Verdict
Summary
Infinite Santa 8000 (from creators Michael Neel and Greg Ansin) is a pulse-pounding effect of noise and action that should appeal to a prevalent generation of video gamers and head bangers. It knows exactly what kind of movie it is, and I suspect that Neel and Ansin know who their audience is as well.
Plot:
In a post-apocalyptic wasteland, Santa is the last man standing against the ultimate warlord.
Review:
A thousand years after “war, famine, and greed” destroyed Earth, Santa Claus has arisen from the ashes of the old world (and from the North Pole) and has emerged as some kind of post-technological wasteland warrior with bionic upgrades and cyborg reindeer, which he desperately needs if he’s going to survive the world he’s now lording over. His nemesis is a diabolical scientist named Shackleton, whose exposed brain and facial discrepancies indicate that Christmas cheer is out of the question, and Santa’s goodwill and perpetual cheer – even while annihilating legions of Shackleton’s soldiers – has irked the very core of whatever remains of Shackleton’s heart. This is a land of waste pile heaps so expansive and unending that even Santa’s haven looks like a junkyard of leftovers, but the one thing keeping Father Christmas going is his affection for a circuitry girl named Martha, whom he loves to teach songs of the season, which she can never get straight. When Shackleton has Martha captured, dismembered, and destroyed, Kris Kringle goes on a destructive spree of devastation with his weapons of mass destruction. He dukes it out with a behemoth of a mutant Easter Bunny, and the fields of the wasted lands are speckled red with arterial spray. Even while Santa is mowing down enemies, he’s still a bringer of good cheer as he proclaims, “Time to serve you a Christmas miracle!”
In the no budget tradition of underground animator and artist FSudol (who did the apocalyptic animated movies City of Rott and Shock Invasion), Infinite Santa 8000 (from creators Michael Neel and Greg Ansin) is a pulse-pounding effect of noise and action that should appeal to a prevalent generation of video gamers and head bangers. It knows exactly what kind of movie it is, and I suspect that Neel and Ansin know who their audience is as well. Fans of apocalyptic movies (animated or otherwise) may be put off by the simplicity of the animation or by the lack of depth that the themes in the film offer, but when you stop and think about what’s going on here – Santa Claus is the last vestige of hope for whatever remains of the planet – the implications are actually kind of staggering. What’s lacking in the story is a human element, a character to identify with, and if there is some kind of sequel to this experiment, I’d hope to see Santa bringing hope to where there is none, and spreading that good will to an element who desperately needs it.
Synapse brings the long-unavailable Infinite Santa 8000 to disc for the first time, and it comes in a limited edition (to 1000 copies) director’s cut version. There’s a feature commentary by the filmmakers, the 13-part web series, interviews, trailers, and two music videos. There’s an audience for this, and I dare them to find it.
