Reaction Shots

Okay, if you’re going out to a flick today and you want something that is going to put you through a series of excitations - horror, suspense, and violence - but also, oddly enough, have some non-clingy, heartfelt moments and also some really deep, guttural laughter (‘cause, yeah, it’s funny), then head for “Violent Night”.   My first thought was that David Harbour’s Santa would be a mash-up of Hopper from “Stranger Things and the Red Guardian from “Black Widow”, but he zagged when I thought he was going to zig and his St. Nick is very much its own creation. He’s less curmudgeon than vengeance at a certain point in the film; he’d give Pattinson’s Batman a run for his money in that department.  The short take is Santa’s questioning why he’s still doing the gig after all this time when kids just want the latest electric gee-gaw and no one could care less about, you know, the Christmas spirit. Santa’s also got a bit of a drinking problem, but I’m proud of him; he can...