Christmas Evil is the deranged Christmas horror movie for all holiday sick people

Waters' praise can be heard in the DVD's audio commentary for "Christmas Evil," a film that sits atop the heap of holiday-centric horror that would dot the 1980s. horror film column "Shock Value: How a Few Eccentric Outsiders Gave Us Nightmares, Conquered Hollywood, and Invented Modern Horror," NYT reviewer Jason Zinoman credits Bob Clark's 1974 sorority festival "Black Christmas "the film to prime the pump for bloodbaths with a holiday in the title ("New Year's Evil", "My Bloody Valentine", "April Fools Day"), with John Carpenter's "Halloween" further popularizing the concept a few years later.

When it comes to Yuletide horror, what began with the psychodrama of "Christmas Evil" and David Hess' sorority horror "To All A Goodnight" in 1980 will continue with director Edmund Purdom trading a killer Santa for a killer Santa in his 1984 exploitation classic "Don't Open Till Christmas." The mischievous Mogwai of "Gremlins" would achieve mainstream fame in the mid-'80s, and the "Silent Night, Deadly Night" franchise would carry the candy-striped baton into the following decade.

Of the entire subgenre, Jackson's Christmas vision is the brightest despite the frown he wears. It sees Brandon Maggart in the lead role of the meek and disgruntled Harry Stadling, an employee of the Jolly Dream toy company. In a stark contrast to Harbour's hands-off Santa Claus, who must be convinced to help a young hostage in 'Violent Night,' Stadling harbors an obsession with Santa Claus that turns into deliberate intervention in the lives of people on a mission. to adopt the role of holiday executor. He keeps a list and double checks it, and the naughty Grinches get something nastier than a lump of coal.