I saw Violent Night last weekend, I had a good time. Good mix of humor and grit with enough heart and emotional moments to keep your attention beyond all the nitty gritty, and there's plenty to go around in this film. It's Die Hard meets Home Alone with a bit of slasher horror thrown in for good measure, and of course, Santa Claus. Make no mistake, he fucks people up John McClane-style. The kills are well-done and David Harbour nails it as Santa Claus (no pun intended), offering some nice adult wisecracks and edgy humor to boot without becoming too juvenile (looking at you, Movie 43).
But beyond that, he's the gel that holds the movie together. His presence is felt with the other characters, both family and mob like. You feel the bond in all their scenes even when he's off screen and by the end of the film, it all pays off very nicely.
Speaking of film references, there's so many other homages to Die Hard that they can't help but make meta humor on it in this. Not only do they acknowledge it, they make snide jokes about it which are cleverly-done. There's some nice throwbacks to Home Alone as well, can't really blame 'em for wanting to homage the two best Christmas movies ever in this wonderfully-done Christmas horror. And yes, Die Hard is a Christmas movie, I don't care what anybody says.
