Deadly Games (1989)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Movie
German title Deadly Games - Alone against Santa Claus / Deadly Games Silent Night, Deadly Night
Original title 3615 code Père Noël
Country of production France
original language French
Publishing year 1990
length 87 minutes
Age rating FSK 16
Rod
Director René Manzor
script René Manzor
production Francis Lalanne
music Bonnie Tyler
camera Michel Gaffier
cut Christine Pansu
occupation

Deadly Games - Alone against Santa Claus (original title: 3615 code Père Noël ) is a French Christmas thriller , which was directed by René Manzor in 1989. Alternative titles are Deadly Games - Silent Night, Deadly Night and Dial Code Santa Claus .

action

The film is about nine-year-old Thomas de Frémont, who on the one hand is technically talented and bright, but on the other hand still believes in the real existence of Santa Claus . In order to prove this to himself and to his unbelieving best friend, Thomas installs an elaborate camera system in the family villa on Christmas Eve to record the arrival of Santa Claus. Since Thomas' mother has to work longer that day, Thomas is forced to spend Christmas Eve alone with his grandfather in the villa . Thomas uses internet chat to talk to someone he doesn't know who pretends to be the real Santa Claus. Thomas casually reveals to the man that his mother is the boss of the local department store . He hopes that Santa will be able to find him better in the dark of night.

At the same time, you can see the person Thomas is chatting with in the shopping center, which is run by Thomas' mother. The man can be hired as Santa Claus. The customers' children, however, show little sympathy for "Santa Claus", which leads him to slap a little girl. Due to this misconduct, Thomas' mother dismissed the man with immediate effect. The man overhears his mother's friend and learns about a gift delivery to her mother's house. He seizes the opportunity and ambushes the delivery van that is parked in front of the courtyard entrance and is supposed to deliver the family's Christmas presents and kills the driver in order to slip into his role, disguised as Santa Claus, and thus gain access to the Frémonts property. Thomas, who is waiting for Santa Claus to arrive in his hiding place under the kitchen table with his dog, does not wait in vain. A loud noise and chimney ash trickling down announce the arrival of Santa Claus. Thomas' enthusiasm seems limitless when the man with a white beard in a red robe emerges from the fireplace. In order not to drive him away, Thomas remains in hiding. However, Thomas' dog senses that the long-awaited guest did not come with peaceful intentions. He attacks Santa Claus and bites into his cloak. Santa Claus then stabs Thomas' dog with a cake server , which happened to be on the table.

Thomas now has to protect his home and especially his grandfather from the psychopath. The previously installed surveillance cameras give him an advantage, but "Santa Claus" also turns out to be extremely persistent. A bloody cat and mouse game through the winding and secret corridors of the old villa begins and finds its showdown in the shooting of "Santa Claus" by Thomas' grandfather. Thomas' mother, who is returning home from work with her partner, quickly realizes that something is wrong in the villa and rushes to the reception hall to find Thomas, his grandfather and the dead Santa Claus. She takes her son, completely disturbed and dazed by the previous events, in her arms and, out of fear, presses him tightly when Thomas suddenly says: "It's my fault, mom, I wanted to see Santa Claus".

In Thomas' last words it is expressed that he does not realize until the end that the killed man is not real Santa Claus, but a disguised psychopath. The man disguised as Santa Claus is not a killer in the classic sense. Its aim is not to kill people for base motives. His mental disorder seems to mix naive, childish thoughts and behaviors with brutal, murderous violence. He visits Thomas to give him presents as Santa Claus and to make him happy. The same reasons for his previous job as a department store Santa Claus. For him, the situation in the villa is just a kind of hide-and-seek with Thomas. So basically he wants to do good, but driven by his psychopathic personality, he can use any means to do so without being aware that his actions are harming people. Legally, he would be classified as incapable of guilt and assigned to a closed psychiatric facility.

useful information

The film begins with a quote from the famous child psychologist Bruno Bettelheim : “All children believe in magic. They only stop believing in it when they are adults. Except for those who are disappointed with reality and expect nothing more from it ”.

In the credits the song "Merry Christmas" is played, sung by Bonnie Tyler .

The film was shown very rarely on German television, mostly around Christmas, the last time in 2000:

Free TV: kabel eins on December 18, 2000
Free TV: SAT.1 on December 24, 1994
Pay TV: Teleclub / Premiere March 1, 1991

A VHS version of Atlas Video was released in 1990.

On December 8, 2017, Camera Obscura released it for the first time in Germany on DVD and Blu-ray. There is also a digipak with both media and bonus DVD.

Web links