The Ending Of Violent Night Explained

We all get in those funks when we question our careers or wonder if what we do makes a difference. Whether it's just an off day or the self-reflection spirals into a midlife crisis, sometimes existentialism sends us down a path that's just a few notches too introspective for our own good. As it turns out, not even Santa Claus is exempt from this conundrum. Santa begins the film in a pretty bad place — pondering if he's still fit for the job, groggily drinking away his troubles at a bar. Right away, this is a signal that tells the audience this won't be your grandma's Christmas movie.

By the end of the film, Santa has his mojo back, largely thanks to the encouragement of young Trudy Lightstone (Leah Brady). Santa is ashamed of his past, pre-Santa life as a Viking who killed countless people with his hammer, Skullcrusher. He's not proud of who he was, but young Trudy encourages him to use those parts of himself from his past to do something good in the present, a lesson anyone can take to heart. If it wasn't for his former self, Trudy and her family might not have survived the night, as Santa's skills from his Viking era prove essential in taking down the bad guys.

It's cringe whenever someone gives a gift that they clearly bestow with their own selfish intentions in mind. Maybe the gift-giver just wanted the item for themselves and needed an excuse to buy it. Maybe it's really not a gift at all, but an intangible promise of a task that requires work or money. If you're on the receiving end, do you play along with the charade and pretend to be happy about "receiving" something that obviously only benefits the person who gave it to you? If you ask Gertrude Lightstone (Beverly D'Angelo), the answer is most definitely no.

Toward the climax of the film when it's time for Gertrude to receive her Christmas present from her son-in-law, the egotistical Morgan Steele (Cam Gigandet), he begins a pitch to invest funds into a prospective movie that he'd direct and star in. His acting career has yet to take off in the United States, but he's hugely popular in "parts of Asia," he says, and is sure his movie will be a hit. He just needs the money to make it, and presents Gertrude with the "opportunity" to be part of movie history as his Christmas gift to her. Gertrude can see right through him and dismisses his pitch — though Morgan is hardly the only selfish person in the family. Most of the "Violent Night" cast portray characters who could be in the running for snootiest narcissist.

In "Violent Night," John Leguizamo plays Jimmy, whose codename is "Scrooge" for the heist operation upon the Lightstones' family vault. The audience spends most of the movie not knowing why Scrooge hates Christmas. When he traps Santa, the baddie finally clues everyone in on his tragic backstory with an old-school monologue in true Christmas villain fashion. Though the details are quite dark — perhaps par for the course for the film as a whole — the root of his hatred comes from an incident in which Santa let him down as a child.

It's a well-known move in many a holiday tale. Where "Violent Night" deviates from the norm is in how Scrooge is never redeemed. He never suddenly realizes the wonder of the holidays because someone gives him a hug. He never reflects on his wrongdoings and promises to change his ways. He stays a villain, and gets his due in the end.

The holidays can be a time for resolving simmering family issues or healing longstanding trauma from the past. The same is true for the Lightstones, though their version of it might look a little bit different than most families.

Linda has never really gotten along with Jason's family. The Lightstone lineage is filthy rich, and it's Jason's unhealthy relationship with his mother — and her money — that jeopardizes Linda and Jason's marriage. Jason's family doesn't much care for Linda, either, viewing her as a golddigger. They're all just as surprised as anyone to find catharsis in pulverizing one of the vigilantes together. As Linda joins Jason's sister Alva (Edi Patterson) and Ava's son Bertrude (Alexander Elliot) in maiming baddie Gingerbread (André Eriksen) with crowbars, they acknowledge that it's the first time they've ever done something together as a family.

Similarly, Jason has had it with his mother's manipulative ways. In a twist, the audience discovers it's he who stole the money from her vault, with the intention of walking away from the family forever. Contrary to what might be expected, Gertrude says she's proud of Jason, as "a Lightstone always takes what's theirs."

While things seem cheery at the end of the movie, it's not completely clear if Jason still intends to make good on his promise to cut ties with his family. They've had an oddly therapeutic night, but their toxic behavior seemed to be the ultimatum that his marriage restoration was contingent upon. Have the night's events changed that?

You've seen this moment before. It's the final scene of a Christmas movie. The heroes are so close to saving the day, but just before succeeding in their goal, there's an unprecedented shortage of "Christmas magic." Maybe it's phrased differently to say "not enough people believe in Santa anymore," or "there's no more Christmas spirit left in the world." It always seems that whatever the present time is in any given Christmas movie, there was always more holiday cheer in yesteryear.

Such is the case at the end of "Violent Night." Santa has died. Literally, truly, his dead body lies on the ground. Everyone saw him get shot and fall to his death. However, as each character mourns Santa's loss and expresses their newfound belief in him, he magically comes back to life. Overjoyed, he reveals that not even he understands the full extent of Christmas magic. Is it a cop-out? Sure. Have we seen this all before? Absolutely. (And not just in Christmas movies, either — the origin of this trope might go back to J.M. Barrie's original "Peter Pan" play, in which Tinker Bell dies and the audience revives her by expressing their belief in fairies.) There's a lenience in the trope's use all the same, though, as "Violent Night" — for all of its, well, violence — still really wants to let us know it's a Christmas movie at heart, where such moments are not only permissible, but expected.

Universal Studios in California and Florida both host Halloween Horror Nights (HHN) each year during September and October. HHN is one of the country's biggest haunt events, and typically a handful of its indoor haunted houses or outdoor scare zones are themed to well-known movies or television shows within the horror genre, like "The Black Phone" or "Us." With "Violent Night" being a Universal movie, it's worth wondering if it will be adapted into some sort of future HHN attraction.

Furthermore, the two most glaring reasons against including "Violent Night" at HHN have both never been problems for the event in the past. One could point out that "Violent Night" is not a horror movie, which it isn't — but HHN has sometimes featured intellectual property, even from outside studios, that isn't strictly horror but still is still inherently scary (like "Stranger Things"), as "Violent Night" definitely is. One could also argue that "Violent Night" is a Christmas movie, and this event is Halloween Horror Nights — but there's precedence of Christmas attractions at the event in the past (like the "Krampus" house and the "Christmas In Hell" scare zone). If Universal desired its inclusion, "Violent Night" could be stretched to fit the parameters of the event. Whether or not it ends up on the roster one day is anyone's guess.