 | MOVIE DETAILS • Name: Sint (aka Saint) • Year: 2010 • Country: Netherlands • Director: Dick Maas • Main cast: Egbert Jan Weeber, Bert Luppes, Caro Lenssen • Runtime: 85 minutes • Production company: TDMP, Parachute Pictures • TRAILER |
Christmas time is one of those times of the year that are not for everyone. For some are the happiest times, and for others are very depressing days that should end as fast as possible. And we must know this happens everywhere in the world. Maybe that is why this season has inspired so many horror movies, specially in the last 50 years. But, again, people are making horror movies out of anything so that doesn’t mean much anymore, heh….
Sint (aka Saint) has its main topic in common with other Christmas horror movies that became classics, like Black Christmas (1974) or Silent Night, Deadly Night (1984), maybe the most known ones of this sub-genre of Horror Christmas flicks. But the plot could be closer to some more recent ones like Krampus (2015) –that we also reviewed here–. The spirit that punishes the kids that were bad along the year, this time in the shape of a zombified Sant Claus, comes to the modern days to bring fear and death to the city of Amsterdam.
This movie is created by Dick Maas, a prolific and multi task (most of the times he is the director, writer, producer and music composer of his work) dutch movie maker who has been responsable since the early 80s of minor european dark comedies and horror films like Amsterdamned (1988), De lift (1983) or the Flodder trilogy (1986, 1992, 1995). And like in most of his films, the main star (or at least here the main monster) is played by Huub Stapel, which gives evil Saint Nicholas a strong presence, even behind all the make-up and mask. Together with quite effective actors, Sint (aka Saint) becomes an entertaining and easy to watch film. The movie starts in 1492, when former bishop Niklas and his group of thiefs are killed the 5th of December by villagers who are done with the murderings and abuses done for years. But the evil Sinterklaas (or Saint Nicholas, or Santa Claus, however you want to call him) will come back together with his gang from the death every time the 5th of December coincides with a full moon night, which happens every 23 years. And tonight is one of those nights.
If Sint (aka Saint) stands out in front of other adult children Christmas Horrorish films like Krampus (2015) is because of the cruelty in its actions. Here we don’t find a moral, or goodness doesn’t prevail over all. If adults and children have to be slaughtered, they just are, and that’s it. Maybe it’s not the most original film we’ve seen in months, but it can still bring you a few surprises. Perfect as a night film with no big pretensions.
RATE: 5/10
IMDB URL: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1167675
