Freeze Frame: “Violent Night” (R), “Bones and All” (R), “The Inspection” (R), “Darby and the Dead” (PG-13)

Had enough heartwarming holiday fare? If so, then the dark R-rated comedy “Violent Night” might be more to your liking. David Harbour of “Stranger Things” fame plays a tired, inebriated, and belligerent Santa Claus who is forced to kick some backside when a group of mercenaries holds a family hostage on Christmas Eve. It derives most of its humor from finding gory ways for jolly old St. Nick to dispatch the bad guys. It’s essentially a one-joke movie, but “Violent Night” provides a bit of bloody fun for midnight movie fans.

Timothée Chalamet and Taylor Russell are terrific in Luca Guadagnino’s eerie and off-putting horror romance, “Bones and All.” They play cannibals who fall in love as they take a road trip littered with corpses. “Bones and All” is twisted and blood-soaked, but surprisingly poignant thanks to its appealing stars.

“The Inspection” is a drama about a gay black man who decides to join the Marines despite his homophobic mom’s skepticism. In basic training, he endures nearly unbearable harassment from his drill instructor and fellow soldiers. Writer-director Elegance Bratton based the film on his own brutal experiences. Jeremy Pope gives an empathetic performance in the lead role. While its respectable and its heart is in the right place, the boilerplate execution makes “The Inspection” standard dramatic fare.

The Hulu comic fantasy “Darby and the Dead” is about a teenager who, due to a near death experience, can see and converse with dead people. When one of Darby’s high school rivals dies, the ghost creates considerable complications. Riele Downs is appealing in the title role, but this YA farce plays like a second-rate Disney movie injected with unnecessary foul language to generate a PG-13 rating. “Darby and the Dead” is dead on arrival.

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