Violent Night
Universal Pictures | Release Date: December 2, 2022 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
55
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 37 Critic Reviews
Positive:
20
Mixed:
11
Negative:
6
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
60
We Got This CoveredScott CampbellDec 5, 2022
Violent Night delivers everything that was promised, and it's destined to find long-lasting life as a cult classic, but there's barely anything of note beyond the superficial. Read full review
60
Time OutHelen O'HaraDec 1, 2022
In this fun action-thriller, David Harbour’s Santa is less Saint Nick and more John Wick. Read full review
60
VarietyOwen GleibermanNov 29, 2022
The movie has no comic-book hook; it’s a trash-compactor genre buffet that smashes together a dozen things you’ve seen before. But that’s the hook. Violent Night is amusing in a few spots, wearying in more than a few others, but to complain about it in the way that I’m doing is to come off as churlish. It’s a movie that feeds the beast. Read full review
58
IndieWireKate ErblandNov 29, 2022
If you can vibe with that whiplash-inducing comedic opening — gallons of vomit mixed with some magical holiday sweetness — you just might be in the right frame of mind to receive what’s to come in this hyper-violent, occasionally funny, and often oddly charming holiday trifle. Read full review
50
Wall Street JournalKyle SmithDec 2, 2022
There are many smart comic ideas in Violent Night, but they are scattered unevenly throughout, the villains are dull, and most of the imaginative energy goes into devising spectacularly gory murders involving the distressingly off-label use of Christmas paraphernalia. Read full review
50
Los Angeles TimesKatie WalshDec 1, 2022
The result is amusing enough, but it’s as cinematically substantive as a sugar cookie. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleNov 30, 2022
Violent Night isn’t terrible, but it’s stuck between parodying something and trying to fit the genre it parodies. And it really should have been funnier. Read full review
50
Movie NationRoger MooreNov 30, 2022
It’s not really a holiday action movie “escape” when you’re not really escaping the gruesome gore and inhumanity the movie is all-too-giddy about showcasing. Read full review
40
The Irish TimesDonald ClarkeDec 2, 2022
Sadly, the unfunny, unexciting Violent Night fails to deliver on its substantial promise. Read full review
40
The GuardianCharles BramescoDec 1, 2022
Not to be a Scrooge, but the occasional eye-gouge with a tree-topper star or string-light garotte only lends a frosty air of resourcefulness to a film with coal for brains. Read full review
40
EmpireJake CunninghamNov 29, 2022
Good fun in places, but dull for the most part, Violent Night is serviceable Christmas viewing. It’s a shame, because with such a fun riff on the Santa story, it should’ve been good for goodness sake! Read full review
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