While it won't be setting any precedents in the horror film genre with its boilerplate reworking of a now familiar theme arguably begun with John Carpenter's HALLOWEEN (1978), SAINT NICK (2010) is a fairly accomplished Dutch film spoken in its native language that makes December 5 the new date on the calendar to fear.  To better understand the film, a little clarification is in order.  Saint Nicholas, the revered gift-giver who provided the inspiration of what we have come to know as Santa Claus, was born on March 15, 270 and died on December 6, 343 in what is now Turkey.  In the film, roughly two months after Christopher Columbus stumbled upon the New World, an evil bishop named Saint Nick, who renounced his faith and turned to a life of crime, set out with a band of marauders in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, robbing and killing people.  A minor uprising by the villagers led to Saint Nick being burned to death on his boat. 

On December 5, 1968, the night of a full moon, Saint Nick pays a visit to a man and his wife and three children, all of whom except one boy is killed violently by the jolly man in red after entering the house through the chimney. 

Going on the premise that a full moon comes around every so many years on the night of December 5, Saint Nick returns to Amsterdam with his band of burned confederates, donning full bishop gear with scepter in hand trading in reindeer for a gallant white horse, though it isn't gifts he is bringing to the millions of children awaiting goodies, but rather revenge.   

The boy who survived the 1968 massacre is, in present day Amsterdam, now a police officer who fears another night of terror as the full moon approaches on the upcoming December 5.  He is determined to stop Saint Nick from wreaking havoc on the city.  He has become a bit of a joke at the police department and is forcibly put on administrative leave by his superior, and told to stay away for a month.  Angered by this maneuver, his takes it upon himself to pack explosives into a boat and sets off to kill Saint Nick himself with the help of a stranger. 

The film is a throwback to the horror flicks of the 1980's which featured a great many shallow and annoying characters who were just begging to be offed in some garish and violent fashion, and this film is no stranger to inventive kills. 

The ending is nicely atmospheric and recalls John Carpenter's THE FOG (1980).  The film has a nice scare that jolted even Yours Truly.  The supporting cast is quite good and the cinematography captures December much like our memories of it in a snow globe.  While there is an abundance of computer-generated effects in the film, they all work rather well and the overall look is much better than one would expect. 

SAINT NICK was written and directed by Dick Maas, whose name is easily recognizable to horror fans for THE ELEVATOR (1983) aka THE LIFT, AMSTERDAMNED (1988), DO NOT DISTURB (1999), and THE SHAFT (2001 - a remake of THE ELEVATOR/THE LIFT).  De Heer Maas has made several contributions to the genre, and SAINT NICK is one of the more interesting in the "bad Santa" subgenre which began with Lewis Jackson's YOU BETTER WATCH OUT (1980). 

The DVD comes with trailers for BURKE AND HARE, JULIA'S EYES, SPIDERHOLE and DEAD HOOKER IN A TRUNK. 

Although the film is spoken in Dutch, there is the option to listen to an English dubbing, or with Dutch or English subtitles. 

Click here to order the film from Amazon.com.