Violent Night: First reactions praise performances and action

Halloween may still be a few weeks away, but if store shelves are any indication, we’re on the brink of some ho-ho-holiday spirit. The action-comedy Violent Night had its first screening at this week’s New York Comic Con and the reactions are full of cheer–and blood.

The reviews from the Friday night screening are praising the performances, the kills and tone, with our own writer saying it was “full of brutal gory acting, corny jokes, over the top performances.” Sounds like just the sort of Christmas movie we deserve!

Check out some of the initial reactions below:

Buzz for Violent Night is building at a fast pace, with the trailer dropping just last week and now the successful NYCC screening. Judging by first reactions, it will surely be on this year’s nice list.

Here’s a quick YouTube Short reaction we posted. The full embargo drops in November:

Violent Night’s plot: “When a team of mercenaries breaks into a wealthy family compound on Christmas Eve, taking everyone inside hostage, the team isn’t prepared for a surprise combatant: Santa Claus is on the grounds, and he’s about to show why this Nick is no saint.” Think Die Hard during Christmas. Wait, no, that’s not right. Die Hard with Old Saint Nick and the dude from Stranger Things.

Violent Night stars David Harbour as Santa Claus, in addition to John Leguizamo, Cam Gigandet and Beverly D’Angelo, who is certainly no stranger to Christmas movies about unwanted visitors. It is directed by Tommy Wirkola, who also helmed the Dead Snow movies.

Violent Night hits theaters on December 2nd.

This year’s New York Comic Con marked a partial move back to normalcy for the convention, as last year’s event had a greater limit on attendees due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

What do you think of the first reactions to Violent Night? Will you catch it in theaters?