Violent Night is an American film released on 02 December 2022, focusing on greed and Santa Claus (played by David Harbour) fighting against the villains. It got produced by Kelly McCormick, Guy Danella, and David Leitch. Meanwhile, Tommy Wirkola is the director.
The film got made with a budget of $20 million and collected $50.1 million in the US and $76.6 million internationally. Some viewers did not find it as entertaining as compared to the concept. Thus, the film got mixed or average reviews.
The 107-minute-long film, Violent Night, got produced by 87North Productions and distributed by Universal Pictures. It focuses on Santa Claus, who fights the mercenaries to save a wealthy family held hostage.
Violent Night has a pool of skilled actors like Alex Hassell, John Leguizamo, Beverly D’Angelo, and Alexis Louder, apart from David Harbour. Meanwhile, John Miller and Pat Casey are the writers of the film.
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Violent Night Plot
Santa gets disappointed by the vanishing Christmas spirit among the children looking for materialistic happiness. He drinks at a pub and leaves on his reindeer sleigh. On the other hand, Jason Lightstone goes to his wealthy mother’s (Gertrude) mansion in the countryside with his wife (Linda) and daughter (Trudy).
The Lightstones get welcomed by Jason’s sister (Alva), her son (Bertrude), and her new boyfriend (Morgan Steel). Drunken Santa Claus appears at the mansion to distribute gifts. But, the place has some unwelcomed guests too.
The family gets hostage by a group of mercenaries, and the brave Santa decides to fight them. One mercenary falls off the window during a fight, while another gets stabbed in the eye and electrocuted by Santa. It is how he ends up killing two of them.
The mercenaries reveal they work for Mr. Scrooge, who later demands $300 million in cash. Santa takes the walkie-talkie of a mercenary he killed and finds Trudy on the nice list. On the other hand, the mercenaries find Trudy’s walkie, but Jason and Linda say that Trudy is only playing a game.
Trudy hides with her walkie when Jason reveals that Santa is fake. Meanwhile, Santa informs Trudy about being a Viking warrior using the walkie. He gets captured by the mercenaries. Surprisingly, he calls two henchmen by their real names and escapes through the chimney.
Gertrude orders her private Kill Squad’s commander to kill the mercenaries. However, the commander turns to be in Mr. Scrooge’s favor and puts poor Morgan Steel to sleep forever when he tries to escape the mansion.
Jason confesses to having stolen the money. He was about to move to a new place with his wife and daughter. His mother forgives him making him her property’s heir. Santa kills the Kill Squad using a sledgehammer.
Most mercenaries get killed by Santa, one by Trudy, and the last one by Linda. Mr. Scrooge, who claims to have had a worse childhood due to Christmas, finds Santa genuine and tries to kill him. Instead, he loses his life after getting dragged up through the chimney by Santa.
Thorp shoots Santa and gets shot by Gertrude. He gets alive again through magic though he never understood how Christmas magic works. Finally, he bids goodbye to everyone and flies with his sleigh to deliver other gifts.
Violent Night Filming Locations
Filmmakers commenced filming Violent Night in January 2022 and wrapped in March 2022 within four months. The film is set in Greenwich but got filmed in various parts in Winnipeg, Manitoba (Canada), and the filmmakers used real reindeer and snow.
According to Kelly McCormick, the producer, the mansion is in Winnipeg, and they built it entirely. Thus, they could control it and mess too! The exteriors were filmed in Winnipeg every night for a month, and she found it worth it.
Violent Night bundles practical locations, stunts, special effects, sets, and ensemble casts. These elements look more expensive in the film than they were. The crew members worked in a really cold environment, and it was crazy, according to the producer. Thus, they used a lot of thermals.
Tommy Wirkola, the director, is from Norway and knows how it feels to live in the cold. But, the cold in Winnipeg was beyond his expectations (the temperature was thirty degrees), according to Wirkola’s Instagram post.
Talking about the reindeer, the filmmakers used real reindeer and a bit of blue screen to change their body movements, keeping it as natural as possible because Kelly McCormick likes to keep her films more practical and natural.
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