Return to the Video Store #25: A Video Store Christmas 1
Dial Code Santa Claus (1989)
(9/10): Never officially released in the west until 2020, also known as 3615 code Père Noël aka Deadly Games aka Game Over is a French cult sensation that never had its chance until recently as it was panned by critics in its home country and flopped at the box office.
Spoilers Ahead
Dial Code Santa Claus is the story of Thomas, a young and resourceful boy who lives in a mansion with his widowed mother and his diabetic and partially blind grandfather along with his pet dog J. R. When Thomas tries to contact Santa he dials the universal code into his computer, 3615, being the most common code in France, in hopes of making contact with Santa.
He manages to get a response from a man who is in the city, who is a bit off and poses as Santa but has his call cut short before he found out where Thomas lives; However he did learn that his mother is the manager at a local toy store.
He takes the job as one of the Santas but is fired once he hits a kid for insulting him but when he goes to the office to drop off his suit he overhears a call about a delivery to the managers house for Thomas and he hitches a ride in the delivery truck.
Determined to stay up and see Santa Thomas gets his wish in the form of the deranged man dressed as Santa, but he quickly learns that he should be careful what he wishes for as he is now being chased around the sprawling mansion by who he believes is really Santa and he has a death wish for him.
Having to contact help, protect his grandfather and his home, Thomas suits up for battle and becomes locked in a giant game of cat and mouse with the same person who is the centrepiece of his remaining childlike wonder.
Dial Code Santa Claus is often considered the unofficial inspiration for Home Alone but with a more darker tone but there's more to it than that, and even it's parallels to Die Hard as well, which it came out smack dab right inbetween the two films.
The film itself has a style unique of its own and is much better than it has any right to be.
The lead character in Thomas is incredibly smart, resourceful and very likable, you root for him every step of the way and for being the director's son, who probably hasn't done anything before this, he is acted quite well.
Speaking of acting, the actor for the Psychotic Santa plays his role dead straight, he is not messing around. The way his eyes light up and widen when he gets excited as he gets the upper hand is so creepy.
However the acting for Thomas is still the best as we are shown him going through a living hell and he even though he puts on a strong face for his grandfather as he is the only one to protect him, it doesn't shy away from showing us that he's still just a kid as he himself is crying to his mother on the frozen rooftop and that he has went through a complete loss of innocence.
The film is shot quite well with a dreamlike sense of lighting in some areas and nice rotating camera angles that emphasize the scale of the mansion.
The action is tight and the traps and tools can be quite creative and even brutal at times.
The costumes and the set design are fantastic as Thomas essentially lives in every eighties boys dream home, airplane bed, trapdoors in the hallways secret playrooms that are huge and have tons of toys and a workout room and Toys and gear that allows them to look like Schwarzenegger in Commando.
Something else that saves this film is the relationship between Thomas and his Grandfather, its incredibly endearing and sweet and is the centrepiece for all the horror that surrounds the film.
If I'm being honest I prefer this to both its parallels.
Die Hard because this is just way more eighties and the fact a kid is pulling this off and not an adult is just more badass.
Home Alone because it's portraying at least the mentality of the child in a more realistic light with actual fear, perseverance and trauma.
The film is a complete combination of what was so great about the eighties, fearless action heroes, Killer Santa's, Genre Blending and the discovery of films that are just like this one, which is the beauty of the video store.
Dial Code Santa Claus (1989)
(9/10): Never officially released in the west until 2020, also known as 3615 code Père Noël aka Deadly Games aka Game Over is a French cult sensation that never had its chance until recently as it was panned by critics in its home country and flopped at the box office.
Spoilers Ahead
Dial Code Santa Claus is the story of Thomas, a young and resourceful boy who lives in a mansion with his widowed mother and his diabetic and partially blind grandfather along with his pet dog J. R. When Thomas tries to contact Santa he dials the universal code into his computer, 3615, being the most common code in France, in hopes of making contact with Santa.
He manages to get a response from a man who is in the city, who is a bit off and poses as Santa but has his call cut short before he found out where Thomas lives; However he did learn that his mother is the manager at a local toy store.
He takes the job as one of the Santas but is fired once he hits a kid for insulting him but when he goes to the office to drop off his suit he overhears a call about a delivery to the managers house for Thomas and he hitches a ride in the delivery truck.
Determined to stay up and see Santa Thomas gets his wish in the form of the deranged man dressed as Santa, but he quickly learns that he should be careful what he wishes for as he is now being chased around the sprawling mansion by who he believes is really Santa and he has a death wish for him.
Having to contact help, protect his grandfather and his home, Thomas suits up for battle and becomes locked in a giant game of cat and mouse with the same person who is the centrepiece of his remaining childlike wonder.
Dial Code Santa Claus is often considered the unofficial inspiration for Home Alone but with a more darker tone but there's more to it than that, and even it's parallels to Die Hard as well, which it came out smack dab right inbetween the two films.
The film itself has a style unique of its own and is much better than it has any right to be.
The lead character in Thomas is incredibly smart, resourceful and very likable, you root for him every step of the way and for being the director's son, who probably hasn't done anything before this, he is acted quite well.
Speaking of acting, the actor for the Psychotic Santa plays his role dead straight, he is not messing around. The way his eyes light up and widen when he gets excited as he gets the upper hand is so creepy.
However the acting for Thomas is still the best as we are shown him going through a living hell and he even though he puts on a strong face for his grandfather as he is the only one to protect him, it doesn't shy away from showing us that he's still just a kid as he himself is crying to his mother on the frozen rooftop and that he has went through a complete loss of innocence.
The film is shot quite well with a dreamlike sense of lighting in some areas and nice rotating camera angles that emphasize the scale of the mansion.
The action is tight and the traps and tools can be quite creative and even brutal at times.
The costumes and the set design are fantastic as Thomas essentially lives in every eighties boys dream home, airplane bed, trapdoors in the hallways secret playrooms that are huge and have tons of toys and a workout room and Toys and gear that allows them to look like Schwarzenegger in Commando.
Something else that saves this film is the relationship between Thomas and his Grandfather, its incredibly endearing and sweet and is the centrepiece for all the horror that surrounds the film.
If I'm being honest I prefer this to both its parallels.
Die Hard because this is just way more eighties and the fact a kid is pulling this off and not an adult is just more badass.
Home Alone because it's portraying at least the mentality of the child in a more realistic light with actual fear, perseverance and trauma.
The film is a complete combination of what was so great about the eighties, fearless action heroes, Killer Santa's, Genre Blending and the discovery of films that are just like this one, which is the beauty of the video store.