Post by bruce on Apr 1, 2011 12:18:10 GMT -5
Christmas Evil (also known as You Better Watch Out and Terror in Toyland) is a 1980 slasher film directed by Lewis Jackson. It is considered an obscure film but has gained a cult following which includes legendary film director John Waters. It predates the horror film Silent Night, Deadly Night, in which a deranged man goes on a murderous rampage dressed in Santa Claus clothing.
Suburban New Jersey, Christmas Eve - 1947: A Christmas Eve experience traumatizes Harry. He catches his mother being sexually groped by Santa Claus (actually Harry’s dad). Thirty-three years later, an adult Harry now works in "a lousy position" at the Jolly Dreams toy factory. At home, he has taken it upon himself to become the next true Santa; he sleeps in costume, and his apartment is resplendent with Christmas toys and décor. From the roof of his building, he uses binoculars to spy on neighborhood children to see if they have been 'bad or good' (two children are doing household chores and playing with their doll, the third child, Moss Garcia, is shown rifling through a Penthouse magazine and cutting out a nude photograph). Harry runs back home and writes Moss' name in his “Bad Boys & Girls” book.
The Company Christmas party is in full swing. Harry watches the owner of Jolly Dreams making a televised announcement that, if production increases sufficiently, the company will be able to donate toys to the disadvantaged children at Willowy Springs State Hospital. At home, Harry realizes that people generally consider him a "schmuck" and is constantly exploited by others. He then has a nervous breakdown, and he is now convinced that he truly is the proverbial jolly old elf. Harry gets a brilliant idea. He steals Company toys, wraps them, loads them into his van, and later drops them off at the Hospital. He then leaves a bagful of dirt at bad-boy Moss Garcia’s doorstep, and thereafter murders three parishioners who happen to taunt him at the bottom steps of a nearby church. Coincidentally, Frank and George are also attending the midnight mass, and witness Santa's bloody crime.
Suburban New Jersey, Christmas Eve - 1947: A Christmas Eve experience traumatizes Harry. He catches his mother being sexually groped by Santa Claus (actually Harry’s dad). Thirty-three years later, an adult Harry now works in "a lousy position" at the Jolly Dreams toy factory. At home, he has taken it upon himself to become the next true Santa; he sleeps in costume, and his apartment is resplendent with Christmas toys and décor. From the roof of his building, he uses binoculars to spy on neighborhood children to see if they have been 'bad or good' (two children are doing household chores and playing with their doll, the third child, Moss Garcia, is shown rifling through a Penthouse magazine and cutting out a nude photograph). Harry runs back home and writes Moss' name in his “Bad Boys & Girls” book.
The Company Christmas party is in full swing. Harry watches the owner of Jolly Dreams making a televised announcement that, if production increases sufficiently, the company will be able to donate toys to the disadvantaged children at Willowy Springs State Hospital. At home, Harry realizes that people generally consider him a "schmuck" and is constantly exploited by others. He then has a nervous breakdown, and he is now convinced that he truly is the proverbial jolly old elf. Harry gets a brilliant idea. He steals Company toys, wraps them, loads them into his van, and later drops them off at the Hospital. He then leaves a bagful of dirt at bad-boy Moss Garcia’s doorstep, and thereafter murders three parishioners who happen to taunt him at the bottom steps of a nearby church. Coincidentally, Frank and George are also attending the midnight mass, and witness Santa's bloody crime.