THERE’S A SEA OF SANTA HATS AS FAR back as the eye can see. Christmas carols fill the air of the Empire Stage at the Javits Centre in New York. But there’s something different about this festive gathering. First of all, it’s October and outside, New York City is filled with pumpkins. Secondly, those Santa hats – usually a sign of safety and magic – are all splattered with blood. SFX is at New York Comic Con for the world premiere of Violent Night, a very different Christmas tale.
Introduced by stars David Harbour and John Leguizamo, alongside director Tommy Wirkola, this Christmas movie with a twist attracted a full house of 4,000 people – and they loved it. One person, however, was slightly on edge – Wirkola himself. “After the first two minutes I got really scared,” he recalls. “Obviously it’s not a theatre, so the sound is not ideal, I was like, ‘Oh, God, I hope this works’. But from the first laugh, people were so into it.”
Wait, first laugh? That’s right – this is an 18-rated Christmas movie full of ho, ho, hos. When we first meet Santa in Violent Night, he’s kind of lost his way – except he’s definitely still able to find his way around a drinks cabinet. But a chance encounter with a traditionally festive feuding family sees him reach a tipping point when it comes to protecting innocent child Trudy. Suddenly Saint Nick ain’t so jolly.
Oh, and it turns out that one of the most famous mythical characters in history has a slightly different backstory to the
