I actually went into Fatman as a huge Gibson fan, even despite everything. I was cheering for his comeback and liked him a lot in the Expendables and Dragged Across Concrete.

So seeing him as a jaded Santa kicking ass? Sign me the fuck up! But, it just wasn’t a very compelling movie. The actors were top notch, and the concept was too. But like you said, it was grounded and real and…it was more of a bummer than a crowd pleaser. The action wasn’t all that inspired, wasn’t nearly as violent as I’d wanted it, and in the end it wasn’t very cathartic. There were rarely any cheer out loud moments where you went, “Fuck yeah Santa is a badass.” And when the movie tried to be funny, it…wasn’t. It wasn’t bad by any means but I finished the movie thinking, “Man there was so much potential left at the table.”

I actually went into Violent Night with trepidation because Fatman was such a let down, but it kind of did what I wanted Fatman to do - Be actually funny, way over the top, yet still keep the essential earnestness of a Christmas movie. It did the rare feat of feeling like a 90’s movie for the family, while being absolutely an R rated movie. The action was better than Fatman, the blood and gore was higher, and the Christmas spirit was coursing throughout. I actually liked Gibson’s Santa more than Harbor’s, but despite both Santa’s having lost their mojo so to speak, playing it up more for comedy was just more entertaining. And when Santa found that hammer in the storage shed, knowing his past? Crowd cheered.

And you can’t get more crowd pleasing than ending the movie shooting Santa up a chimney with the villain and exploding the dude in a shower of gore and viscera.