Monday, December 25, 2023

Santa Claus vs The Devil (1959)

Some truly bizarre Christmas fare.


Santa Claus (José Elias Moreno) is preparing for Christmas, and bringing joy to all the good little girls and boys. These include poor Lupita who is a very good girl who only wants a doll. However, the Devil sends his minion Pitch (José Luis Aguirre), who tries to corrupt Lupita into stealing that doll. Luckily Lupita remains good (a real little angel to be honest). Pitch recruits three bad boys to help him try and stop Santa in a number of traps and ruin Christmas...

Very strange stuff and often very surreal, Santa's robot surveillance system and flying castle base are amazing if somewhat odd. In mortal peril from the evil of the Devil, Santa is helped by Merlin (Armando Arriola) - well of course! The film has some real mind bending charm and is fun, though may cause some nightmares. Well Merry Christmas anyway!