When a team of mercenaries breaks into a wealthy family compound taking everyone inside hostage, they are not prepared for a surprise combatant: Santa Claus. David Harbour (“Stranger Things”) stars as St. Nick in the “wildly entertaining” (SCREEN RANT) holiday romp, delivering some serious season’s beatings to save the family and the spirit of Christmas.

For in-depth thoughts on Violent Night, please see my colleague Dom Fisher’s review from its original theatrical release here.

Video Quality

Violent Night arrives on Blu-Ray courtesy of Universal Studios Home Entertainment with a perfectly solid AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.39:1. The color palette is not resplendent due to the low lighting that defines much of the movie, but what is here shines through nicely. Black levels could be slightly deeper, but you still get some amount of detail in shadows. The bright whites do not seem to showcase any blooming in this presentation. Skin tones appear natural across the entire cast with even the most minor facial details such as cuts on display. The level of detail in this presentation is sure to impress, as all of the subtle aspects of the costumes and production design are razor sharp. There are no egregious instances of aliasing or compression artifacts detectable here, but you do get a small amount of digital noise. This Blu-Ray is quite fetching as Universal continues to churn out quality transfers.

Audio Quality

The DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 track is extremely immersive, and it never fails to deliver something truly memorable. The soundscape on display here is very dynamic with a nuanced design from beginning to end. This film occasionally pauses for some character-based moments, but the film really works as an action-packed time which delivers a mighty punch to your speakers. The soundtrack and score hits really hard without being too overwhelming to the competing elements. Dialogue comes through clearly with none of the information feeling lost to the music in the film or the sound effects. All of the effects have a formidable sense of direction within the mix with noises really springing to life. The movie uses environmental sounds to great effect, and the track retains strong detail even in the more chaotic developments. The track more than gets the job done. There are optional English SDH, Spanish and French subtitles provided.

Special Features

Audio Commentary: Director Tommy Wirkola, Producer Guy Danella, Writer Pat Casey and Writer Josh Miller all provide a very lively commentary track in which they discuss the development of the script, the few notes they actually received from the studios, how they enhanced certain scenes, the ways in which they tricked some of their performers, the easter eggs you can spot throughout and much more.

Deleted & Extended Scenes: Nine scenes totaling 19 minutes of unused material are provided here including Jason and Linda having an intense discussion about their status, a slightly different conclusion and more. There are some moments that feature unfinished visual effects.

Quarrelin’ Kringle: A four-minute behind-the-scenes featurette which takes a look at why David Harbour was the perfect choice for the role of Santa and the larger ideas behind how he is depicted.

Santa’s Helpers – The Making Of Violent Night: A six-minute look at the collaboration between Tommy Wirkola and Producer David Leitch and all of the elements that went into making this story a reality from the casting to the various crafts tackled during production.

Deck The Halls With Brawls: A six-minute exploration of the special place of combat in this film, the care taken with choreography, bringing the Christmas spirit to the violence and more.

Final Thoughts

Violent Night does not redefine the genre of atypical holiday films, but it sure does offer up a really fun time. David Harbour seems like he is having a blast here, and he balances the action-packed side of the equation with the dark humor quite well. There are points where the film loses a bit of momentum, but overall it establishes itself as a deliriously fun part of the holiday canon. Universal Pictures Home Entertainment has released a Blu-Ray with a top-notch A/V presentation and a good amount of special features. If you want something to spice up the holidays, give this a shot. Recommended

Violent Night is currently available to purchase on Blu-Ray, DVD and Digital.

Note: Images presented in this review are not reflective of the image quality of the Blu-Ray.

Disclaimer: Universal Pictures Home Entertainment has supplied a copy of this disc free of charge for review purposes. All opinions in this review are the honest reactions of the author.