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Santa Claus vs The Devil

Chris Well

“And parents may be concerned that the devil is a bit scary for younger children. I wouldn’t worry, to be honest.”—Dark Corners Reviews

The 1959 Mexican fantasy film Santa Claus—sometimes also called Santa Claus vs. the Devil—is a wildly interesting film that was apparently made by people who were only vaguely familiar with the Santa Claus tradition. As such, you have a headquarters set in outer space, a workforce made by children from all over the world, and a staff that includes Merlin the wizard and Vulcan the Greek god of blacksmiths and metallurgy.

We also see Santa Claus dealing with a demon named Pitch, who was commissioned to ruin Christmas by “making all the children of the Earth do evil.”

The film was directed by Rene Cardona and co-written with Adolfo Torres Portillo. In 1960, a dubbed and slightly edited English-language cut was produced for U.S. markets. Of course, today a lot of people only know about the film after it was mocked on Mystery Science Theater 3000. You can also find the original version here. (Those are both Amazon affiliate links.)

In the first video below, the folks at Dark Corners Reviews offer some background on the movie Santa Claus...

In this second video, watch a sample of the MST3K episode that heckles Santa Claus...

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