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Meet Director Lewis Jackson of Christmas Evil in LA
By Jonathan Stryker

Oct 24, 2006, 20:39

CHRISTMAS EVIL, aka YOU BETTER WATCH OUT, was directed by Lewis Jackson and released in November 1980.  It was one of the first killer Santa movies, coming before DON’T OPEN TILL CHRISTMAS and SILENT NIGHT, DEADLY NIGHT, and has evidently developed a cult following.  The film stars Brandon Maggart as the supervisor of a toy factory who practically loses his mind as a child when he sees his father dressed up like Santa Claus get it on with his mom.  Many years later as an adult, he becomes hell bent on becoming Santa Claus and drives around town in his van shouting “Merry Christmas!!” as loud as he can.   

Naturally, this was a film that was derided and lambasted by certain religious groups who probably never even bothered to see it in the first place.  While the film is nowhere near as tasteless as SILENT NIGHT, DEADLY NIGHT, it does have some elements that are fairly disturbing.   

Already available on DVD from Troma Team Video in a 2002 edition that was transferred from a less-than-stellar theatrical print, the film is being reissued on November 14, 2006 by Synapse Films in a 16:9 transfer from original vault materials of the director’s cut, which contains some footage unseen until now.  This disc should look great, as the print used on the Troma disc had already faded somewhat and possessed many scratches and glitches so common to poorly-stored and abused prints.  Among the goodies on the new disc are:   

• Audio commentary by Lewis Jackson

• Bonus audio commentary by Lewis Jackson and filmmaker/CHRISTMAS EVIL fan John Waters

• Audition tapes

• Storyboards

• Original screening comment cards 

If you are a big fan of this film, you might want to hold onto the Troma DVD which contains audio commentary by both director Jackson and star Maggart.  There is no mention of this commentary been carried over to the new disc, which lists an audio commentary by Lewis Jackson and makes no mention of the Maggart commentary.  In three weeks we will know for sure if the Maggart commentary has been included or not.  

If you are if you are in the Los Angeles area on November 14, Laser Blazer, located at 10584 West Pico Boulevard, will have director Lewis Jackson on hand between 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. to sign copies of the DVD.  This should be a fun event, and I am looking forward to this as I always wanted a better transfer of this film than we were given four years ago.