‘Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house, Santa plotted murder so you better scream and shout!

Last week Germany’s Camera Obscura released a new title that somehow managed to slip by me. That title is Game Over AKA Deadly Games AKA 3615 code Père Noël and it’s the perfect film for the holiday season. The film comes from director René Manzor and it’s the story of a young boy that is forced to do whatever he can to protect he and his grandfather from a lunatic dressed as Santa Claus that breaks into their house on Christmas Eve. The plot actually shares a lot in common with Home Alone, which it predates by a year. In fact, it shares so much in common that Manzor actually threatened legal action at one point.

The film now being on Blu-ray, you can order it from Amazon Germany, is cause for great celebration. If you’ve ever tried to watch this one around Christmas you likely know it can be tricky to track down. Of course, since the release comes courtesy of Germany and Camera Obscura that means it’s region B which means you need a region free player if you’re located in the US. Trust me when I say Camera Obscura is a company that makes own a region free player absolutely worth it.

To date Camera Obscura has specialized in releasing Italian genre films — Game Over actually marks their first non-Italian release — and they release them in gorgeous mediabooks (check out that awesome packaging down below). Despite the fact that their stuff comes from Germany and is typically of non-English films, their releases are always English friendly. About a year and a half ago they released No, The Case is Happily Resolved and it’s easily one of my favorites. If their Game Over release is half as good as their previous we’re all in for a treat.

I’ve included the trailer below. It’s in French with no subtitles but there is very little talking here anyway. This trailer is about showing off the visuals and that epic adventure score. I hope you’ve been good this year because you’re definitely going to want Santa to leave this one under your tree!