Santa's Slay

Dir: David Steiman

2005

***

The 'Killer Santa' horror sub-genre is a bit samey but generally always fun. David Steiman's Santa's Slay takes the idea the least seriously, much to its credit. It starts off rather bizarrely. James Caan, Rebecca Gayheart and a few actresses that usually play a pair of breasts in an array of cheap horror films, are all sitting around the Christmas dinner table, eating and casually insulting each other. Enter Santa via the chimney and cue an inventive but senseless killing spree. It certainly grabs the attention but not necessarily in the best way. Thankfully, it gets a lot better. Teenager Nicholas Yuleson (yup) gets caught up in Santa's slaying when his boss, Deli owner Mr Green (played by Saul Rubinek) is stabbed through the neck and pinned to the wall with his own menorah. Along with his Girlfriend Mary, Nicholas discovers the truth behind the legend of Santa and who his real Grandfather really is. The trio of Nicholas, Mary and Grandpa feels a bit like it's out of a lighter Stephen King story. The three of them stand up against evil Santa and suddenly a silly horror turns into quite the fun adventure film. Wrestler Bill Goldberg is quite brilliant at evil Santa and Robert Culp is great as Grandpa, his last appearance in a feature length film. Just to show that no one is taking this too seriously, the film cuts away half way through to a brilliantly animated scene whereby we learn the true legend of Santa Claus. It's very silly, lots of fun and rather rewarding.