Violent Night VERIFIED
The film was projected to gross around $10 million from 3,682 theaters in its opening weekend.[3] it made $4.9 million on its first day, including $1.1 million from Thursday night previews, and went on to debut to $13.5 million, finishing second behind holdover Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.[16][17] The film fell 37% in its sophomore weekend to $8.7 million, remaining in second.[18]
Violent Night
Casey, Miller and Wirkola struggle to create enough inspired vulgarity to fill the 101-minute running time. Apparently, there are only so many household objects Santa can use to violently neutralize Scrooge's team. When you've seen five bad guys subdued with a sledgehammer, you've pretty much exhausted the options for that tool.
Thompson: When it comes to holiday movies, what would you consider to be a perfect pairing with Violent Night as a double bill? Would you go with a traditional Christmas film like Miracle on 34th Street or an action movie like The Long Kiss Goodnight?
Thompson: I have to ask you about your perfect pairing suggestion for this movie as a double bill. Should someone see this and then go traditional with something like Miracle on 34th Street or lean more into the action genre with Die Hard or Lethal Weapon or The Long Kiss Goodnight?
To do that, he must take on the ruthless minions of Scrooge, whose avarice and cold-bloodedness is fueled by antipathy for this most holy of nights. With the gusto of a starving man at a Christmas feast, the great Leguizamo chews every inch of available scenery, and his nasty line readings hit the ideal sweet spot: just over-the-top enough to be hilarious, and yet not self-conscious enough to render the entire thing a wink-wink slog.
'Twas the night before at the sprawling estate of a filthy-rich American family, anonymous enough in privileged profile to mirror a viewer's despised corporate dynasty of choice. "The most secure private residence in the world" has, naturally, been breached. Crashing the party is a consortium of falsely festive criminals looking to loot the vault of boozing, foul-mouthed matriarch Gertrude Lightstone (Beverly D'Angelo, a Christmas miracle of casting). Given that her extended clan includes a vain teenage influencer (Alexander Elliot), a movie star (Cam Gigandet) with Wahlbergian delusions, and a spoiled scion (Edi Patterson), one might wonder who we're supposed to be rooting for in this hostage situation. Oh, right, it's the cute, precocious kid (Leah Brady) begging Santa to get her parents back together.
Also known as Dial Code: Santa Claus and Game Over, Deadly Games arrived in France before the release of Home Alone, a film with which it shares more than just thematic and narrative similarities. However, Home Alone is fun for the whole family, where the home invasion downplays the danger, and the violent comeuppance is played for laughs, while Deadly Games is a much more straight-faced take on the material, with the French film raising the stakes frequently and punctuating every violent moment with the proper amount of pain and gravity. But don't think Deadly Games isn't a ton of fun, as the film's outrageous action makes it an absolute blast, if perhaps as a late-night chaser to Home Alone once the kids have gone to bed.
A holiday horror anthology featuring one of the most bonkers last act reveals this writer has ever seen, A Christmas Horror Story showcases four interwoven tales of terror that are linked together by the distressed ramblings of an alcoholic late night radio DJ, as played by the one-and-only William Shatner. Developed and directed by the creative team behind the Ginger Snaps trilogy, the stories themselves include tales about a haunted convent, a family that brings home a sinister shapeshifter with their Christmas tree, another family stalked by Krampus, and a Santa Claus tale in which the iconic figure goes toe-to-toe with zombified elves.
The aforementioned Rachel Nichols stars in this underrated X-mas thriller from producer Alexandre Aja (Crawl) and director Franck Khalfoun (Maniac) that nearly entirely takes place in a parking garage in Midtown Manhattan on Christmas Eve. P2 follows a businesswoman forced to work late before a family party on the holiday, only to find herself caught in the spider's web of a sociopathic parking attendant, played wickedly by Wes Bentley, who hopes to win her affection through his misguided and dangerous actions. Soon enough, a deadly cat-and-mouse game breaks out between the pair as the woman desperately attempts to channel her survival instincts to prevent the night from becoming her last Christmas.
To address the obnoxious but popular question of "is Die Hard a Christmas movie?" the answer is a resounding yes. Not only has enough time passed that it has basically become one in popular culture, the "Ho Ho Ho, I have a Machine Gun" note really seals the deal; how would that sentiment make any sense outside of Christmastime? Hell, it'd be out of place in January! But I digress: Die Hard is the ultraviolent classic that essentially sets the blueprint for Violent Night, and something tells me that those two Christmas flicks will become a standard double feature for action fans everywhere. 041b061a72