A round the world on Christmas Eve,

children are tucked into their beds and drift into an excited slumber knowing that while they sleep,

in the middle of the night, a big, beaded man in a red coat is going to land on their roof

and invade their home. In fact, Christmas might be the one night of the year when a home invasion

isn't just expected, it's welcomed. That's because the man in the red coat isn't here to harm us,

he's here to leave us gifts. But what if that wasn't the case? What if children aren't as safe

at Christmas as they think? In 1989, French director René Manzoort made a strange horror film

called Deadly Games. It was a queasy mix of home invasion horror, 80s fantasy and rambostile action,

with a story about a boy protecting his home from a psychopathic, predatory Santa Claus on Christmas Eve.

The following year, 20th Century Fox released an American family Christmas movie.

It was written by John Hughes and directed by Chris Columbus,

and it went on to gross over 400 million dollars, making it one of the most successful and beloved

Christmas movies ever made. However, this family-friendly classic bore several striking similarities

to 1989's Deadly Games. So much so that director René Manzoort threatened legal action

on the grounds of plagiarism, alleging that home alone this family-friendly classic

was actually an unauthorised remake of his gritty, disturbing cult horror film.

Join me as we continue exploring the evolution of home invasion, and we discuss a cult classic

and a Christmas classic, with Deadly Games and Home Alone.

Merry Christmas, welcome back to the evolution of horror. My name is Mike Monter, and as ever I am

your host, if you tune in for the first time, then welcome. In this podcast, we explore and

dissect the history and the evolution of the horror genre one sub-shummer at a time.

We are currently in the middle of our ninth season exploring the evolution of home invasion,

...