#2 in Mighty Jack's Top 100
Amazing Colossal Grade: First he conquered Mars and now, he battles a devil, who knew Claus was such a badass?
Movie Pain: Low - Watchable psychosis
Riffing: I laughed so hard I wet 'em!
Skits: Wildly funny
Amazing Colossal Grade: First he conquered Mars and now, he battles a devil, who knew Claus was such a badass?
Movie Pain: Low - Watchable psychosis
Riffing: I laughed so hard I wet 'em!
Skits: Wildly funny
I love the strange ones, and they don't get any more bizarre than this Mexican import. A re-imagining of the legend of Claus, it has Santa allied with Merlin the Magician and mortal enemies with Pitch the demon.
There are times when this experiment had me laughing harder than I had ever laughed before; true comic genius was at play here. The crew zeroed in on the movie -in all its glorious weirdness- with surgical precision. Wit was their scalpel - this twisted Santa their patient
In one scene we learn that the Son of God is named, Craig, or was that Greg? I was literally doubled over and out of breath during this sequence, and the guys didn't even say much, it was just - odd. Other film highlights include the little girl Lupita arguing with an evil giant doll, Santa's laughing horses and... The Pleasure Mouth!!
The host segments are solid and include a fight between Santa and Pitch ("I'm here to eat candy canes and kick ass, and I'm all out of candy canes!"), a nice holiday song (which incorporates "Greg" in its lyrics) and a hexfield visit from the Nelson family.
"Santa Claus" also has one of my favorite lines which sums up this experiment in a nutshell... "Now this is good old fashioned nightmare fuel" - Crow
Host Segments
Intro: When caroling and hot cocoa collide. Segment 1: Exchanging gifts (so, why IS Frank bald?) Crow receives a "Steve Alaimo" LP. Segment 2: Heavy Metal rock, Santa Klaws. The Mad's responses are funny. Segment 3: The Nelson family. Segment 4: A tender all-inclusive Christmas song. End: It snows in space and on Deep 13 it's Pitch and Santa. Stinger: Laughing reindeer.
* "Hey, quit drooling on my beard" - Servo
* "My pants tickle." - Crow
* "Santa's doing the forbidden dance!" - Crow
* "Pick your refrigerator, Lupita" - Mike
* "Santa's laughter mocks the poor." - Crow
* "Oh -- I forgot France! Oh, well." - Mike as Santa
* "Quiet, it's the old man, he's announcing layoffs" - Mike
* "Why did they leave me so heavily medicated?" - Servo
* "Children on the verge of a nervous breakdown." - Mike
* "Ah, the classic battle between Evil and the narrator." - Crow
* "A pentagram, and reindeer laughing. You figure it out." - Servo
* "Dear Santa Claus: Please bring me a little brother.' Oh ho ho ho! Can do! Can do!" - Crow as Santa
* "He enjoys pantaloons more than he should." - Mike
* "Okay, we're gonna whack Santa, he's muscling in on the Easter Bunny's turf." - Servo (as Italian kid)
* "Think it's really a good idea to jingle "all" the way?" - Servo
* "Honey, Santa's looking in on our daughter again"
* "Boys and girls from England..." - "Have rotten teeth." - Narrator/Crow
* "You know, if seasonal holiday depression has a soundtrack, this is it." - Mike
* "Well it's kind of an empty miracle, with very shot lived consequences but..." - Mike as Mother
* "In the name of Santa, Merlin and, the Elves, Amen." - Servo as Mother
* "Next week, Jesus and the Oak Ridge Boys." - Mike
Riff Explained
"It was nice of Marcel Duchamp to let them use his apartment." - Servo.
French artist Duchamp was often associated with the Dadaist. One of his art forms was the "Ready-mades"; where he'd use everyday objects, like a urinal (titled "Fountain") or a bicycle wheel mounted on a stool. In the movie, the poor couple's home had all this stuff mounted on the walls which could resemble ready-mades.
Stuff & Nonsense
Cesareo Quezadas (Pedro) was a popular child actor in Mexico in the '50s and '60s. That's his sister, Lupita, playing the part of Lupita, by the way.
Available on DVD: Volume 16
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