Something Cult, Foreign-Language or Indie #167: Saint (2010).

On 5 December 1492, in the Netherlands, a rebel group with their leader, former bishop Niklas (Huub Stapel), are murdered by villagers sick of their violence. Then, in years where their death date sees a full moon, they return for bloody revenge as ghosts. However, nobody else knows of this and the Dutch all keep celebrating the Sinterklaas tradition of 5 December, even after the gang's last return in 1968, when they murdered hundreds including the entire family of a young boy, Gert (Niels van den Berg), who's now a policeman (Bert Luppes). That brings us to 2010, where at the local high school Frank (Egbert Jan-Weeber) and Lisa (Caro Lenssen) are the it-couple. She believes in Niklas' existence and Frank doesn't but works as a Santa performer anyway (and lives with his mentally ill mother). After two of his mates are brutally knocked off and he survives, Frank is arrested on suspicion of being the killer himself but is freed once he gradually proves his innocence and then spends all night trekking around Amsterdam, trying to stop Niklas and help the police investigation.

This Dutch horror comedy isn't very scary, but what it lacks in terror it does compensate for in genuine insight, atmosphere and intrigue as it ultimately becomes really a hybrid of a slasher movie and a murder mystery. Writer-director Dick Haas, who actually began his career in the '70s directing videos for the Dutch prog-rock band Golden Earring, has hit upon a premise as sharp as Niklas' weapons and he balances the scales very precisely throughout. All the characters are given lucidly observed arcs and dynamics, and the cast all bring them very naturally to life, especially the younger stars. Haas is also clearly well-aware of what happens in the real Amsterdam's underbelly (it's almost the drug capital of Europe) and he renders the police procedural storyline here as a strong allegory for that, rather like how George A. Romero might have, and in exploring Niklas' medieval downfall he makes a very relevant statement about organised religion's exclusivity.

But obviously, the real meat in this sandwich is the supernatural horror and trust me, Haas is relentless in how much blood and gore he shows here, although he doesn't throw that around just to be shocking. It's almost grotesquely beautiful because of how it contrasts with the snowy northern December landscape also on show here, and all the murder scenes are absolutely pumped with energy. They also have surprisingly great visual effects for a tiny budget. If I have one complaint, it's that the soundtrack could've used some popular hits but all in all, Saint is a bloodthirsty delight of a Christmas flick.