Really bad Santas

Call them alt.Santa movies.

You know, subversive motion pictures that put jolly old St. Nick and holiday movies in a really bad, if not homicidal light?

The most infamous of the bunch has to be “Silent Night, Deadly Night,” a 1984 tale of a little boy who witnesses a man in a Santa suit kill his mom and dad. He grows up to be a serial killer Santa. (My peers Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel went a little nutty over this release, condemning it on their TV show, with Siskel reading the names of cast and crew members to publicly shame them for working on it.)

But some interesting and even well-made alt.Santa movies can be seen this holiday season. Here are six titles to take a chance on:

“Black Christmas” (1974) — Before he directed the holiday classic “A Christmas Story,” Bob Clark directed this disturbingly frightful mad slasher opus way before John Carpenter’s “Halloween” and Sean Cunningham’s “Friday the 13th” turned the genre into a gold mine.

Olivia Hussey, Keir Dullea, Margot Kidder, Andrea Martin and John Saxon star in a tale of sorority sisters stalked and murdered during Christmas break by a deranged lunatic hiding behind doors so we can only see his pulsating eyeball through the doorjam crack. The story was inspired by an actual Canadian murder case and an urban legend. Eeek!

“Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale” (2010) — Weird stuff happens in Finland when American excavators discover the real Santa Claus imprisoned in a chunk of ice deep below the Arctic. When he thaws out, this murderous St. Nick doesn’t give a flying reindeer about that naughty or nice stuff. Good thing local kids carry their own firearms for when they confront hordes of

‘Don’t Think’ — just go

The After Hours Film Society presents writer/director/actor Mike Birbiglia’s “Don’t Think Twice,” a story of friendship, aspiration and the pain and promise of change, at 7:30 p.m. Monday, Dec. 19, at the Ogden 6 Theatre, 1227 E. Ogden Ave., Naperville. Tickets cost $10 ($6 for members). Go to afterhoursfilmsociety.com.

8 screens spring up

Just in time for “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story,” the new 8-screen Cinemark Spring Hill Mall and XD Theatre opens for business with Luxury Lounger electric recliners, enhanced sound systems and full digital presentation. The theater, at Spring Hill Mall, which is in both Carpentersville and West Dundee, also features a Cinemark XD (extra digital) auditorium and Cinema Café.

Wait! There’s more, such as swag bag giveaways for the first 50 people who purchase tickets at the theater each day through Dec. 18. (First-come, first-served.) Go to cinemark.com/cinemark-spring-hill-mall for details.

• Daily Herald film critic Dann Gire’s column runs Friday in Time out!