SANTA'S SLAY

Santa Claus, the figure most loved by all children, is actually a fierce and wicked demon who delights in torturing and mocking children. One night, after losing a stupid bet with an angel, Santa Claus finds himself forced to perform good deeds for 1000 years by bringing gifts to those he previously made suffer, the children. Now, in 2005, the bet's expiration has finally arrived, and Santa Claus, filled with years of repressed rage, prepares to return worse than ever, but his primary goal is to find the angel and avenge the lost bet. Santa Claus, the epitome of all childhood happiness, has never been one of the most popular figures for making horror films; indeed, there are few cases of films that draw from the figure of Santa Claus to create a product in perfect horror style, but among these films we can mention the famous "Silent Night Deadly Night," the quintessential Christmas horror, in which we could witness the deeds of a mad psychopath who went around killing people on Christmas Eve wearing a Santa Claus costume. But if in most cases under the red and white robes hid a simple man who only had the Santa Claus disguise (as happened in "One Minute to Midnight"), the novelty of "Santa's Slay" lies in the fact that this time it is Santa Claus himself who kills, shown from a particular and original perspective. "Santa's Slay" therefore had an original and engaging subject at its disposal that, if treated with the right spirit, could certainly have generated something truly innovative and tasty, a film that was really "bad" and with all the credentials to leave a mark in the firmament of the best Christmas horrors. But unfortunately, the film does not keep the promises it generated and decides to deviate dramatically into crude comedy, thus disappointing any horror fan. Of course, given the starting subject, it was imaginable that the whole would be seasoned with small comedy veins, in fact comedy represents a fundamental piece for this film because such a subject could never have been treated too seriously; but "Santa's Slay" wants to overdo it in this sector thus generating a film that can be more easily included under the heading "comedy" rather than "horror." The film, written and directed in 2005 by Devid Steiman (his only work so far), was born as a television product, created specifically for the cable broadcaster Spike TV and only later found distribution in the home video market. Therefore, it was easily imaginable that the work in question suffered from a near total absence of splatter scenes or at least gore, indeed, despite the film boasting a very high number of killings, it can be noted that the blood that flows is really very little. Good, and noteworthy, is the cast which includes an excellent and well-chosen Bill Goldberg, famous wrestler and football player, in the role of the wicked Santa Claus (unforgettable are the scenes in which he flies on the sleigh pulled by a huge albino buffalo) and a beautiful Emilie de Ravin ("Lost" and the remake of "The Hills Have Eyes"). Also noteworthy is the presence of numerous cameos, including that of James Caan. In conclusion, "Santa's Slay" turns out to be a rather disappointing product that, despite having excellent potential, decides to throw everything away to make a bland family comedy whose only result is to give life to a film that does not satisfy horror fans, due to a too massive and invasive comedy component, nor those looking for a family comedy because, in that case, they will look elsewhere. We could, indeed we should, have done better! The rating has been rounded up.