Violent Night: My Review – Meltdown
I went into this movie kind of perplexed. On one hand, I was fired up to see it, but then saw the trailer for it and got a little less excited. On the other hand, a lot of you guys who watched it commented on how good the movie was.
I gave it a shot last night and here’s what I’ve come up with. Take Die Hard, add a pinch of Home Alone, toss in a couple parts of The Ref, then throw in a little Ellen Griswold, and you’ve got Violent Night. I thought it was a fun movie to set the tone for Christmas….sorta. If your Christmas needs some blood, guts, brutal deaths and some funny one-liners, this is the movie for you.
David Harbour (Hopper, for the Stranger Things crowd) plays a pretty good Santa Claus. John Leguizamo plays the leader of the bad guys. It took me till the credits to find out that Beverly D’Angelo (Ellen Griswold) plays the rich mother.
Now, this isn’t near the top of my favorites as far as Christmas movies go, but I’m not opposed to watching it every year like some others. Go see it for yourself.
-Meltdown-
Christmas Songs: 25 Hard Rock/Metal/Punk Tunes To Help Deck the Halls
Now that it’s finally December, it’s time to fully embrace Christmas songs. (Sure, some may have started long ago, but many like to wait until Thanksgiving is in the rearview.)
There are a surprising number of rock and roll Christmas songs. Many rockin’ holiday tunes tend to be covers, but many artists have tried to pen the next Christmas classic. If they don’t end up classics, they are often at least a lot of fun.
One of those songs is “The Magic of Christmas Day.” The song was written by Twisted Sister singer Dee Snider, but it was made famous when it was recorded by Celine Dion. Snider wrote the song at the request of his wife, Suzette. The song got into the hands of producer Ric Wake, a friend of Snider’s, who thought the song had massive potential.
Snider said in a Dec. 2020 interview in Ultimate Classic Rock that about five years after writing the song for his wife, he got a fateful call from Wake. The producer let him know that Celine Dion wanted to record the song.
It was perfect timing for Snider. He said was “broke and struggling” at the time he learned the pop icon decided to record his song. Considering Dion’s star power, Snider was thrilled she wanted to record the song at all. His big concern was making sure she didn’t know he was the one to write the song.
“I said, ‘Do not tell her that Satan wrote her Christmas song. Just put it on the f—in’ album,'” said Snider. (Fun fact: Due to the song’s success and the revenue it produced, Snider refers to her as “Saint Celine.”
To help fully get into the holiday spirit, consider adding these 25 songs to your Christmas playlist. They vary in subgenre from hard rock to metal to punk. Enjoy!
Meltdown started on the mighty WRIF on the evening of Halloween, 1995. Technically, his first on-air shift was the morning of November 1st. Moving to the Motor City from Buffalo, N.Y., he has built a career and family. Over his almost three-decade stint at RIFF, he's had the privilege to work with some of the biggest personalities in Detroit radio history. He boasts of being just the second-afternoon drive jock in the station's illustrious 53-year history.
Along with his love for rock music and attending concerts, he's also an avid Harley-Davidson enthusiast and hockey player. He plays year-round and manages to squeeze in a few charity games throughout the year. Meltdown writes about the Detroit Red Wings, rock music, and Detroit concert venues.