lined with glowing reindeer looks more like Spielbergian
sci-fi Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...
than
low-budget A low-budget film or low-budget movie is a motion picture shot with little to no funding from a major film studio or private investor. Many independent films are made on low budgets, but films made on the mainstream circuit with inexperienced o ...
horror. Bizarre, fascinating, thoughtful, and well worth a look".
Dread Central Dread Central is an American website founded in 2006 that is dedicated to horror news, interviews, and reviews. It covers horror films, comics, novels, and toys. Dread Central has won the Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Award for Best Website f ...
gave the film a mixed review, commending actor Maggart's empathetic performance and the film's ending, but criticized the film's uninventive direction and flaccid pacing.


Home media

In December 2000,
Troma Video Troma Entertainment is an American independent film production and distribution company founded by Lloyd Kaufman and Michael Herz in 1974. They are the longest running independent film studio in the world. The company produces low-budget indepen ...
released the film as a director's cut version, containing material not seen in the theatrical and 1983 reissue prints. This version is in 4:3 full screen, but is presented in unmatted form showing more vertical information than the theatrical widescreen ratio. Director Jackson later stated that this release "was done under false pretenses. I thought that Troma owned the rights, but of course Troma never does what they say they're going to do. It turned out they'd bought the rights in a fire sale—there was literally a fire, and the people who owned the rights were bankrupt and Troma walked into the rubble and picked up whatever was lying around". In December 2006,
Synapse Films Synapse Films is an American DVD and Blu-ray label, founded in 1997 and specializes in cult horror, science fiction and exploitation films. It is considered a boutique DVD label. History Synapse Films was owned and operated by Don May, Jr. an ...
released a Special Edition
DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...
of ''Christmas Evil''. It features audio commentary from the director and cult filmmaker John Waters, who is quoted as saying it is the "greatest Christmas movie ever made". This version is presented in its matted widescreen ratio of 1.85:1 and is also of the director's cut version. In December 2014,
Vinegar Syndrome Vinegar Syndrome is an American home video distribution company which specializes in "protecting and preserving genre films". The company was founded in 2012 in Bridgeport, Connecticut by Joe Rubin and Ryan Emerson, who created it to restore ...
released ''Christmas Evil'' for the first time ever on
Blu-ray Blu-ray (Blu-ray Disc or BD) is a digital optical disc data storage format designed to supersede the DVD format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released worldwide on June 20, 2006, capable of storing several hours of high-defin ...
in a combo pack with a DVD version. Both discs use a brand new 4K master of the director's cut in widescreen, and carry over the audio commentary tracks from the previous Troma and Synapse Films releases. Supplements such as trailers and deleted scenes between both discs remain the same, while the footage from the audition tapes are exclusive to the DVD version in the combo pack.


References


Bibliography

*


External links


''Christmas Evil'' at FEARnet
* * * {{Authority control 1980 films 1980 horror films 1980 independent films 1980s Christmas horror films 1980s psychological horror films 1980s slasher films American independent films American Christmas horror films American psychological horror films American psychological thriller films American slasher films Films set in 1947 Films set in 1980 Films shot in New Jersey Films set in New Jersey Films shot in Pennsylvania Santa Claus in film Troma Entertainment films Video nasties 1980s English-language films 1980s American films English-language independent films English-language Christmas horror films