36.15 Code Père Noël aka Deadly Games (1989) December 26th, 2023

Deadly Games is a kid-uses-gadgets-to-defend-his-home-at-Christmas-movie precursor to Home Alone, but don’t expect Deadly Games to be a heartwarming holiday romp. Thomas, Deadly Games‘ pint-sized protagonist, is the computer whizkid son of a widowed toy company tycoon whose holiday spent alone at home with his aging grandfather. His mother, recently imbued with the Christmas Spirit, is busy orchestrating an impromptu community party in the city promoting her toy business. These Christmas festivities require the hiring of Santa Claus impersonators to schmooze with local children but the urgent nature of their hiring force Thomas’ mother to forego background checks customary in most holiday character hirings. One such man-in-red assaults a child during the event and is immediately fired. In retaliation the disgruntled Santa Claus impersonator stows away on his former employer’s personal toy truck carrying Thomas’ Christmas gifts to her castle-like mansion. When he arrives he assaults and possibly murders the driver, and the neighbors before breaking into the main house. Thomas is already awake, is testing out his new CCTV system in an attempt to catch Santa delivering gifts.

Take a second to breathe because up to this point Deadly Games could still be a kid-friendly holiday movie that isn’t anymore violent than Home Alone if Kevin was actually Richie Rich (there’s an idea). What happens next completely shuts down that possibility and left my jaw on the floor, where it remained till Deadly Games‘ credits rolled. In a slow motion sequence glowing with holiday magic, Thomas finally glimpses Santa emerging from the fireplace where he’s greeted by Thomas’ barking dog. Thomas watches in horror as Santa grabs a razor-sharp pie server and stabs his dog to death on the dining room floor. Chris Columbus this is not!

Thomas, along with his nearly blind Grandfather, spend Christmas night evading the homicidal Father Christmas through secret corridors and booby traps. They might’ve succeeded but Grandpa needs his insulin before help arrives and that means Thomas must risk his own life by venturing into the silent night where a murderous Santa lurks. I won’t spoil the gags or the violent bits but rest assured, Thomas survives the night.

I would be surprised if anyone familiar with Deadly Games would expect it to be anything less than an edge-of-your-seat thriller but damn, color me unfamiliar! Deadly Games is incredibly well made with gargantuan sets, Gilliam-esq art direction and cinematography that elevates the terrifying home-invasion-Santa subject matter beyond a run-of-the-mill slasher. I spent most of the movie on an emotional seesaw bouncing from relief that Thomas and Grandpa seem to be safe to the dreadful realization that they aren’t and might never be safe again. Deadly Games is a wonderfully novel Christmas movie that’s totally worth a watch, if you’ve got the stomach for a not-so-kid-friendly-Christmas-peril film.