Editor's Note: This was originally published for FANGORIA on December 1, 2006, and we're proud to share it as part of The Gingold Files.
Santa’s been quite generous with the Christmas-horror DVDs this season, what with Critical Mass’ latest reissue of Black Christmas and Synapse’s spiffed-up edition of Christmas Evil. Initially issued on disc six years ago by Troma, writer/director Lewis Jackson’s 1980 film (originally titled You Better Watch Out, a moniker it retains on screen for this release) looks a hell of a lot better now. The 1.78:1 transfer boasts a crisply mastered image and fine colors, from the intentionally drab hues of the workaday reality of antihero Harry Stadling (Brandon Maggart) to the rich reds, greens, etc. of the Christmas/party scenes. The sound is mono, but rings sharp and true.
This Director’s Cut restores a couple of dramatic moments, but nothing significant, and the movie still stands as an oddly resonant horror/drama, a far more effective exploration of Yuletide’s potential for mayhem than the later and crasser Silent Night, Deadly Night films. Maggart is terrific as a morose toy company employee who may the only guy on the job who truly believes in the spirit and message of Christmas; compiling books in which he lists those local kids who are “naughty” and “nice,” he eventually snaps, dresses up in full Santa Claus gear and sets out on Christmas Eve to dispatch those adults whom he feels have betrayed both him and the meaning of the season.
It’s more a character study with black-comic underpinnings than an out-and-out slasher flick, with a sometimes self-consciously art-house approach that, as Jackson notes on the new DVD’s pair of commentaries, was influenced by everyone from artists Thomas Nast and Andrew Wyeth to iconic directors Douglas Sirk and Rainer Werner Fassbinder. But the outside filmmaker who sits in on one of the tracks with Jackson is John Waters, a longtime fan of Evil who celebrated the movie in his book Crackpot and is quoted on the disc cover as calling it “The greatest Christmas movie ever made.” And yet…Waters seems unfamiliar with the film at times during the dual talk, often simply chortling at the onscreen action as if viewing it for the first time. (Jackson even apologizes in a post-recorded bit, inserted into the middle of the commentary, that Waters hasn’t viewed Evil in quite a while.)
Much of what Waters does say about the feature has a sexual bent, as he insists on reading Harry throughout as a metaphorical stand-in for someone desiring a sex change, or to reveal his homosexuality (“He comes out of the Claus closet!”). He also compares Harry at different moments to a pedophile and a terrorist, and while some of his snarky observations are amusing, there aren’t enough of them to sustain a feature-length track. Jackson adds the occasional anecdote (the best: He was offered an Easter Bunny horror film subsequent to Evil), but not enough to compensate.
On his solo commentary, Jackson elaborates on several subjects briefly brought up with Waters and delves a little deeper into his off-the-wall directorial approach (which, he opines more than once, was responsible for the movie’s less-than-positive early reception). Here again, though, there’s not enough meat to make the track completely satisfying; the material in the two commentaries, if combined into one, would be enough to please, but listened to separately with all their gaps of silence, the overall effect is ho-ho-hum. (Jackson says that Maggart is now “ambivalent” about Christmas Evil and dismisses Troma’s disc as a “bootleg,” but the brutal truth is that the commentary on that disc, for which Maggart actually did join the filmmaker, is livelier than either of those here.)
Fortunately, Jackson and the Synapse team have come up with a great supplement to compensate: a half-hour of audition videos. Often in an extra of this kind, all we get to see are the tryouts by the people who wound up winning the roles, but these folks know that what we really want to check out are the people who didn’t make it, especially if they had or went on to significant careers. Accordingly, we’re treated to The Warriors star Michael Beck and TV veteran/David Mamet collaborator Lindsay Crouse reading a scene together, future Poltergeist star JoBeth Williams doing quite a good job auditioning for Harry’s sister-in-law, character actor Richard (The Godfather) Bright offering a more overtly comic reading of Harry—along with footage of Maggart and Jeffrey (The Hitcher) DeMunn, who succeeded in landing the part of Harry’s brother. There’s also an interesting bit where DeMunn and George (Basic Instinct) Dzundza—who, we learn in the Jackson/Waters commentary, was the first choice for Harry but was dismissed when he tried to rewrite the script—are queried on camera about their thoughts on Christmas and Santa.
Also included are a smattering of deleted scenes, among them a nicely nasty bit involving a dollhouse full of massacred figures and early moments in which Harry is commended and promoted by his superiors—likely excised because they make Harry’s life seem a little less put-upon. There’s also a selection of comment cards from an early screening, whose attendees clearly didn’t get the film—a few even wrote in “Very” Poor and “Stupid” categories to check off. Another noted that the film “should not be shown around Christmas, will give wierdos [sic] bad ideas”—impressionable viewers, take note! Finally, the insert card reproduces Rick Trembles’ typically witty Motion Picture Purgatory cartoon appreciation of Christmas Evil—a nice little bow on top of this uneven but overall worthwhile package.
