Sint (2010)

Sint AKA Saint is a Dutch (Netherlands) horror movie that came out in 2010 in the language of dutch.

How I watched: Tubi for subs (AMC+ for dubs)

For the short of it: The rare, rare full moon on December 5th triggers the real Sinterklaas to unleash havoc in a small town.

The long of it?

Coming from the Netherlands, I was quick to find yet another interesting Christmas themed foreign movie as I was making my list of potential watches for the week. I admit, the only reason I picked this movie is because it's foreign so sue me. Also, the movie poster looks lit as fuck.

Just for a primer, as I had to get privy to it myself, this is based on Sinterklaas which is the Dutch version of Santa Claus which also means that they celebrate Christmas on December 5th rather than 25th for deez Americans that I unfortunately identify as. Just a few key differences but some similarities as well. They have their own lore and stuff with that rooted in innocence and Saint Nicholas so there.

Also, if you plan to watch this movie, do yourself a favor and watch the subs only. For the hell of it I wanted to see what the dubs sounded like on AMC+ holy hell it was so god awful. I can't believe there was a time where I preferred dubs over subs. Complete fucking opposite now.

Sint, however, has a darker interpretation. The beginning of this movie shows that 1492 Sinterklaas was of a more mean spirited figure that rather being the giver of gifts, he gives himself gifts courtesy of the unconsenting villagers. Also known as robbery. However, one day the villagers got tired of putting up with his shit so they ambushed some of the crew and torched their ship killing Mr. Sinterklaas with it.

Modern day is when that day has come. As the legends say that on a full moon on Saint Nicholas Day (Christmas) , Sinterklass along with his murderous gang will reanimate from the dead and go on a mad ass slaughter. But hey, that's just a legend, right?

Right?

Now I have watched this movie I am not scurd to say I actually like it. A lot, actually. Admittedly, this does look a tad lower budget than anticipated but I'm going to have to double check my sources here but it still managed to impress me. Mainly the opening scenes was the real high light as their cinematography as quite the highlight. That being said, I did struggle a bit with certain parts of this movie.

First off, the main character started out as an unlikeable character. Nothing too brash or anything but he was first introduced as the cheater ex boyfriend who was doing hanky panky with her friend. The ex girlfriend is also unlikeable as she cheated first. But hey, we as humans are all flawed so maybe I shouldn't take any of that too harshly anyway. But yeah, this dude is the protagonist of this film to try to defeat this evil holiday icon.

However, this protagonist needs help to do some slaying; he is aided a survivor of Sinterklaas when he was a wee lad. His name is Goert. Imma call him Greg.

You know, this movie does have some very choice jump scares sprinkled throughout this movie which I honestly found funny more than anything because I've seen enough movies to know when to expect it but like 1 really did make me yelp! Watch and you might be able to figure that out. 

Another interesting point to note is that while reading up some more information, there was a bit of controversy with one of the movie posters when it first came out. Parents were concerned that their children seeing a sinister looking Sinterklaas would give the kiddos mixed signals or even trauma seeing a malevolent portrayal of him which eventually went to court. I tried to find the poster in question but this was the only one I could find. idk And yes, Dick Maas is the REAL director of this movie. I checked.

The more I look at this picture the more I am inclined to believe this may not be the real movie poster but whatever. 

All in all, despite the dated CGI I was quite pleased with this movie. That ending was just downright disturbing the last dialogue between Frank and the police officer in particular, more disturbed that I'd like to admit. I could totally insert this as "A meTaPhOr FoR sOciEtY" here. Anyway I guess I am so easily amused so maybe don't give a fuck what I think. Just watch the movie. It's wonderful.

With that being said, what is my verdict?

Yeah, that's right I did rate it 5 stars, what of it?!

If you are interested in watching Sint then please CLICK HERE to see which streaming services you can watch it on via the FREE streaming guide app, JUSTWATCH!