If ever a movie was in need of rediscovery it’s Deadly Games, a deliriously deranged 1989 French film about a little boy and his elderly grandfather on Christmas Eve battling a fearsome home invader- a psycho dressed in a Santa suit. Made a year before Home Alone by director Rene Manzor, the film is a lot darker and edgier than the Macaulay Culkin film. But it’s so terrific, wild, and action-packed you should watch it every holiday season.
The film begins with a snow globe (of the Eiffel Tower) lying in a drift, when a truck suddenly runs over it, smashing it. That sets the sardonic tone for what’s to come. Thomas (Alain Musy) is an exceptionally bright little boy living in a massive French mansion with his successful divorced mom (Brigitte Fossey), who runs a huge department store. Thomas has toys and gadgets everywhere. He wakes and dresses in a kiddie Rambo outfit, puts on an audio tape and pumps the hallways with war sounds while he chases his beloved dog around the house- with remote control cameras and booby traps everywhere.
Thomas looks after his elderly grandfather (Louis Ducreux), who has bad eyesight and is rather frail. On the Blu-ray extra, the director says he was fearful he wouldn’t be able to get insurance for the movie because the actor was in his 80s. But Louis Decreux walked into the doctor’s office and did a back flip, and the movie was instantly insured.
Thomas has a plan to hide out on Christmas Eve and capture (on camera) Santa Claus’s arrival. Unfortunately, a lunatic dressed in a Santa suit (Patrick Floersheim) breaks in and what follows is a hair-raising cat and mouse game between the inventive boy trying to plant booby traps and trip wires to thwart the crazed killer. There is real threat here- Thomas at one moment begins crying for his mother in fear, and the film dares to get surprisingly brutal.
The art direction is off-the-charts- the house becomes an endless Pee Wee’s Playhouse set at times. And the kid (who is the director’s actual son), is just wonderful- there’s a naturalism and believability about him without any cloying cuteness.
French genre films are incredibly rare, and this amazing film had a spotty release in theaters, and was practically unheard of in the States (not surprisingly when Home Alone came out a year later). It was also known as Game Over, 3615 Code Pere Noel, and Dial Code Santa Claus. But Vinegar Syndrome has put out a great 4K restoration of the film with amazing extras about the making of the film, interviewing the director and his son on their underrated, twisted holiday classic.
…and just like that, I’ve placed an order. Looking forward to a savage Christmas!