Satan Claus (1996)

Massimiliano Cerchi is an awesome guy and very generous and always wants to help out his fellow filmmakers and fans. Naturally I have him as a friend on Face Book and we chat from time to time. Just recently he offered up Satan Claus for people to experience as long as in their reply had a #hellbilly in it. I did so and boom we are chatting and he gives me the link…happy days, I love experiencing these older films from the Underground/Indie scene as it is a sense of discovery that comes with them. Also nice to watch something very few have seen as well so I can chat about my experience and hopefully influence others to check it out in time.

 

Now a quick mention here firstly on why Satan Claus never got released.

 

Satan Claus’ master got damaged and the film became visually very dark. On experiencing the movie it reminded me of watching older releases of The Deadly Spawn on VHS. So if you know what I am talking about you have an idea on what is going on here.

 

Satanic rite is performed to bring the Devil into this world.

 

Suddenly there is a madman out in Christmas, yelling Merry Christmas before hacking up the victim with a small axe and collecting a piece of them for his special Christmas tree slowly getting decorated with the body parts of those killed.

 

A group of friends get together with the help of a police detective and a friend who works there to try and stop the madman before he kills and kills again.

 

But is it a madman or has Satan risen up from the depths of Hell to to create diabolic havoc upon the world?

 

I was chatting to a friend of mine just after I finished Satan Claus and it got me thinking. They had mentioned doing a marathon TV movie experience and this made me realise that Satan Claus is a throwback in ways to the great horror TV movies we used to get in the 70s and 80s. Not overly gory and no real bloodshed with the killings but great all the same. Some of the acting isn’t the most amazing but I accept that within this genre of film making, people do their best and that is all that matters to me.

 

Though not overly gory we do get our Satan Claus carrying body parts back to his Christmas tree for decorating and I like it. Though not amazingly over gory I still really like this style of effect as it shows heart and I get a certain buzz from it. There is the scene where he holds a foot up and it oozes really nice looking blood, dug that too. In the end though my favourite scenes are the ones involving the demonic rites with how the priest moves around. Just a shame, due to the darkness caused by the damage, more couldn’t be seen, still great scenes though. Also loved it when he goes Merry Christmas before hacking the hapless victim!

 

Satan Claus was lost to the world for 18 years and I am glad Mass gave me, along with whoever else got the chance, to experience his slasher but more experience. Though not perfect I really enjoyed the experience with what I got out of it! Hopefully in the end Mass does re-master Satan Claus and offers it up to the world of the Underground/Indie fans out there.

 

“Merry Christmas!”….Hack and Splat!