Although Violent Night piqued my interest when I saw the trailer for it back in 2022, I never got around to seeing it in theaters and failed to watch it during the following two Christmas seasons. This year, however, I finally carved out some time to watch the action flick starring David Harbour as Santa Claus with my Peacock subscription, namely because I want to be ready for Violent Night 2’s release on the 2026 movies schedule. Overall, I enjoyed watching Harbour’s Santa bash in bad guys’ heads as he navigated a Die Hard-like situation, but I also have a nitpick with this depiction of Jolly Old Saint Nick.
One of the ways that Violent Night channels Die Hard is by having its main protagonist coordinating a strategy over a call with someone he’s never met before, just like John McClane did with Sergeant Al Powell. In this case, Santa ends up communicating on a walkie-talkie with Trudy, the little girl being held hostage with the rest of her family by mercenaries looking to steal $300 million from her obscenely wealthy grandmother. At one point, after she’s escaped from the villains and is hiding out in the mansion’s attic, Trudy tells Santa that she can set up booby traps where she is, like in Home Alone, to which he says, “Ok, I don’t know what that means, but yeah, do that.”
I’m sorry, Santa Claus doesn’t know about Home Alone, one of the best Christmas movies of all time? I can suspend disbelief for all the Christmas magic on display in Violent Night and easily embrace David Harbour’s version of Santa being one who was once a ruthless Viking warrior. But not getting a simple Home Alone reference? I’d argue this is the most unrealistic aspect of the movie.
I get that Santa keeps busy most of the year planning out each forthcoming Christmas, so he doesn’t have a lot of free time to watch movies. But come on! Home Alone came out in 1990, and you’re telling me he’s never watched it once in the following decades or even heard any references to it. When Santa does have some time to kick back and relax to watch movies, you’d think that he’d made a point to watch the most beloved Christmas classics. That feels like it should be part of his duties for roughly the last century.
Again, this doesn’t detract from the fun time I had watching Violent Night, I’m just disappointed Santa didn’t pick up on what’s arguably the most well-known element of Home Alone outside of the title premise that Kevin McAllister finds himself in. I’m hoping that by the time Violent Night 2 is released on December 4, 2026, the man once known as Nicomund the Red will have watched the movie (even if it means signing up for a Disney+ subscription) and filled in any other major Christmas-y cinematic gaps in knowledge he has.
