I had the pleasure and simultaneous misfortune of seeing “Violent Night” about a week after opening. By the time I had seen it, I had mostly seen not-so stellar reviews about what I was going to witness. After sitting through the entire hour and 41 minutes, I could say that I had a nice time. The movie was easy to follow plot wise, however there was no clear theme or tone. The movie, while interesting, would jump from extreme gore and action to sentimental moments and comedy. It was like riding a roller coaster in the dark, you had no idea where you would be taken next.

I was also not a fan of the language that was displayed throughout the film. I’m no prude when it comes to language and adult humor, however this movie was like a middle schooler who just learned curse words. The adult language and crude humor was non-stop. I don’t believe there was a single line that did not include some sort of foul language. The only character who wasn’t swearing every other word was the little child.

Lastly, the trailer was very misleading. The trailer made it seem like a normal action movie that somehow had acquired an R rating. After seeing the movie and reading some other reviews, a lot of watchers found the gore level unexpected. Now there was some marketed violence however some scenes it felt there was an unnecessary amount of blood.

I would recommend this film to an audience that can handle an excessive amount of gore and find an excessive and unfunny amount of foul language. While I had an overall good experience, part of that experience was supported by comfortable seats and David Harbor’s portrayal of Santa Claus. If I were you, I would save my money and wait for this movie to finally go to a streaming service.