3615 Code Pere Noel (dir. Rene Manzor, 1989)
An entitled and insufferable child defends his family’s home from an intruder using makeshift traps. No, it’s not Home Alone. 3615 Code Pere Noel, also known variously as Dial Code Santa Claus, Hide and Freak, Deadly Games, and Game Over, predates that abomination by a year. This film also distinguishes itself from Home Alone by being grotesque and horrifying.
Like Kevin McAllister, Thomas de Fremont is the scion of a wealthy family, but he differs from him in a few ways. For one, he’s an only child and not merely one of an Irish-American brood. Also, he’s plutocrat rich, living in an ornate mansion with his mother, his grandfather, and his beloved dog. Thomas is also completely insane, obsessed with action movies and Sylvester Stallone and sports possibly the worst variation of mullet I have ever seen.
Also unlike in Home Alone, the antagonist of this film is a murderous maniac dressed as Santa Claus–how many of those are there anyway?–instead of a pair of nonviolent burglars who cleverly target Chicago mansions left unoccupied for the Christmas holiday. He kills the servants and–even worse–the dog. In order to protect himself and his grandfather and to avenge the death of his pet, Thomas goes full Rambo. Or I guess Rimbaud given that this is France?
All the murders should tip you off on how much more extreme this movie is than Chris Columbus’s American knockoff. It’s a lot. There’s also a scene in which Thomas buries his dog set to a mawkish song, so be ready for that. I would say that it is a better film than any Home Alone if only because the threat of death justifies Thomas’s actions much more than Kevin’s brutal treatment of a pair of unarmed thieves.
oliveresque 