This ain't Santa Claus, kids.

In the Netherlands, children put their shoes (containing hay and carrots) by the chimney and sing Sinterklass songs, and those who have been good receive gifts from St. Nicholas and his helpers (called Black Petes). According to the myth, bad children, however, are put in sacks and carried by St. Nicholas to Spain, where he supposedly comes from. (This is not to be confused with Christmas, for the celebration of St. Nicholas Day takes place on the 5th and 6th of December.)

In this movie, though, we are told that there is much more to the story, that St. Nicholas was not a 4th-century bishop known for gift-giving and healing. In actuality, he was a 15th-century apostate bishop who, along with his army of Black Petes, pillaged, murdered, kidnapped and pretty much terrorized the countryside until a group of villagers fought back and burned Nicholas and his ship. The truth was covered up by the Catholic Church, so now no one believes the urban legend that St. Nicholas returns every Dec. 5 with a full moon to exact revenge on the people of Amsterdam.

One man, though, knows the legend to be true. Goert Hoekstra (Bert Luppes) witnessed the murder of his parents and siblings back in 1968 and decided to become a policeman in order to protect the citizens of Amsterdam the next time a full moon fell on St. Nicholas Day. Of course, all of his police colleagues think he's daft, forcing him to try and stop St. Nicholas on his own.

A teenaged boy named Frank also becomes involved, after he witnesses the handiwork of St. Nick and his Black Petes firsthand, only to be wrongly accused of murdering two of his friends.

The film's special effects are quite good. It's hard to forget the sight of St. Nick riding his white steed across the rooftops as police pursue him, and the sight of St. Nick's burned face is guaranteed not to inspire any visions of sugar plums in anybody's dreams. A number of the killings are pretty gory and often involve the shearing off of body parts. The pacing of the film is also quite good; indeed, the film seems to zoom along much faster than its 90-minute duration. Simply put, this is one of the best Christmas-related horror movies I've seen in recent years -- despite its less than stellar English dubbing. Just be aware that's it is known by a variety of names, including Saint Nick, Saint and Sint. American viewers may not understand the significance of the date or the peculiar Dutch customs around St. Nicholas, but the glorious horror unleashed by this dude are truly universal.