MOVIE NEWS – David Harbor further strengthens his edgy acting portfolio in the first trailer for the holiday thriller Violent Night, in which the “Stranger Things” star plays Santa Claus.

Directed by Norwegian filmmaker Tommy Wirkola, Harbor plays a grumpier, sadder version of Kris Kringle, who is anything but cheerful in the trailer. On Christmas Eve, the (not so) Saint Nicholas meets a family held hostage by a group of mercenaries and is forced to take matters into his own hands.

Alongside Harbour, the cast includes Cam Gigandet, Beverly D’Angelo and John Leguizamo. The screenplay was written by Pat Casey and Josh Miller, who previously wrote the first and second live-action “Sonic the Hedgehog” films.

An exclusive screening of Violent Night will be available to audiences at New York Comic Con on October 7th, almost two months before the film’s premiere. Harbor first teased the project at CinemaCon in April, where the actor spoke to a packed house at Caesar’s Palace.

“Who doesn’t love great action movies, right?” Harbor asked the crowd at the convention, according to Syfy. “And Christmas movies? How about a movie that’s both a great action movie and the best Christmas movie? ‘Die Hard.’ The fucking ‘Die Hard.’ What if… wait a minute, wait a minute! What if the king director Tommy Wirkola and the producers of 87North, you know, the crazy people who made ‘Atomic Blonde’, ‘John Wick’, ‘Nobody’ and ‘Hobbs [& ] Shaw, would they be behind it? And, wait a minute, what if I played the fucking Santa in it?”

Bloodsucker hits theaters on December 2 and kicks off the holiday season with hilarity and bloodshed. Watch the full trailer below.