3615 code Père Noël (1989)

Directed by René Manzor [Other horror films: N/A]

I’m not surprised this French horror film, known under various titles such as Dial Code Santa Claus, Game Over, and Deadly Games, is a good film, but I will say I’m surprised by how much I enjoyed it. 3615 code Père Noël is a pretty tense and thrilling film, and it’s certainly worth a watch.

The story here is pretty fun and original, in an early home invasion way. A precocious young kid has to defend himself and his grandfather from a madman stalking them around their house. It’s now you might think that a house isn’t big enough to last a movie, but by house, I mean mansion, because this kid is from a wealthy family, and their abode is quite humongous, complete with suits of armor and hidden passages (not to mention trapdoors – I told you, the kid is precocious).

In fact, it’s almost unbelievable, but I can buy that a kid who grew up with all the advantages this kid did would be more well-rounded in the ways of Rambo. When your mother gets you every expensive item on your Christmas wish list, not to mention additional presents, it’s not difficult at all for me to imagine this kid may be a bit more developed than others his age.

It’s not an overly violent film or anything, but once the action starts going, it’s rather tense. Partially it’s because the grandfather (played by Louis Ducreux)  is so vulnerable – not only is he older, and unable to move too quickly, but he needs insulin shots and has rather atrocious eyesight, and he’s such a good character too, playing Dungeons and Dragons with his much younger grandson. You don’t want to see him anywhere close to hurt, which ratchets up the tension.

Alain Lalanne is decent as the lead. I don’t generally care for kid actors, but Lalanne is quite believable. I do think that Louis Ducreux’s role as the grandfather humanizes him, though – giving him someone that he has to protect gives Lalanne a deeper character as opposed to having him just defend himself. We never learn too much about Patrick Floersheim’s character, but I really dug the opening scene with him in the snowball fight, and I think we learn all we need to about his mental state as the film goes on.

Among my favorite scenes in 3615 code Père Noël would be when Lalanne’s character tries to escape on the roof. This is a tall structure, and that scene was filmed quite well (think Halloween 4, only more intense), and again, it’s tense, as the roof is covered in snow, and the kid indeed does slip once. It’s a good time. There’s also a montage of a dog later on – it’s a small thing, but somewhat emotional, as the dog was another of my favorite characters.

This film has a lot of Christmas feeling to it, and now that I’ve seen it, it’s probably among one of my favorite Christmas horror films, which include Gremlins, To All a Goodnight, Don’t Open Till Christmas, and Santa’s Slay. 36.15 code Père Noël is a fantastic film, and while it might be low on bodycount, this French film isn’t low on suspense. Definitely worth seeing for fans of the genre.

8.5/10