Thomas, a very intelligent and resourceful child, is left alone with his beloved and fragile granddad on Christmas Eve, when a psychopath dressed as Santa Claus breaks into their mansion and starts chasing them. Thomas will do whatever he can to save himself and his granddad.

I’ll be honest, I went into this one a little closed minded. From the emotional song playing over the trailer to the dramatic acting snippets, it seemed it might be over the top in a bad way. However, one cannot judge a film by its trailer (see Watchmen, Star Wars IV, etc.), and after watching this I was pleasantly surprised by Dial Code Santa Claus’ bravery in establishing a sense of true danger for kids, effort in character development, and even the dated look of the movie grew on me. It’s Home Alone…but with a killer Kringle instead of bumbling burglars. And it’s in French. Classy, right?

It’s Christmas Eve, and a lone transient (Patrick Floersheim) is watching a group of neighborhood kids having a snowball fight. He smiles and attempts to join in on the fun, but the kids quickly move their games elsewhere. We later see that he is in fact employed as the local mall Santa, the very same mall run by the mother of our protagonist, the nerdy yet a little Rambo-ish, Thomas de Fremont (Alain Lalanne). A precocious, computer and military enthused, only-child, Thomas becomes the object of the un-named hobo with a Santa suit’s murderous desires, having been fired from his mall Santa gig by the mother for slapping a customer’s child.

Once the vengeful Santa shimmies down the chimney of their family mansion, a game of cat and mouse begins. With the phone lines cut and his workaholic mother away at work, Thomas sends out an SOS (a fax) to his frenemy Pilou (Stéphane Legros), a pudgy and skeptical kid, and Thomas’ ready reinforcement, but luckily he runs away before the knife-wielding Santa can “Scatman Crothers” him prematurely. Thomas knows only he, his mullet, and his armory of surveillance and computer gadgets can save him and his half-blind Grandpa from this sick, sad Santa. As the movie’s theme song says ‘he must become a man’, and so Thomas sets out to show this slasher Santa that this is his house.

Dial Code Santa Clause was directed by René Manzor, originally released in 1989, and has recently been re-released thanks to the loving stewardship of American Genre Film Archive (AGFA) and Alamo Drafthouse so that American audiences can experience this trip of a movie.

My only real gripes are minor but worthy of mention. Though the family characters are pretty well developed, I like to understand my villains, and we don’t get a sense as to why he is drawn to and yet violent to children. Another point of contention; At times the action sequences get a little lazy by glazing over how the killer Claus maneuvers out of the clever traps. Even still, it’s fun, the kid is badass, and the 80s-ness and montages drip nostalgia.

It’s one of those movies you stumble upon and come back to when the mood or season is right, and I believe this little French diddy will be on my Christmas season movie list from now on. Previously hidden from U.S. audiences…until now!… Dial Code Santa Claus is a home-invasion, slasher, children’s’, action-y movie, and a must-see for any holiday-horror fan.

*Warning: If you cannot watch Hachi or the Jurassic Bark episode of Futurama, proceed with caution*

Upcoming Screenings
There are still two more screenings of this delightful piece of Christmas cheer coming up in the following cities.