In Tommy Wirkola’s ultraviolent 2022 Christmas actioner Violent Night, David Harbour’s not-so-jolly Santa Claus found his festive spirit by slaughtering a sled-load of mercenaries to rescue a little girl and her family. Four years later however, and our man Dave — fresh from Stranger Things’ emotional finale — finds himself on the naughty list in Violent Night 2, depowered and left searching for the true meaning of Christmas in a mall being held at the mercy of a ruthless, Jared Harris played gangster. And, as the newly dropped trailer for Wirkola’s bloody sequel reveals, this time Mrs. Claus (Kristen Bell) is getting in on the ferocious festivities. Check it out below;
Truly, nothing says Christmas quite like the sight of Santa staving a guy’s head in with a cookie cutter and Mrs Claus whacking out a full-on katana and a hammer to send sinners to the great time-out in the sky, does it? If it could be said that Violent Night represented a hellaciously fun concept that perhaps lacked a little vim and vigour in the, er, execution, it looks like no such criticism can be levelled at its sequel. This. Looks. Nuts! ‘Last Christmas’ on the soundtrack. Heads bouncing off Big-style floor pianos. A jingly, bell-y shopping centre setting. Flame-tipped arrows. And, as mentioned above, cookie cutter kills (in a good way!) and Kristen Bell answering the question of what it would look like if Beatrix Kiddo was Santa’s wife. Now there’s the kind of Big Nick Energy we really can get behind!
The official synopsis for Violent Night 2 — which co-stars the likes of Joe Pantoliano, Daniela Melchior, Maxwell Friedman, and Andrew Bachelor — reads: “Saint Nick suits up again to take on a ruthless gangster (Jared Harris) terrorising the merchants of the Silver Bell Mall. But when Santa forgets the true meaning of Christmas, he finds himself in the heart of a lively mall community in desperate need of his help. Sapped of his magic, he’ll need another way to take on the goons threatening the mall, and time is running out. Santa has to rediscover his faith in goodness and call in some last-minute reinforcements from the one person no baddie wants to tangle with: Mrs. Claus (Kristen Bell).”
With Harbour looking to work his way off that naughty list, the 87Eleven guys handling the action, and Wirkola seemingly leaning all the way in to the batshit potential of a killer Claus trying to get in the seasonal spirit, Violent Night 2 has just landed itself on our Christmas 2026 wish list. We’ll find out whether it’s naughty, nice, or (hopefully) both when it hits cinemas on 4 December.