Syfy first showed Santa Jaws on 14 August 2018. Or it might have been 15 August. Maybe it depends on your time zone!
It’s a fun film with a wonderfully ridiculous premise. An aspiring young comic book artist gets a magic pen for Christmas and when he draws his newest creation, Santa Jaws, it comes to life and menaces his family.
But as I wrote in my capsule review, it is “the Hallmark Hall of Fame version of a psychotronic film” that “you might want to save for friends who are only psychotronic-curious.” That in itself makes it worth having in your library. You can use it with your friends as an alternative to Deadpool Eats Your Cat.
What’s weird about Santa Jaws is that it was released on this day. Who was thinking of Christmas in August of 2018? I remember in 1945, the studios were pushing out all their war movies because they figured people wouldn’t be interested in them after World War II. They thus held the release of non-war films.
So why didn’t SyFy wait four months? I have no idea. They also could have released it sooner because they had a “Christmas in July” lineup. Not that it matters. The film stands on its own. Of course, I watch Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer at any time. So maybe people shouldn’t listen to me. Or… Maybe they should!
Santa Jaws is currently streaming on Amazon Prime. But it is also available on YouTube right now:
Other 14 August Anniversaries
Filmmakers
- Francis Ford (1881-1953): Elder brother of John Ford, he was a highly successful silent film director. After that, he worked mostly as a character actor — most notably as one of the lynched men in The Ox-Bow Incident.
- George Worthing Yates (1901-1975): Screenwriter of Attack of the Puppet People and War of the Colossal Beast.
- Candace Hilligoss (1935-): Star of arguably the greatest horror movie ever, Carnival of Souls.
- Steve Martin (1945-): Writer and director of Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid and Bowfinger.
- Wim Wenders (1945-): Pretentious German director who loves to end films with long monologues but who has nonetheless made some really interesting films like The American Friend and Paris, Texas.
- Jim Wynorski (1950-): Director of many psychotronic films including Chopping Mall and Piranhaconda.
- Marcia Gay Harden (1959-): Actor known for Miller’s Crossing and The Bad News Bears.
- Halle Berry (1966-): Actor who has done a lot of interesting things including Gothika and John Wick: Chapter 3 — Parabellum.
Films
- Deadly Blessing (1981): A widow deals with strange religious neighbors.
- House by the Cemetery (1981): The last of Fulci’s Gates of Hell trilogy. It’s wonderful but also the weakest of the films.
- Piranha II: The Spawning (1982): Mutant piranha live in a sunken ship off the coast of a Caribbean resort.
- The Monster Squad (1987): Tweens fight against a monster invasion.
- Single White Female (1992): A woman’s new roommate becomes more and more like her.
- Vengeance of the Dead (2001): A boy visits his grandfather and interacts with ghosts.
- Unearthed (2004): A building development uncovers ancient Indian artifacts and the undead are displeased.
- Bikini Girls on Ice (2009): Serial killer at a bikini car wash.
- District 9 (2009): A government agent is banished to a space alien ghetto.
- The Id Proxy (2009): Campers are attacked by a crazy man.
- Psychopath (2009): A woman goes searching for his sister in the backwoods.
Santa Jaws (2018) poster via Wikipedia under Fair Use.
