Christmas Evil | 1980 | USA | Lewis Jackson

One of the entries of killer Santa movies like Silent Night Deadly Night and Deadly Games, Lewis Jackson’s tale follows the unstable Harry Stadling, whose experience of Christmas was forever soured when he caught sight of his mother being groped by Saint Nick as a child. Now grown-up, he becomes increasingly annoyed by the greed of his co-workers at a toy factory and the signs around him that everyone has lost the seasonal spirit. He eventually snaps and believes himself to be the real Santa Claus, distributing presents to the good-natured, bags of dirt to the naughty… and a painful death to the non-believers. Despite featuring some nasty moments like eyes being stabbed with toy soldiers, a head being split open by a toy hatchet and a throat-slashing via a star ornament, the movie is more akin to a horror-comedy in tone but it’s likely that the mere horrification of the Christmas holiday was enough to irk the DPP into noticing it.