Syfy Insider Exclusive

Create a free profile to get unlimited access to exclusive videos, sweepstakes, and more!

Sign Up For Free to View
SYFY WIRE Violent Night

David Harbour delivers season's beatings in first trailer for wild Santa thriller 'Violent Night'

David Harbour is Santa, and you don't mess with him on Christmas Eve.

By Matthew Jackson
Violent Night (2022)

Thanks to his role on Stranger Things, David Harbour is known to millions as the gruff father figure who takes care of kids who need help when the bad guys show up. Now, he's parlayed that particular type of performance into an action movie where he gets to beat people up while playing the nicest man on the planet: Santa Claus.

The first trailer for Violent Night, Harbour's new holiday action film, arrived Wednesday morning, and it's everything you could want from a story about Santa Claus taking the fight to some bad dudes on his busiest night of the year. Harbour's Santa is, like Chief Jim Hopper and Hellboy before him, just an average guy who happens to have a really important job. He likes beer, and cookies, and rewarding kids on the nice list. This particular Christmas, one of those nice kids just happens to be at the center of a terrifying ordeal, as her home is invaded by a group of ruthless looking mercenaries led by a man (John Leguizamo) demanding millions of dollars from the rich owners. 

Luckily for everyone, Santa's in the neighborhood, and he's in the mood for granting a kid's Christmas wish, especially when that wish involves strangling some people with tinsel and delivering some good old-fashioned season's beatings.

Check out the trailer below, and get ready for the holiday spirit to move you.

In addition to Harbour and Leguizamo in leading roles, Violent Night also stars Cam Gigandet, Alex Hassell, Alexis Louder, Edi Patterson and holiday movie legend Beverly D’Angelo. Behind the camera, the film is directed by Tommy Wirkola (Dead Snow) from a script by Pat Casey and Josh Miller (Sonic the Hedgehog), and co-produced by David Leitch, one of the minds behind the John Wick franchise. That means there's a certain blockbuster pedigree already at work behind-the-scenes here, but the main draw is still Harbour's Santa, and the promise of holiday fun with a heavy dose of action. 

Violent Night is in theaters Dec. 2.