2020 October Horror Challenge #86: "Deadly Games (1989)"

 

I was halfway convinced that I had hallucinated or imagined this movie. It was released in 1989 and was only available by bootleg for years. I thought I'd heard tell of a movie with an evil killer Santa Claus where a little boy goes all commando and fights him, but I hearn nothing more about it over the years, so I mostly thought I was combining "Toy Soldiers" and "Silent Night, Deadly Night" in my head or something. But this is a French horror movie, and indeed, it does exist. Thanks to the Shudder streaming service, I get to check this movie out this year. What fun.

So this came out before "Home Alone," but it bears more than a passing resemblance to that movie. A little boy is home almost alone (just he and his half-blind diabetic grandfather) on Christmas eve,  when he decides to stay awake and catch a glimpse of the real Santa Claus. Unfortunately,  a psychotic killer dressed as Santa Claus breaks into his house, and he is forced to set up traps and try to outwit the killer and stay alive.

This movie caused a lot of controversy much for the same reasons "Silent Night, Deadly Night" did. Santa is supposed to be a benevolent lover of all children, so turning him into a sadistic killer skeeves people out. Plus this one is especially freaky, targeting and stalking a little boy all while giggling with sadistic glee. There's a violent animal death about 30 minutes into the movie, and that's when the boy (Thomas) realizes that Santa is out to hurt him. That would really creep me out, and he wants to save his grand too, of course, so he's forced to try to survive while towing around a crippled old man. Poor kid.

This movie is definitely a lot darker than "Home Alone." Santa stalking angrily around the house is really creepy, especially after we see him kill an animal and destroy a car in anger. I love you Thomas has a little mullet and dresses up like Arnold Schwarzenegger in the movie "Commando." He's so resourceful and tough that it's easy to forget he's just a little boy. But a terrifying scene on a snowy roof where Thomas is crying for his mommy really drove home how scared this poor kid is. Another scene where Santa is stalking the blind grandpa with a knife is really scary too. Dude, this movie is fucked up.

One of the saddest things about this movie is that Thomas thinks the killer really us Santa Claus, and that he's attacking because he's mad that Thomas stayed up late to see him instead of going to sleep. Poor kiddo. He really is a tough kid. Even getting stabbed doesn't stop him. He's better in a crisis than most of the adults in the  movie. His mother totally cops out, and I wanted to scream at her. I get that she's worried, but her kid is being literally physically attacked and he doesn't fall to pieces. Buck up, lady. The final showdown is great, and the psycho Santa actually gave me chills, so I'm pretty impressed. I'm glad this movie really exists, and that I finally got to see it.