Director Dick Maas talks about the murderous St. Nicolas in Sint

Just hear those sleigh bells jingling, ring ting tingling too. Come on, it’s lovely weather for a sleigh ride together with you…It’s going to be that time again: Christmas, or if you’re from Holland, on December 5th it’s the Sinterklaas tradition (Sinterklaas-avond – here). If you’re rogue Dutch filmmaker Dick Maas, you’re sick of this crap and that my friends is the fuel behind Saint (Sint), his new horror film about the Sinterklaas tradition.

The film darkly and humorously distorts the popular traditions of Sinterklaas and portrays him as a ghost who murders large numbers of people when his annual celebration night coincides with a full moon. It’s not unlike many of our own Yuletide slashers as seen in Christmas Evil and Silent Night, Deadly Night, and director Dick Maas takes some time away from the Tribeca Film Festival to talk with Killer Film about the film, Santa, and the controversy.

Jon: It seems as if Christmas themed, or in this case St. Nicolas themed, movies spark controversy when the figure/holiday is twisted into dark territory. I read you were facing opposition from the very beginning, so how did you get Saint (Sint) rolling before cameras?

Dick Maas: Well, it was hard at first because we needed government money, but they didn’t care for the script, so it was difficult to get the money. While we started to scrap up some money, people heard about the film which was going to attack the famous St. Nicolas tradition. They started protesting the movie, then these St. Nicolas societies in Belguim started as well, all trying to prevent us from making the movie. They didn’t succeed. Just before its release, people had problems with the poster – I thought it was a nice poster we made. They took us to court trying to prevent the poster’s display, trying to prevent us showing the movie. There was a legal battle so to speak, and they didn’t succeed.

Finally, the film came to cinemas and the good thing of all of this, was the awareness it brought. Everyone knew the film was coming so I didn’t mind. It was very good for the box office.

Jon: Tradition is rarely questioned, people just go about with it year after year. Saint (Sint) feels like a shakedown of this Dutch tradition. Would you say it’s a satirical look or a critical evaluation?

Dick Maas: Well, that was the starting point. Of course, it’s a critical look at the celebration, as I feel it has gotten way out of hand. My personal opinion is I think it is a silly celebration. I don’t like that we’re lying to the children for seven years that a guy with a horse is on the roof with presents, so you better behave. There’s no such thing. As it got out of control, it got commercial, like the Santa Claus celebration here in America, it’s a lot of money. It’s sort of, oh how do you say it? It’s also about the Catholic Church and these priests, these pedophile issues. It’s a strange thing having people dress up as St. Nicolas, taking little children to Spain, and what not. It’s become sleazy. Whatever I have against the celebration, I put in the movie.

Jon: I read you disliked the Korean film, I Saw the Devil, due to its overly graphic violence. Explain your approach to horror in Saint (Sint)?

Dick Maas: Yeah, yeah, I felt that it was too gory, too over-the-top, in my opinion. Having the thriller and suspense are the needed action, but if the story calls for it, I’m not afraid to cut off some limbs or decapitate someone. But I don’t think you should be very gory, I limited myself. It’s not what I wanted to see in the movie.

Jon: In Holland, there’s not a lot of filmmakers making horror films, but you have with The Lift and Amsterdamned. Is it a cultural stigma against the genre or just not a market for them?

Dick Maas: It’s a bit of both, I think. There are a lot of writers and directors who want to make horror movies or genre movies. When I made The Lift (De Lift) in 1983, it was a huge success in Holland, so I proved you can make a successful horror movie there, but I was a bit disappointed that after The Lift, there was maybe four or five genre movies that did okay at the box office, although they weren’t great hits. We are dependent on the government’s money and they don’t like genre movies for the public, so they rather give their money to more artistic films. It’s very difficult.

Jon: Was casting for the film a problem because of that?

Dick Maas: Casting? It was a lot of work. It’s a small country, so we had a limited amount of quality actors so that was difficult, and sometimes you see the same actors over and over again. The ages I needed also was difficult. We had to change the characters’ ages a bit. I worked with Huub Stapel in De Lift and we have worked together over the years, but I haven’t made any movies with him in 10 years, but he looks like St. Nicolas now, so that was good.

Jon: The film’s most interesting aspect in our American eyes, is that of the Black Peter (Zwart Pieten). They immediately bring up “black facing”, a stain on Hollywood’s history. Can you explain the origin of them and how you treated them in Saint (Sint)?

Dick Maas: The tradition is about this bishop and his servants from Spain (here), and they’re black and that’s how they’re portrayed. People blacken their faces, but in my movie, it’s not about the Moors, it’s about white men who look black because they were burned alive. So I don’t think the racial issue will exist from this movie.

Jon: Finally, thanks to IFC (here), Saint (Sint) will be seen wider here in America and we secretly love our Yuletide slashers. How has the reception been to Saint (Sint) internationally compared to its controversial bow in Holland last November?

Dick Maas: It’s been very good, as IFC has picked up the American rights, and the foreign rights are being bought too. It’s going good. I think for the foreign markets, it’s not that difficult to tell what the movie’s about. You tell them it’s about a Santa Claus that’s on a horse riding on top of the roofs like a slasher movie, it’s no problem to relate to it. I’m very optimistic about it.

While IFC hasn’t announced a release date yet, check out the trailer for the film below, and keep it here to Killer Film for more about this film!

Jon Peters

I love film. That is all.

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