Saint (2010)

What is up with film makers making Santa a murdering psychopath? What is up with them trying to make the big jolly fellow a homicidal maniac? Well, I suppose they have made films out of the other holidays/other days, like Valentine's Day ('Valentine'), April Fool's ('April Fool's Day'), New Years ('New Years Eve'), Hell, even birthdays ('Happy Birthday to Me'), so why shouldn't they make a film out of the Coca Cola spokesman derived from other religions and holiday figures.

And one of those holiday figures is Sinterklass, or Saint Nicholas. Here, he's a rogue bishop who took offerings, and more. However the victims of one particular village take revenge and set fire to Saint Nicholas' ship, killing him and the crew. Now every time there's a full moon on the 5th of December, Saint Nicholas and his crew return to claim the lives of...well, anyone.

This Dutch film, was a surprise. The story goes along the lines of there's a survivor but no-one believes him when he says the figure of their main holiday is going around killing people. It's been done before, Hell, 'Friday the 13th Part Six: Jason Lives' has that plot, but then again it's really the only plot suitable. Imagine being told the Easter Bunny is killing people on Easter. And they do actually pull it off well here, a bit contrived, but I'm willing to let it slide.

The acting is okay, at best. Actually I suppose they were actually pretty good, they do give the necessary emotions when needed. There are a few moments when the actors or actresses under perform or over perform, but there isn't really anything terrible to say about them.

The effects, are also pretty damn good. Oh yeah, there's the point where the effects don't look real, but again, there's really nothing that bad with them. The same could be said about the characters. Sort of. I mean, the characters aren't bad, though they can tend to be stupid or bad. Like, Frank (Egbert Jan Weeber) is dumped in class because he was cheating on his girlfriend with someone, then it turns out she was cheating on him for two months.

In all honesty, that's what this film is. It isn't bad, but it isn't a great film, it's just okay. It can be a great laugh, I must admit, but on your own, it's just there. You get the feeling that the film isn't reaching its full potential, but it is still pretty enjoyable. It's certainly better than what I thought it would be.