Lowbrow enough to include a closeup of an eye stabbing, highbrow enough
to reference Godard, Lewis Jackson's 1980 YOU BETTER WATCH OUT! - the
original title of CHRISTMAS EVIL
(which I originally viewed on VHS as TERROR IN TOYLAND) - works as
sophisticated satire, serious character study, coal-black comedy,
vigilante film, slasher, early 80s New York time capsule, and superhero
origin story. A cross between HENRY: PORTRAIT OF A SERIAL KILLER and A
CHARLIE BROWN CHRISTMAS, it's in my All-Time Top Ten, and perhaps the
film I've seen most times in my life. It also contains one of the most
committed performances ever put to celluloid (by Brandon Maggart, aka
Fiona Apple, Sr.), as well as one of cinema's greatest parting shots
(see too Chaplin's CITY LIGHTS, the original TAKING OF PELHAM 1-2-3 and
Mann's HEAT).
Be good
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