Holiday Horrors returns for 2021!
John Hudson, Troy Guinn and I discuss the amazing French Christmas film DIAL CODE SANTA CLAUS (1989). Although we had never even heard of this movie until Vinegar Syndrome released it on disc last year it has become a fast favorite for all three of us. It’s an amalgam of horror, action and coming of age stories that manages to hit nearly every emotional beat that it targets. On Christmas Eve, ten-year-old Thomas is determined to get evidence of Santa’s existence so he sets up his high-tech equipment to videotape him on his rounds. Unfortunately, the lad has accidentally gained the attention of a crazed man who dresses himself as the jolly old elf and makes the little boy the object of his homicidal curiosity. With his mother working late it is up to Thomas alone to protect his aged grandfather and stop the deadly St. Nick from killing all through the house. Who will survive?
Simultaneously beautiful to look at and tensely suspenseful DIAL CODE SANTA CLAUS is a worthy addition to the list of scary stories centered around the year end holidays. Filled with Christmas atmosphere and luminous visuals it checks all the boxes for candy colored feel-good sentiment but then drops its likable characters into a vicious home invasion scenario. The killer Santa’s motivations are never revealed which makes his actions all the more terrifying and unpredictable. And although this film plays out a story similar to 1990’s HOME ALONE, there are real consequences to violence in this movie and truly deadly stakes if Thomas fails to defeat his nearly silent adversary.
We talk about the film’s production taking note of the combination of real locations and elaborate stage work. The director’s ability to seamlessly meld the real and unreal allows the film to achieve some surprising moments and it’s not a shock to learn he went on to do high quality work in Hollywood. We have a good time discussing this great little movie with only a few short tangents about illegal VHS tape dubbing along the way. Oh! And at one point we are interrupted by a stack of my new Blu-Rays tumbling over into my chair. Sorry. I’ve been too busy to put them away.
The show winds down with an email from a fan of the show and a text from another co-host. They’re trying to wear me down, folks! If you have any comments or suggestions thebloodypit@gmail.com is the address. Thank you for listening!
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