According to popular European folklore, kindly Saint Niklas visits the homes of good children on December 5th, dropping gifts down their chimneys. In Sint, writer/director Dick Maas (Amsterdamned, Down) subverts this legend, his Saint Niklas shown to be a renegade, murderous, 15th century bishop who abducted children, but who was eventually confronted by angry villagers and burnt alive on his ship. Now, whenever a full moon occurs on December 5th, Saint Niklas leaves the netherworld and heads for the Netherlands, killing people and snatching kids in Amsterdam, aided in his work by his helpers, the 'Black Peters'.

When his ex-girlfriend is found dead, killed by the nasty saint, student Frank (Egbert Jan Weeber) is suspected of murder, and must try to prove his innocence, joined in his fight against Niklas by rogue policeman Goert Hoekstra (Bert Luppes), whose own family were slaughtered 32 years earlier.

Sint suffers from pacing issues, with some serious lulls between the action scenes, but when Maas is firing on all cylinders, the film is a lot of demented fun, with the malevolent bishop and his blackened cronies chopping and slicing and impaling their victims in gory fashion (with some excellent FX). The film looks great, boasting lovely cinematography, and there are some impressive set-pieces - a bloody attack on Frank and his friends, Saint Niklas riding his horse over the rooftops of Amsterdam (particularly good given the budget), and the massacre of a group of Special-ops - it's a shame, then, that the madness and momentum doesn't continue throughout the whole film, 'cos if it had this could've easily become a firm festive favourite (Elf has never been my style).

6/10.

Storywise "Sint" is kind of a rip-off of the killer Santa classic "Silent Night, Deadly Night", but the comparisons end there. While the latter is only still around because it's laughably bad, this one has actual redeeming features like a dark, moody atmosphere and a little bit of humour at exactly the right times. Writer/Director Dick Maas loves to toy with our expectations and every guess you'll make about the story developments will probably be wrong. For instance, you think tremendous hottie Caro Lenssen will serve as the Laurie Strode of this story and the finale will be her fighting off the unstoppable villain, but in fact she barely comes into play in the rest of the story (unfortunately...). Our final girls are an old drunk and a sex-crazed teenage boy, that's pretty creative to say the least. The production values of this movie are also surprisingly high. For a movie that "only" cost four million to make, the effects look pretty amazing. The killings are just relentlessly gory, Dick Maas definitely burned the candle on both ends to disgust his audience. "Sint" is one of those rare horror comedies that manage to be both scary and funny, most can't even get one of the two right. A thrilling ride.

Sint Niklaas, or "Sinterklaas", is a typically Dutch and Belgian tradition that occurs every year on the 5th and 6th of December. The legend states that, on his own birthday, the noble Saint rewards all the well-behaving children with toys and candy. When the children are asleep, the heavily bearded man walks over the rooftops on his white horse while his black assistants drop the presents down the chimneys. Does that sound vaguely familiar? Well actually, Sint Niklaas formed the inspiration for the universally acknowledged jolly figure of Santa Clause. The first Dutch immigrants in the United Stated re-implemented their national tradition oversees and linked it to the Christmas period. There, now all you non-Dutch speaking people with an interest in this film have some essential, need-to-know trivia about the titular character.

About the plot of "Sint" I can be rather brief. You know all the concept of US horror movies with a psychopathic Santa Clause, like for example "Silent Night Deadly Night", "You Better Watch Out" and "Santa Slay". Well, "Sint" is exactly the same. Writer/director Dick Maas (the only true horror prodigy of The Netherlands) wants to make us believe that Saint Niklaas wasn't a holy and generous figure, but a sadistic tyrant who plundered villages and terrorized the inhabitants. In the year 1492 on the fifth of December, he was burned alive by an angry mob. Even still now whenever there's a full moon on the anniversary of his violent death, which apparently occurs, once every 32 years, the evil saint returns to Amsterdam to butcher as many adults and children as possible.

"Sint" should be experienced exactly like Dick Maas intended it: as a highly amusing and deeply satirical splatter flick! Everything about it is wondrously grotesque and over-the-top; the whole basic idea, the acting performances and (especially) the dialogs. The gory massacres, including those of innocent young children, are so tremendously bombastic that you simply cannot be shocked or offended by them. At least not if you have a slight sense of dark humor. The special effects and make-up are graphic and engrossing, but too obviously fake. Naturally there's isn't much room for genuine suspense in this type of story, but – as said – that clearly wasn't the director's intention and at least he widely compensates this small shortcoming with fast-paced action and black comedy.

The film became infamous and caused quite some controversy in The Netherlands long before its premiere in theaters because promotional film posters, depicting the mutilated Sint on his menacing horse, were hung in public areas out there for young kids to see. Quite a number of sour and prudish people were upset about this, but plenty of questionnaires proved that the children themselves weren't shocked at all. For Dick Maas, the whole controversy just turned out to be more than welcome and cost-free publicity. Well done.