Santa's Slay

Santa's Slay is a 2005 Canadian-American Christmas slasher comedy film that stars professional wrestler Bill Goldberg as Santa Claus. The film was written and directed by David Steiman, a former assistant to Brett Ratner; Ratner served as a producer. The film received mixed reviews from critics.

Santa's Slay
Theatrical release poster
Directed byDavid Steiman
Produced bySammy Lee
Brett Ratner
Doug Steeden
Written byDavid Steiman
StarringBill Goldberg
Douglas Smith
Emilie de Ravin
Robert Culp
Saul Rubinek
Dave Thomas
Music byHenning Lohner
CinematographyMatthew F. Leonetti
Edited bySteven Polivka
Julia Wong
Production
company
VIP Medienfonds 1
Distributed byMedia 8 Entertainment
Release date
  • December 20, 2005 (2005-12-20)
Running time
78 minutes
CountryCanada, United States
LanguageEnglish

Plot

On Christmas Eve, the Mason family (played by a cast of all Jewish celebrities in bit roles) is bickering about their wealth and material possessions while eating Christmas dinner when Santa Claus (Bill Goldberg, coincidentally also Jewish) comes down the chimney and kills them all in various graphic displays of Christmas-themed violence, such as drowning the matriarch Virginia (Fran Drescher) in eggnog, using the star atop a Christmas tree as a ninja star and stabbing the patriarch's hands to the table with silverware and suffocating him by stuffing a leg of turkey in his mouth.

Riding on his sleigh driven by his "hell-deer" the Buffalo-like Beast, Santa arrives at Hell Township and decimates the locals in various holiday-themed ways. In one of his kills, Santa slaughters the occupants of a local strip club, frequented by Pastor Timmons (Dave Thomas), a crooked minister, who manages to survive the massacre. Later, Santa murders the local Jewish delicatessen owner Mr. Green, (Saul Rubinek), using his own menorah.

Meanwhile, teenager Nicholas Yuleson (Douglas Smith) is living with his crazy grandfather (Robert Culp), a crackpot inventor who has built a bunker in their basement to survive Christmas. When Nicholas asks Grandpa why he hates Christmas, he is shown "The Book of Klaus", which reveals the origins of Santa Claus. Apparently, Santa was the result of a virgin birth produced by Satan (just as Jesus was the result of a virgin birth produced by God—meaning that Santa is somewhat of an Antichrist). Christmas was "The Day of Slaying" for Santa until A.D. 1005, when an angel defeated him in a curling match and sentenced him to deliver presents on Christmas for 1,000 years. This means that Santa is free to kill again in 2005.

Upon arriving at the delicatessen, Nicholas is taken to the police station for questioning about Mr. Green's murder. He is bailed out by his girlfriend, Mary "Mac" Mackenzie (Emilie de Ravin), just before Santa arrives and kills all of the officers. Santa pursues Nicholas and Mac in a police car, but they are able to escape, thanks to a shotgun left in Mac's truck by her gun-crazed father (Jeff Hanna). They flee to Mr. Yuleson's bunker, with Santa still in pursuit. Nicholas and Mac manage to escape using Grandpa's snowmobile; but Grandpa is run over by Santa's "hell-deer" and killed.

The two teens hide in a local high school, hoping that Santa's powers will end once Christmas ends; but they are eventually forced to confront him in the gym. They are almost killed by Santa on a Zamboni but are saved by Grandpa, who is actually the angel who originally defeated and sentenced Santa. With Christmas over and his powers gone, Santa flees in his sleigh; but his "hell-deer" are shot down by Mac's father with a bazooka. Pastor Timmons is found dead in a Santa suit and is presumed to be the killer, while, in fact, the real killer Santa Claus is boarding a flight from Winnipeg to the North Pole.

After the credits, Santa is seen looking over his Naughty List, when he looks into the camera and says "Who's Next?"

Cast

Release

Santa's Slay was released on DVD in the United States by Lionsgate on December 20, 2005. It was released in Canada that same day by Maple Pictures. Lionsgate later re-released the film on November 10, 2008.[1]

Reception

Randall Colburn from The A.V. Club gave the film a positive review, calling it "simultaneously vulgar and wholesome, stupid and satirical, violent and lighthearted."[2] Todd Martin of HorrorNews.net also liked the films, writing, " It isn’t perfect and there are times when it is a little too corny for its own good but overall it is just a fun, brainless movie that has a ton of violence in it".[3] Brett Gallman from Oh, the Horror wrote, "Admittedly, the film doesn’t quite keep up the relentless pace the entire time, but it’s mostly one hell of a slay ride, full of cheesy dialogue, colorful characters, and plenty of laughs."[4] David Nusair from ReelFilm Reviews gave the film a mixed 2.5 out of 5 stars, commending the film's humor, pacing, and Goldberg's tongue-in-cheek performance while also stating that the film ran out of steam in the third act.[5]

The film was not without its detractors. Jon Condit from Dread Central was highly critical of the film, awarding it 1.5 out of 5 stars. In his review, Condit criticized the film's writing and direction as being "sloppy" and "amateurish", also criticizing the abrupt ending.[6]

References
  1. "Santa's Slay (2005) - David Steiman". Allmovie.com. Allmovie. Retrieved 25 April 2019.
  2. Colburn, Randall. "Santa's Slay might be the most wholesome slasher movie ever made". AV Club.com. Randall Colburn. Retrieved 25 April 2019.
  3. Martin, Todd. "Film Review: Santa's Slay (2005)". HorrorNews.net. Todd Martin. Retrieved 25 April 2019.
  4. Gallman, Brett. "Horror Reviews - Santa's Slay (2005)". Oh the Horror.com. Brett Gallman. Retrieved 25 April 2019.
  5. Nusair, David. "Santa's Slay (2005) - A Review by David Nusair". ReelFilm.com. David Nusair. Retrieved 25 April 2019.
  6. Condit, Jon. "Santa's Slay (2005) - Dread Central". Dread Central.com. Jon Condit. Retrieved 25 April 2019.
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