O Santo

Sint Niklaas, or "Sinterklaas", is a typically Dutch and Belgian tradition that occurs every year on the 5th and 6th of December. The legend states that, on his own birthday, the noble Saint rewards all the well-behaving children with toys and candy. When the children are asleep, the heavily bearded man walks over the rooftops on his white horse while his black assistants drop the presents down the chimneys. Does that sound vaguely familiar? Well actually, Sint Niklaas formed the inspiration for the universally acknowledged jolly figure of Santa Clause. The first Dutch immigrants in the United Stated re-implemented their national tradition oversees and linked it to the Christmas period. There, now all you non-Dutch speaking people with an interest in this film have some essential, need-to-know trivia about the titular character.

About the plot of "Sint" I can be rather brief. You know all the concept of US horror movies with a psychopathic Santa Clause, like for example "Silent Night Deadly Night", "You Better Watch Out" and "Santa Slay". Well, "Sint" is exactly the same. Writer/director Dick Maas (the only true horror prodigy of The Netherlands) wants to make us believe that Saint Niklaas wasn't a holy and generous figure, but a sadistic tyrant who plundered villages and terrorized the inhabitants. In the year 1492 on the fifth of December, he was burned alive by an angry mob. Even still now whenever there's a full moon on the anniversary of his violent death, which apparently occurs, once every 32 years, the evil saint returns to Amsterdam to butcher as many adults and children as possible.

"Sint" should be experienced exactly like Dick Maas intended it: as a highly amusing and deeply satirical splatter flick! Everything about it is wondrously grotesque and over-the-top; the whole basic idea, the acting performances and (especially) the dialogs. The gory massacres, including those of innocent young children, are so tremendously bombastic that you simply cannot be shocked or offended by them. At least not if you have a slight sense of dark humor. The special effects and make-up are graphic and engrossing, but too obviously fake. Naturally there's isn't much room for genuine suspense in this type of story, but – as said – that clearly wasn't the director's intention and at least he widely compensates this small shortcoming with fast-paced action and black comedy.

The film became infamous and caused quite some controversy in The Netherlands long before its premiere in theaters because promotional film posters, depicting the mutilated Sint on his menacing horse, were hung in public areas out there for young kids to see. Quite a number of sour and prudish people were upset about this, but plenty of questionnaires proved that the children themselves weren't shocked at all. For Dick Maas, the whole controversy just turned out to be more than welcome and cost-free publicity. Well done.

Storywise "Sint" is kind of a rip-off of the killer Santa classic "Silent Night, Deadly Night", but the comparisons end there. While the latter is only still around because it's laughably bad, this one has actual redeeming features like a dark, moody atmosphere and a little bit of humour at exactly the right times. Writer/Director Dick Maas loves to toy with our expectations and every guess you'll make about the story developments will probably be wrong. For instance, you think tremendous hottie Caro Lenssen will serve as the Laurie Strode of this story and the finale will be her fighting off the unstoppable villain, but in fact she barely comes into play in the rest of the story (unfortunately...). Our final girls are an old drunk and a sex-crazed teenage boy, that's pretty creative to say the least. The production values of this movie are also surprisingly high. For a movie that "only" cost four million to make, the effects look pretty amazing. The killings are just relentlessly gory, Dick Maas definitely burned the candle on both ends to disgust his audience. "Sint" is one of those rare horror comedies that manage to be both scary and funny, most can't even get one of the two right. A thrilling ride.

SINT is one of the most talked about movies in The Netherlands in 2010. When I went to the cinema it was exactly the movie I expected. It was a combination of the old school horror style of Dick Maas, great special effects, and a sense of humor that I haven't seen in Dutch movies for a long time. The special effects might not be as amazing as we're used to as the standard is Pirates of the Caribbean. However, considering the small budget (compared to movies from Hollywood) the effects we're pretty nice. I've heard some rumors that they might make a sequel and I definitely hope that these rumors are true. All together a fun experience. I can recommend this movie very much!

I went to see this yesterday with high expectations. After all, the movie was hyped a lot here. Fortunately most of my expectations were fulfilled.

The story: The story is straight forward and sometimes a bit predictable. The fun part is of course that Dick Maas has turned Sinterklaas from the child loving person he normally is, into a blood-lust zombie. So every 30 to 40 years, when the 5th of December is with full moon, blood thirsty Nickolas and his party of zombies, come to spoil the party. Only, this time, there's someone waiting to stop him.

The good: This is movie is all you can ask for in a horror comedy. The mix between scary moments and laughs is just right.

The bad: Well, some of the actors (especially the non-main characters) could use some acting lessons. Fortunately most of them don't last long enough to be bothered by it too much..... Also some of the explanations for the evil behaviour of Sinterklaas are very thin. Dick Maas should have come up with something better there.

The conclusion: All in all, it's good fun to watch. Some minor bits should be taken care of in the case of a sequel (can't wait), but those can easily be overlooked. That's why my final verdict is 8 out of ten.

Sint (Saint) is a solid little Sinterklaas based Christmas horror-comedy out of the Netherlands...directed by the aptly named, Dick Maas.

According to the myth, on December 5th, once every 23 years- when the full moon falls upon this day- Saint Niklas would sail to the Netherlands, from Spain, in order to murder people and kidnap their children...which he would bring back with him on his ship, to enslave.

One man knows this tale to be true first hand, for he witnessed Saint Niklas murder his entire family 23 years ago. Now he works as an inspector for the police...and has been trying to warn his superiors about what lies in store for them this December 5th- but they think he is just traumatized from his childhood ordeal.

Thinking this is all an old legend, the rest of the population goes about their holiday business; dressing up like Sinterklaas' and Black Piet's; holding frat parties and such.

Only when people start getting slayed by a Catholic dude on horseback and his legion of black axe-wielding demons; do people realize what's going on.

And there is only one way to send him back from whence he came...to stop the murders, and prevent any more children from being kidnapped, once and for all.

This Dutch Christmas treat is well worth a watch. It's a nice blend of horror and comedy, with lots of gore, and some creative kills. But the ending is kind of lame. It really felt rushed, and forced (unnecessarily), by the time it rolled around. But that only mildly detracts from it's overall entertainment value.

Check it out.

6 out of 10.