David Harbour Is Channeling Stranger Things In His Next Movie
David Harbour's Stranger Things experience is sure to serve him well in his next movie!
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David Harbour is seemingly going to be putting a dark spin on the holidays in 2022 with his new film Violent Night. The Stranger Things actor is no stranger to taking otherwise wholesome worlds and showing that there’s a dark, even sinister underbelly at play. After first making a name for himself as the gruff sheriff with a heart of gold, Jim Hopper, David Harbour has gone on to have starring roles in darkly comedic films like the 2019 reboot of Hellboy and this year’s Black Widow for Marvel and Disney.
Now, David Harbour will be putting that reliable spin on the Christmas season with Violent Night, a movie that TheWrap reports has been billed as a “coal-dark holiday thriller that proves you should always bet on red.” Unfortunately, that’s the long and short of the plot details for Violent Night at this time. While it may conjure memories of the shockingly dark, campy and off-putting horror film Silent Night Deadly Night, which focuses on a mentally ill department store Santa Claus run amuck in a quiet town, judging by the description of the film as well as David Harbour’s propensity to play off-color heroes, it’s possible he’ll be some kind of ass-kicking Kris Kringle taking on some horrific anti-Christmas villain.
The Hollywood Reporter notes that Violent Night will be produced by 87North and helmed by Norwegian filmmaker Tommy Wirkola, whose previous credits include campy dark comedies like Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters and Dead Snow. Joining the David Harbour-led movie are Pat Casey and Josh Miller who will pen the screenplay fresh off the success of the box-office hit Sonic the Hedgehog. Kelly McCormick and David Leitch are in line to produce as well through 87 North.
As Deadline reports, David Harbour is a good get for a post-Thanksgiving genre flick. That time of year, right in the middle of the holidays, can be a pretty sleepy time for the North American box office as people’s free time is taken up with things like travel, shopping and (shudder) family. That’s why targeting the horror genre like The Possession of Hannah Grace and Universal/Blumhouse’s Black Christmas did in 2018 is a surprisingly reliable bet. Add in the star power of David Harbour, who may or may not be fresh off the highly anticipated season 4 premiere of Stranger Things, and you’ve got the recipe for a film that will dominate the wintertime theater drought.
When last fans saw David Harbour as Hopper in season 3 of Stranger Things, it didn’t look so good for him. After helping once again to save Hawkins from the government’s play to explore and weaponize The Upside Down, he seemed like he died after getting sucked into some kind of interdimensional portal. However, a teaser trailer for the latest season proved that he is alive and… not so well in a Russian prison. Now it seems that the entire gang from Hawkins, Indiana will reunite for at least one more adventure to save the world from the terrors that lurk in the adjacent dimension of The Upside Down.
