Christmas Evil (You Better Watch Out)
| release date | October 31 1980 |
| studio | Synapse Films |
| director | Lewis Jackson |
| writer | Lewis Jackson |
| starring | Brandon Maggart, Jeffrey DeMunn, Dianne Hull, Andy Fenwick, Brian Neville |
| rating | R |
| tagline | You'd better take care...Santa is coming to town! |
3 Comments
I give it a two for having a decent idea. The portrayal is just utter rubbish though. I couldn’t wait for it to end and when it did I was pissed off by the gay ending. Silent Night Deadly Night did it so much better.
Out of all the horror christmas stories I have seen this was the worst. It had a good idea and some good moments but was not worth my time. This movie dragged on and never really got to the real evil in it’s title.
you know what is weird about this film is you watch the whole thing even thou you shouldn’t.
Awesome film if you watch it as a character-study-turned-slasher instead of just a slasher alone. Harry Stadling is one of the creepiest killers I have ever seen, thanks much to actor Brandon Maggart. The ending is pretty damn funny too, I never saw it coming…I’ll tell you that.
In this 1980 xmas slasher film I learned that nothing beats watching Santa Claus get chased down by a torch-wielding mob. John Waters calls this awesome piece of crap the “greatest Christmas movie ever made.” It predates the horror film Silent Night, Deadly Night, which up until just this December I thought was the earliest Santa slasher film. Eh, wrong.
It was, for sure, a pleasant surprise. I expected the usual crazed Santa slash em’ up, but this was a lot more bizarre and entertaining. Fiona Apple’s dad plays the father. That explains a lot.
Holy Santa! Just when I thought there are no more good Xmas horror flicks, I stumbled upon “Christmas Evil”, a pretty underrated an overseen, but highly impressive ‘seasonal’ horror thriller.
I originally expected this to be some kinda holiday slasher, but surprisingly it turned out to be a psychological horror-drama, a bit in the vein of the depressing “Don’t Go In The House”.
Brandon Maggart plays the poor loner Harry who’s totally obsessed with Christmas and slowly goes insane – and he delivers one of the greatest and most intense acting performances of the 80s. The way he looks, the way he acts, his facial expressions, his maniacal laughter – wonderful, just wonderful!
‘Highlight’ is the scene where he super-glues a Santa beard to his face; a stunning and pretty disturbing scene.
Other highlights: the sequence where Harry tries to slide down the chimney and the very last scene which totally makes you forget about the ‘moon bike ride’ in “E.T.”, I promise!
Furthermore, the movie looks absolutely wonderful. Plenty of eerie shots, loads of dark and gritty atmosphere, cool cinematography and a few very well designed set pieces (f.e. the illuminated Christmas garden, the toy factory, Harry’s house).
The soundtrack is creepy, the editing is terrific and the rest of the cast also delivers solid performances (incl. Patricia “Home Improvement” Richardson in a minor role).
If you prefer your Xmas horror gory and funny, I suggest you to watch “Silent Night, Deadly Night 1 & 2″ instead, but if you’re open minded and enjoy movies about ‘tickin’ timebombs’ (f.e. “Taxi Driver”, “The Fan”, “Driller Killer”), this is a must-see!
7,5/10
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