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Harry
Standling (Brandon Maggart) is an introverted
middle-aged man whose hobby is all things Christmas.
Perfectly in sync with his obsessive regard for
the season, he has worked in a toy factory for
most of his adult life. Harry's years of experience
have finally landed him a management job in the
company and he seems to have thought that his
new position would allow him to make better toys
for kids. With the Christmas season approaching
he finds the hostile anti-holiday attitudes of
his co-workers and the disappointment of no longer
working directly with the toys getting to him.
But what starts off looking like a bout of holiday
depression begins to turn nasty.
Clearly
sad and disappointed by the adults around him,
he begins to focus on the joys Christmas brings
to kids. For years Harry has kept detailed written
accounts of the actions of the children that live
in his neighborhood and bound books listing "bad"
and "good" kids line his shelves. As
he starts spending more time going through them,
adding black & white marks, he becomes more unstable.
In
his home workshop he fashions a Santa costume,
paints an elaborate mural of Santa's sleigh on
the sides of his van and begins to make plans.
Learning from a snide PR man of his company's
halfhearted stab at charity by donating toys to
the local children's hospital, Harry is livid.
Dressing as Santa he sneaks into the factory at
night, stealing a van load of toys, and on Christmas
Eve delivers them to the surprised and happy hospital
staff. Elated by this near perfect moment of holiday
cheer he tracks the company PR man to a church
where he's attending a Christmas service. After
waiting outside, a silent Santa, Harry is taunted
by some of the churchgoers and stabs two of them
to death with a toy solider! Driving away he next
goes to the house of a co-worker who has insulted
and belittled him repeatedly. After a failed attempt
to go down the chimney he finds an open basement
window, creeps in and kills the man right in front
of his wife. Disturbingly, the dead man's awakened
kids wave happily to the departing Santa just
as their mother's screams ring out.
On Christmas
Day the cops are running around hunting a killer
Santa, even going so far as to put a bunch of
them in a line up for witnesses from the church.
But an APB on St. Nick on December the 25th isn't
exactly the best move and does not net them their
guy. Harry has spent the night in his van outside
the toy factory and awakens to the realization
of his plight. Afraid to go home he breaks into
the place and, as if in a fantasy about really
being Santa Claus, turns on all the toy making
equipment. As news reports stoke the fears of
the public Harry's younger brother Philip (Jeffery
DeMunn) begins to think his brother is involved.
He becomes convinced that his unbalanced sibling
is the killer after a rambling phone call from
him that afternoon. When night falls on Christmas,
Harry ventures out again but ends up being chased
through the streets by an actual torch-bearing
mob until he escapes to his brother's home. An
enraged Philip demands answers, resulting in a
family fight that brings the tragic tale to a
close.
I
was completely gob-smacked by this one, folks.
From the title and description I was expecting
a smarmy slasher film that used the holiday season
for a cheap backdrop and even cheaper jokes. What
I got instead was a very well-made character study
reminiscent of Polanski's Repulsion.
Although not as good as that classic, it stands
proudly beside it as a fascinating picture of
a slow descent into madness and murder. If anything,
Harry Standling is a more sympathetic main character
as we are shown in a brief prologue the genesis
of both his fixation on Christmas and the reason
for his awkwardness with people. At an impressionable
age the young Harry crept downstairs on Christmas
Eve to see Santa sexually gratifying his mother.
That this Santa was actually his father didn't
register and the traumatized boy never really
got over the sight of Jolly Old Saint Nick pleasuring
Mom.
In a film with many things
to praise the first should be the performance
of Brandon Maggart. He does a truly brilliant
job of getting inside Harry's head, showing us
the broken way his mind functions. The moment
I knew he was simply not going to make a wrong
step was in a sequence midway through his Christmas
Eve rounds. He has stopped outside a community
house and is watching a neighborhood party through
a window. Spotted in his Santa outfit, he's pulled
inside and asked to join in the celebration with
children and adults alike. It's a beautiful scene
that shows what his life could have been like
as he happily dances with everyone and enjoys
a few drinks. Maggart is note perfect here — he
even elicits a chill as he says goodbye to the
kids with a stern warning about being good.
Another
thing to single out is the exceptionally fine
cinematography of the film. For a movie made on
such a small budget Christmas
Evil looks incredible. From the commentary
track on the DVD I learned that director Lewis
Jackson spent a lot to get Ricardo Aronovich as
his DP; his skill certainly makes the film a joy
to look at. There are more than a dozen shots
here that rival the best Christmas images I've
seen captured in the movies, with some of them
being heartbreakingly well composed. Jackson points
out in brief liner notes that his prime visual
inspiration was the Christmas paintings of Thomas
Nast and it really shows. That a film of this
type can be so beautiful puts to shame the sad
Christmas movies pumped out every year by Hollywood.
As much
as I liked the movie I have to admit it's not
perfect. The last third of the film isn't as sure
footed as the beginning as if the focus has been
lost as Harry parades around the toy factory and
comes dangerously close to derailing as he’s being
pursued by the mob of angry parents. But by the
time the brothers have fought and credits roll
over the haunting final image I found it easy
to forgive these small hiccups. Of course, a movie
about a murderous Santa Claus isn't going to be
an easy sell for 90% of the public... Yet, I think
plenty of folks would love this were it given
a chance.
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Given the Christmas
Evil title by the distributor without the
writer/director's consent, the movie finally has
its original title: You
Better Watch Out. And thanks to Synapse,
anyone who wants to finally see this oddball holiday
film will see it looking the best it ever has.
A new widescreen transfer from the original vault
materials was done; there isn't a mark or blemish
in sight. The image is pristine, colorful and
sharp with wonderful detail. The single soundtrack
option is the original Mono given a digital cleanup
and sounding great. Luckily there are nice presents
under the tree as well in the form of some fine
extras. There are two commentary tracks with the
director — one solo
and one with the film's avowed biggest fan, cult
auteur John Waters. This track is fun but a bit
of a disappointment as well; Waters too often
gets caught up simply enjoying the film, which
he hadn't seen in a few years. Jackson even jumps
in at one point to apologize for the commentary
gaps but the track is still entertaining, as Waters
points out many subtle things that Jackson didn't
notice about his own project. The solo track has
Jackson in very verbose form, recounting nearly
every aspect of the movie's production with very
little dead space. Taken together these give an
amazing overview of the film from preproduction
through appreciative audience reaction. That's
a rare DVD accomplishment for a film that only
barely got released 26 years ago and a great addition
to independent film knowledge.
Other
extras include 26 minutes of screen test footage
with appearances from a few soon-to-be well known
actors and actresses. The storyboards for three
sequences are presented, as are a handful of deleted
scenes (at least one of which would have added
more depth to the brother's relationship). In
a way the most entertaining of these extras is
the look at actual comment cards filled out after
a test screening. To say these folks didn't get
it is putting it mildly... It shows just what
a hard job Jackson gave himself with this project.
A killer Santa is never going to be an easy thing
to get away with, but I'm glad he tried. I can't
say I'm You
Better Watch Out's
biggest fan but I like it much better than most
of the holiday drivel of the past 10 years. Just
don't watch it with the little ones. It might
give them impure thoughts. 12/12/06
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