Saint (2010)

Sint (or Saint in English) seemed to me like a promising concept, especially as it is about one of the most popular traditions in both Belgium and the Netherlands. A murderous Sint Nikolaas, roaming around Amsterdam looking for people to kill: nothing deep, but it could make up a nice movie for a lazy afternoon. Nothing is less true than that. The acting is terrible, the camera-work isn't special, the storyline is non existent, make-up is average and the action scenes are only so so. The rooftop chase with our bishop is the most exciting part of the movie, but it lasts for about two minutes... And after the chase it's back to dragging yourself to the end of the movie, which even leaves room for a sequel (but it's not entirely clear whether this is intended as a final scary moment). Even with the knowledge that Sint was never intended as a deep philosophical movie but as pure action based horror, it doesn't come close to achieving it's goal. The combination of terrible and average scoring parameters stands in the way of even only the slightest hint of excitement and fear. Don't watch this, unless you're still interested in Sint Nikolaas...

It seems to me that most of the reviewers have missed the point. That there was none. This movie is simply out to entertain. It is not one of those kinds that depend on a chilling story or strong characters.(Although there were some sequences that were quite thrilling). It simply is a slasher movie based on a classic myth and still grand celebration in the Netherlands of the original St. Nicolas.Sinterklaas (OG Santa if you will).It is supposed to be over the top.Bad acting,bad dialog,not very likable characters,and lots of lots of (CGI) blood and gore. To expect more will surely lead to disappointment.Everybody familiar with Dick Maas previous work could have expected this. Since it is far from a stretch even when this production is more leaning towards a comedy.And his comedies weren't exactly of the subtle and clever kind. Maybe not completely on par with Dead Snow and Rare exports (which can be debated) it sure does provide the same amount of entertainment.

Writer-director Dick Maas needs to find another line of work, Saint is just awful in every possible respect. I don't know where to begin. The story is ridiculous, the acting is horrendous, and this looks like something from low budget Hollywood. I usually find foreign films to be deeper and much more interesting than American ones; not this time.What starts out in 1492 with St. Nicholas on a horse rampaging through a village with his evil henchmen and later continues in modern day Amsterdam has no structure or reason whatsoever. Every December fifth with a full moon causes old St. Nick and his merry-men to kill with sword and axes while dropping down chimneys.Mr. Maas has no idea how to create horror, satire, or drama with any style at all. A review on IMDb mentions the rumor of a sequel; this can't be true. No one in their right mind would agree to follow up this mess.Stay away from this non scary, unfunny waste of time at all costs.

What a problem this flick had. I understand that so many people have problems with changing Santa Claus from a good man into something evil. But there were so many forums about destroying this flick just because the poster used to promote Sint had an evil Sint on a horse. Naturally, some were also afraid that children were going to ask questions about Sint. It was finally released last year (2010) with the so-called evil poster but once it was out of the cinema's there were troubles again releasing it on DVD. Finally, all the troubles are over and Sint saw it's final release last week.I knew that it was going to be a horror and I know the director Dick Maas from his flicks The Lift and Amsterdamned. But what he did here was for me really excellent. For people not living in Belgium or the Netherlands the actors will be unknown and they all speak Dutch but I guess that they will release it with English subs.Also the score used will have some rarities in it, most of them are famous Dutch chants to celebrate Sinterklaas. I would say, just think of Santa Claus. First we get to know what happened many years ago with the Holy man and what he is doing as revenge. And let me say, he does some revenge. It's sometimes just on the border of gore but you will see decapitations and axes and machetes going into bodies. The red stuff do flows, sometimes it's syrup sometimes it's CGI. And naturally there's a lot of CGI but I don't have any problems with it because Sint is running on roofs with his horse. For me it's one of the better 'Nederhorrors" for the moment. Just let's hope that it isn't going to be full moon when Sint is visiting our country...Gore 3/5 Nudity 0/5 Story 4/5 Effects 4/5 Comedy 1/5