Evil Santa

A lot of people know that the current popular image of Santa Claus was created by Coca-Cola. Or maybe that's a myth, too. I don't know.

Santa had evolved over time. He no longer brings bundles of switches to the naughty children. If fact, they've pretty much given up on that thing where he only brings presents to the good boys and girls. But what was the original Santa Claus like? What was the original myth or legend or fairytale that started the whole thing?

According to a Finnish movie, Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale, Santa was a giant with goat horns who ignored the good children and horribly punished the naughty ones. And wait till you see his elves.

The movie is set in the present day. Santa is buried in a block of ice but is being unearthed by American researchers.

We see a Finnish boy trying to protect himself wearing a hockey helmet and pads and duct taping a piece of cardboard over the seat of his pants.

Then there was a Dutch movie called Saint Nick. The "saint" in question was a brutal Catholic bishop in the 1400s whose men go down chimneys to get into houses where they murder families who fail to leave offerings to him. The people kill him but apparently he comes back five hundred years later for revenge.