What's the worst Christmas movie ever made? My money is on Santa Claus (Versus the Devil), a 1959 Mexican flick from the less than capable hands of director Rene Cardona, who has gifted the world with such films as Night of the Bloody Apes, Blue Demon y Zovek en La Invasion de los Muertos, Santo and the Vengeance of the Mummy, and so many other laughable films.
From a user review: "Y'see, the reason this movie was made was to bring the concept of Santa Claus to Mexico. At the time, Mexico had its own Christmas celebrations which were more religious than secular. The idea was that if Santa Claus was [sic] introduced to Mexico, it would help toy marketing and increase sales. And it worked!"
And from another review: "The same year this film came out in Mexico (1959), it won the Golden Gate Award for Best International Family Film at the San Francisco International Film Festival. [K.Gordon] Murray released the dubbed version in 1960. And it made so much money that it was periodically re-released in theaters during the 1960s and 1970s. So, what might be cheesy now wasn't so cheesy back then."
And from one more user review: "Avoid this mind-bending piece of trashlike you'd avoid a sex-starved whale during mating season."
How can any connoisseur of bad movies resist this?
Santa faces the Devil, aided by his assistant Pitch and three Naughty Boys, as Santa tries to help a girl from a poor family and a boy who is being ignored by his rich parents. ** Spoiler Alert!** Merlin the Magician pops up to help save the day. **End Spoiler Alert!**
So come with us "[a]way up in the heavens, far out in space, in a beautiful gold and crystal palace right above the North Pole, [where] lives a kind and jolly old gentleman, Santa Claus."
Bur first, how about a cartoon from 1947, Santa's Surprise?
https://archive.org/details/SantasSuprise
And now for our main feature.
Enjoy.
https://archive.org/details/SantaClausversusTheDevil
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