''3615 code Père Noël'' (, "3615 code

Father Christmas Father Christmas is the traditional English name for the personification of Christmas. Although now known as a Christmas gift-bringer, and typically considered to be synonymous with Santa Claus, he was originally part of a much older and unrel ...

", referring to a

Minitel The Minitel was a videotex online service accessible through telephone lines, and was the world's most successful online service prior to the World Wide Web. It was invented in Cesson-Sévigné, near Rennes in Brittany, France. The service was ...

dialling number; also known as ''Deadly Games'', ''Dial Code Santa Claus'', ''Game Over'', and ''Hide and Freak'') is a 1989 French horror thriller film written and directed by René Manzor. It is noted for its similarities to the 1990 American film ''

Home Alone ''Home Alone'' is a 1990 American Christmas comedy film directed by Chris Columbus and written and produced by John Hughes. The first film in the ''Home Alone'' franchise, the film stars Macaulay Culkin, Joe Pesci, Daniel Stern, John Hear ...

'', the makers of which Manzor once threatened with legal action on the grounds of

plagiarism Plagiarism is the fraudulent representation of another person's language, thoughts, ideas, or expressions as one's own original work.From the 1995 '' Random House Compact Unabridged Dictionary'': use or close imitation of the language and thought ...

, alleging that they had "remade my movie."

Plot

Thomas de Frémont, a child prodigy obsessed with tinkering and action films, lives in a secluded and high-tech castle with his widowed mother, Julie, his diabetic and partially blind grandfather, Papy, and his pet dog, J.R. On Christmas Eve, Thomas uses the

to try and communicate with

Santa Claus Santa Claus, also known as Father Christmas, Saint Nicholas, Saint Nick, Kris Kringle, or simply Santa, is a Legend, legendary figure originating in Western Christianity, Western Christian culture who is said to Christmas gift-bringer, bring ...

, and unknowingly makes contact with a local derelict who is using a public Minitel terminal. The deranged man claims to be Santa, and attempts to get Thomas to divulge his address; before their connection is severed, the vagrant learns that Thomas's mother manages a nearby

Printemps Printemps (; meaning "spring (season), springtime" in French language, French) is a French department store chain (french: grand magasin, links=no, literally "big store"). The Printemps stores focus on beauty, lifestyle, fashion, accessories ...

. While Thomas sets up a security system to record or capture Santa, the vagabond gets a job as a Santa at the Printemps, but is fired from it after Julie witnesses him slap a child who had accused him of not being the real Santa. The vagrant subsequently steals a Santa suit, paints his hair and beard white, and hitches a ride to Julie's home in the back of a delivery van, the driver of which he kills upon reaching the de Frémont residence. The man then murders Julie's groundskeeper and her chef, breaks into her home through the chimney, and stabs J.R. to death in front of Thomas, who is convinced that the intruder is an enraged Santa. What follows is a game of cat and mouse as Thomas uses his security system and booby traps, as well as an arsenal of makeshift weaponry, to defend his enfeebled grandfather and combat the trespasser, who has cut the telephone lines and trashed the only car; the man at one point catches Thomas, but then lets him go while declaring, "I win. You lose. Now... I'll go hide myself, and you'll be it. Okay?" Julie, concerned over her calls home not getting through, phones the police, who send an officer to the castle to check on Thomas and Papy. The vagrant murders the policeman and recaptures Thomas, but the boy is saved when his grandfather manages to shoot his assailant with the dead officer's gun, with Julie arriving home seconds later to find a stunned Thomas standing over the killer's body, stammering, "It's my fault, Mom. I wanted to see Santa."

Cast

Release

In 2018, the film had its North American premiere at the

Fantastic Fest Fantastic Fest is an annual film festival in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 2005 by Tim League of Alamo Drafthouse Cinema, Alamo Drafthouse, Harry Knowles of Ain't It Cool News, Paul Alvarado-Dykstra, and Tim McCanlies, writer of ''The Iron Gi ...

in Austin, Texas, after having been restored by

American Genre Film Archive American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

Reception

René Manzor and ''Deadly Games'' won Best Director and Best Film, respectively, at the 1990

Fantafestival The Mostra internazionale del film di fantascienza e del fantastico (English: ''International Science Fiction and Fantasy Film Show''), commonly known as Fantafestival, is a film festival devoted to science fiction, fantasy and horror film tha ...

. Virgile Dumez of aVoir-aLire commended the film's cast and direction while noting that, "despite some clumsiness, it remains one of the best representatives of what French cinema can offer when it dares to leave its comfort zone." John Squires of

Bloody Disgusting Bloody Disgusting is an American multi-media company, which began as a horror genre-focused news site/website specializing in information services that covered various horror medias, including: film, television, video games, comics, and music. ...

gave ''Deadly Games'' a glowingly positive review, heaping praise on its setting, cinematography, the relationships between its characters, and its sinister villain before concluding, "''Deadly Games'' doesn't shy away from going to nightmarish places, but it's also got that holiday warmth you just love to see in Christmas movies." Fellow Bloody Disgusting reviewer Meagan Navarro also enjoyed the film, writing, "One creepy Santa, some surprising peril for its young lead, and a heavy lean into the holiday setting makes for an unexpected new holiday favorite." The "crazy and out-there" film was awarded a score of 6/10 by Jason Adams of

JoBlo.com The JoBlo Movie Network includes a website, JoBlo.com, which focuses on news, film reviews, and movie trailers; and YouTube channels that focus on trailers, movie clips, celebrity interviews, original content, and as film distribution. Early da ...

, who complimented its action set-pieces and its realistic child protagonist, writing, "Thomas may be a badass

Rambo Rambo is a surname with Norwegian (Vestfold) and Swedish origins. It possibly originated with '' ramn'' + '' bo'', meaning "raven's nest". It has variants in French (''Rambeau'', ''Rambaut'', and ''Rimbaud'') and German (''Rambow''). It is now best ...

Jr. with some of the tricks up his sleeve, but the movie never lets you forget that he's also a child suffering real injuries and crying for his mom. It's a brutal but unique spin to this kind of horror flick, one that you can't believe the filmmakers actually went for." Peter Martin of

Screen Anarchy Screen Anarchy, previously known as Twitch Film or Twitch, is a Canadian English-language website featuring news and reviews of mainly international, independent and cult films. The website was founded in 2004 by Todd Brown. In addition to films, ...

offered high praise to ''Deadly Games'', writing, "I was utterly bowled over with happiness. Sure, it's your standard clever kid vs Santa Claus home invasion tale (?!), made before ''

'', but it's exceptionally smart, funny and kinda fiendish too. It's a great family action movie for families who hate the holidays." Rafael Motamayor of

Polygon In geometry, a polygon () is a plane figure that is described by a finite number of straight line segments connected to form a closed ''polygonal chain'' (or ''polygonal circuit''). The bounded plane region, the bounding circuit, or the two toge ...

commended the " slasher horror" film's "emotional stakes" and how it "fluctuates between whimsy children's humor and horror, using the kid-friendly first half to lure you into the horrors to come."

References

External links