I assumed I had seen each possible permutation of the Die Hard formula — or at the least I had exhausted my desire to see any further permutations. But then got here Violent Night. Which is essentially Die Hard on Christmas — well, okay Die Hard was Die Hard on Christmas, that’s true. But this Die Hard on Christmas actually features Santa Claus within the John McClane role.

And we’re not talking, like, a mall Santa who has to save lots of the mall where he works after it gets overrun by terrorists. Now, that is the legit, lives-in-the-North-Pole, hangs-with-flying-reindeer Santa. He’s played by David Harbour and he’s able to kick some butt — and since the movie is produced by the identical company that gave us John Wick, Atomic Blonde, and No one, he’s going to do it in inventively violent and bloody fashion. (The gag with the sharpened candy cane … ouch.)

I cannot imagine anyone not wanting to see this movie from the outline alone but for those who need more convincing here is the trailer:

Here is the film’s official synopsis:

From 87North, the bare-knuckle producers of No one, John Wick, Atomic Blonde, Deadpool 2, Bullet Train and Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw comes a coal-dark holiday action-comedy that claims you need to all the time bet on red. When a team of mercenaries breaks right into a wealthy family compound on Christmas Eve, taking everyone inside hostage, the team isn’t prepared for a surprise combatant: Santa Claus (David Harbour, Black Widow, Stranger Things series) is on the grounds, and he’s about to point out why this Nick isn’t any saint.

The opportunities for bad Christmas motion hero puns are actually countless. Violent Night will open in theaters on December 2. Ho ho ho.