3615 Code Père Noël (aka Deadly Games) (1989) ***1/2

36•15 Code Père Noël (aka Deadly Games aka Dial Code Santa Claus aka Game Over) (1989) plays as a horror-centric Home Alone crossed with Commando, Rambo: First Blood Part II (both 1985), and Die Hard (1988) (review), filtered through the minds of directors like Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Terry Gilliam. 

French director René Manzor cast his own son (Alain LaLanne) to portray child prodigy Thomas, a tween boy who likes to play pretend war games in his widowed mother Julie's (Brigitte Fossey) mansion. When Julie is away on Christmas Eve, managing the Printemps department store where she works, Thomas, believing he's contacting Santa Claus via a Minitel (an online precursor to the World Wide Web), accidentally reveals to a deranged man (Patrick Floersheim) where he lives. When the killer Santa shows up at his home, it's up to Thomas to use his resourcefulness, secret doors, gadgets, and booby traps to protect himself and his diabetic, mostly blind grandfather (Louis Decreux).

Devoid of basically all the sentimentality (not that there isn't a place for that) of Home Alone (which it predated) but equally as violent, 36•15 puts its young protagonist through hell, and—even when it's fun and a bit cartoonish—never shies from showing the audience how Thomas's innocence has been robbed. It's easy to empathize with the poor kid and the trauma he undergoes at the hands of the jolly maniac.

Michel Gaffier's cinematography is quite something. There is a surreal and artistic quality on display, and the filmmakers really make use of the expansive and decorative mansion set pieces. The score by Jean-Félix Lalanne is a standout as well—the electronic sounds provide a celestial, haunting quality. The Bonnie Tyler song, "Merry Christmas," is memorable too, of course, but I feel that it should have been extended and she should have been given the opportunity to belt it out a bit more.

I'd heard a lot of good things about this little cult sleeper and it did not disappoint. I've made a point to place it into my regular Christmas rotation and if it sounds like your cup of cocoa, I suggest you do too.

Commando