David Harbour's Santa Claus is all stabbing and holiday cheer in 'Violent Night' trailer

Santa Claus can He has been known to double-check his long list of beautiful people, but no matter how many times he looks through it, he won't find his own name. Inside the trailer for the upcoming action-packed holiday movie Violent nightDavid Harbour's take on the beloved Christmas character is more combative than joyful.

Directed by Tommy Wirkola, Violent night stars Harbour as a fourth-grade Santa Claus tasked with rescuing a group of hostages taken from their family estate on Christmas Eve by a team of mercenaries.

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“Who is he?” one of the kidnappers asks. “Because he’s not your typical mall Santa.” He’s right about that: Most mall Santa costumes don’t come with makeshift nunchucks and sharp throwing stars lined with electrical wires. And the typical Santa archetype certainly doesn’t spend Christmas Eve stabbing bad guys in the face or knocking them out with his own head, all while communicating with a young girl via a one-of-a-kind hotline.

“Santa Claus is coming to town,” Harbour says, more like a warning than the cheery refrain of a Christmas song. “Time to give ourselves a few whippings.”

Violent night also stars John Leguizamo, Cam Gigandet, Alex Hassell, Alexis Louder, Edi Patterson and Beverly D'Angelo. The film marks the Stranger Things The star's first film to hit theaters since appearing in Marvel's Black Widow Last year.

Violent night hits theaters on December 2.

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