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Santa Claus vs. the Devil

Play trailer Poster for Santa Claus vs. the Devil 1959 1h 34m Holiday Fantasy Play Trailer Watchlist
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40% Tomatometer 5 Reviews 27% Popcornmeter 1,000+ Ratings
Merlin the magician helps Santa (José Elías Moreno) save children tempted by the devil to be naughty.
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Santa Claus vs. the Devil

Critics Reviews

View All (5) Critics Reviews
Jason Shawhan Nashville Scene Santa Claus is a trippy freakout that sticks in your subconscious, and if Old Pitch wasn't the inspiration for HIM in The Powerpuff Girls, then I just don't know what. Sep 9, 2021 Full Review Matt Brunson Film Frenzy This one definitely falls into the so-bad-it's-kinda-awesome camp. Rated: 1/4 Dec 29, 2018 Full Review John J. Puccio Movie Metropolis I couldn't help feeling as I watched it that it must have a strong cult following somewhere simply because it's so...strange. Rated: 3/10 Dec 28, 2011 Full Review Emanuel Levy EmanuelLevy.Com Rated: 3/5 Aug 17, 2005 Full Review Phil Hall Film Threat Ho Ho Horrible! Rated: 0/5 Jul 15, 2005 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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Audience Member To be honest, outside of some shoddy production value and a woefully unnecessary Musical bit at the start (which has nothing to do with the latter parts of the movie and goes way too long), this is a fun little offbeat Christmas movie. If nothing else, the movie has a palpable Christmas feeling throughout (mostly due to the musical score being full of serene versions of classic Christmas songs), a childlike optimism, and no shortage of invention. Perhaps the best thing is that this movie, while not particularly Good, is rarely dull, and functions in a Good-Bad Movie kind of way. Some genuine heart and creativity went into making this movie, and because of this, I can easily overlook the fact that most of the movie is upper-tier mediocrity at best. There were two big MST3K Christmas episodes in the 90's, the other being Santa Claus Conquers the Martians, and I will say that this one, Santa Claus vs The Devil, was the one I liked more, and I genuinely believe it's because the movie itself is substantially more enjoyable. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 01/23/23 Full Review Audience Member I found it very strange ...but something about it has you watching for that reason... Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 02/19/23 Full Review michael d Gloriously bizarre no matter how you watch it (subbed, dubbed, riffed). Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 03/30/23 Full Review Audience Member A mythical Santa, a mythical Merlin, a mythical Satan, and very unreal-and-garish creatures populate this Christmas film which either thrills you with delight or horrifies you with its atrocious underpinnings. Rated 2 out of 5 stars 02/16/23 Full Review Audience Member First off, this is really a zero star film, but this Spanish language holiday film out of Mexico, dubbed in English, is so incompetently produced, that it is a so-bad-it's-good film of the first order. Also known as "Santa Claus vs. The Devil," the story follows Santa in his high tech castle in the sky having to stop Satan's attempts to ruin Christmas. Old Scratch sings and dances, Santa has a computer with giant lips, and St. Nick also enlists the help of good friend, wait for it... Merlin the Magician! The film is utterly ridiculous, with bizarre musical numbers, laughably bad special effects, and some of the worst child actors this side of Hamchunk in "The Green Berets," which is made all the more riotously entertaining by the bad English dubbing. Rightfully mocked on MST3K and a must see for contours of bad cinema. Rated 2 out of 5 stars 01/31/23 Full Review Audience Member A movie that tries to be cute but ends up creepy. I would recommend the version with Mystery Science Theater 3000. It has Santa Claus, the devil, and mechanical laughing reindeer who turn into dust when exposed to sunlight. Dracula, anybody? Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars 02/21/23 Full Review Read all reviews
Santa Claus vs. the Devil

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Cast & Crew

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Movie Info

Synopsis Merlin the magician helps Santa (José Elías Moreno) save children tempted by the devil to be naughty.
Director
René Cardona
Producer
Guillermo Calderón
Screenwriter
Adolfo Torres Portillo, René Cardona
Production Co
Cinematográfica Calderón S.A.
Genre
Holiday, Fantasy
Original Language
Spanish
Release Date (Streaming)
Jul 5, 2017
Runtime
1h 34m
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