Dial Code Santa Claus is a French horror flick that plays like a mash-up of Home Alone, Silent Night Deadly Night, Rambo, and Die Hard. Thomas (Alain Musy) is a little boy who stays up late on Christmas Eve to get a glimpse of Santa Claus. What the kid doesn’t know is it’s a killer Santa (Patrick Floersheim). Before long, the crazy Kris Kringle begins terrorizing the boy and his half-blind grandpa (Louis Ducreux). What Santa doesn’t know is that Thomas more or less thinks he’s Rambo, and he has an arsenal of homemade weapons, booby traps, and high-tech surveillance to help fend off the not-so Jolly Old St. Nick’s attacks.
The way this thing started out had me thinking it was going to be some kind of classic. The scenes of the kid suiting up for war cannily pokes fun at American action icons like Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger as they closely imitate both Rambo and Commando. I also thought it was interesting how the early scenes predicted the perils of online stalking as the creepy Santa tries to lure kids using a primitive French version of the internet. The initial face-off between Santa and the kid works too.
Unfortunately, it quickly goes downhill from there. This might’ve been a fun short, but as it is, it just goes on way too long. Although the premise is kind of thin, it could’ve worked had director Rene Manzor not played all his cards so soon. While it often flirts with cutting loose, it always seems like it holds back just when it’s about to kick into gear. I don’t know if that had to do with having a child as a protagonist, or what, but it just never really goes for broke. The conclusion is needlessly drawn out as well.
Still, I guess it’s better than watching Home Alone for the umpteenth time this year.
AKA: Game Over. AKA: 36.15 Code Pere Noel. AKA: 36:15 Code Father Christmas. AKA: Deadly Games.
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