
Sint (2010) aka: Saint
Well, it’s that time again. You know, it’s the one where us Christian heathens become believers just to get some shitty presents. Yep, it’s Christmas. And we all need a good festive movie to get us into the spirit of things.
To hell with the inevitable James Bond, and Dorothy can stick her Wizard of Oz. Sint is where it’s at!
Hailing from the Netherlands, and called Saint for us English folks, it’s based around their legend of St. Niklas a rogue bishop who pillages villages in the 1400’s with a list of demands. But, the peasants are revolting and old Nik is about to get some payback. Flambé style! The plebs torch Nik by fire bombing his ship (yes, he has a cool pirate style ship) and on each full moon of December the 5th, Nik returns to seek revenge!
Sint is part action, part horror and even part comedy, but it’s all done really well. Sure there are some shoddy CGI effects, but, c’mon, this isn’t a 50 bajillion dollar Hollywood number. The kills are good (with Niklas using his staff to decapitate an armed cop) with some nice jump scares too, just for good measure. Lots of nice touches with things like the boy drawing a smiley face in the condensation of his bedroom window which, when the camera is outside looking in, lines up with his smiling face. It’s a simple, silly little thing, but it’s a nice touch which distracts you from the incoming scare.
Anyway… where was I? Oh yes. One kid goes to check on some pigs in a barn to find his family massacred by St. Niklas and his goons (‘Black Pete’s. I’m not sure that’s politically correct these days. Is it? Oh no, wait, I don’t care.) That kid grows up to be a cop who warns of the impending massacre at midnight on this December 05th (with full moon of course).
So, we’re now following some school teens one of whom is going out this December night dressed as St. Nik. Not good. Well, things happen, like friends being bumped off and our poor lame St. Nik gets framed. Many more murders start popping up and, of course, it’s now that the Chief of cops starts to reread the report given by his once loony copper.
Next thing, we’ve got the kid and the mad copper trying to take down old Nik. I’m not going to give away the ending, so fear not.
Sint is a good Christmas themed movie. Has some nice effects, good kills, and Nik himself looks like a cross between Santa and Freddy. Which is nice. I’m giving it less than 4 out of 5 as it starts off pretty awesome then slows down a bit where they need to introduce us to the fodder teens.
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