by Anthony O'Connor
Worth: Discs: 4, The Films: 4/5, The Extras: 4/5, Overall: 8/10
FilmInk rates movies out of $20 — the score indicates the amount we believe a ticket to the movie to be worth
Cast:
Robert Brian Wilson, Lilyan Chauvin, Ruby Modine, Eric Freeman, James L. Newman
Intro:
… a perfectly efficient slasher film, dripping with mid ‘80s sleaze and misanthropy and featuring a smart script with lashings of jetblack humour … + a cynical cash grab from lazy producers looking to make a quick buck, buoyed by solid direction and a wonderfully camp, genuinely unhinged lead performance that makes this an unintentionally hilarious classic.
The Film:
Of all the many horror movies that take place on or around Christmas (Black Christmas, Gremlins, Krampus etc.), none are more notorious than 1984’s Silent Night, Deadly Night. To say that this Canadian film was controversial would be an understatement. Due to the fact that the killer in this sleazy slasher is dressed as old Saint Nick, a fact that the marketing materials had a lot of fun with, the flick was actually protested off screens in the States after two successful weeks at the box office! Locally, it was “Banned in Queensland”, which was how you knew it was going to be good. Still, you can’t keep a good Santa down, and SNDN went on to much success on home video and has spawned four sequels and two remakes of varying quality. However, it’s the original and its lesser (but hilarious) 1987 sequel, Silent Night, Deadly Night Part 2 – now available in 4K in a very fancy limited edition boxset – that we’re concerned with today. Because Santa’s here and he knows that you’ve been naughty!
Silent Night, Deadly Night is the story of poor bloody Billy Chapman (Jonathan Best/Danny Wagner/Robert Brian Wilson) who, at five years old, has a pretty grim Christmas when a bloke dressed as Santa Claus murders his father (Geoff Hansen) and rapes and murders his mother (Tara Buckman). Naturally, this gives young Billy, and to a lesser extent his younger brother Ricky (Melissa Best/Max Broadhead) a dim view of the crimson clad gift distributor, but with a sensitive and caring long-term therapy program, he could probably come good.
Unfortunately, Billy and Ricky end up in the Catholic system, at St. Mary’s Orphanage, where the grim disciplinarian Mother Superior (Lilyan Chauvin) rules with an iron fist and frequent spankings. By the time Billy has turned 18, he’s grown up to be a huge strapping lad with a twisted sense of justice and a brutal phobia of Santa Claus. So, when his workplace, Ira’s Toys, forces him to dress up like Kris Kringle, ol’ mate finally snaps and turns Christmas Eve into his own personal slay ride.
Silent Night, Deadly Night is bloody effective. Yes, it’s grimy, sleazy and clearly made on a miniscule budget, but it features a very solid script from Michael Hickey that actually spends the time building Billy as a character, with surprisingly sophisticated themes of PTSD, survivor’s guilt and religious oppression. It’s also solidly acted with a heartbreaking performance from all three Billys (at ages 5, 8 and 18), but particularly Robert Brian Wilson and a stunning turn from Lilyan Chauvin as Mother Superior, who is the true villain of the movie (as anyone who went to Catholic school will no doubt agree). The gore, when it arrives, is a little ropey but effective (Linnea Quigley’s antler experience remains a jaw-dropping classic) and the ending is as tragic as it is inevitable.
Silent Night, Deadly Night is merciless, brisk, without an ounce of fat on it. It’s a perfect, lean, killing machine with a solid structure and a sleazy but well-oiled pace.
The sequel, however, is a whole other story.
Silent Night, Deadly Night Part 2 is barely a movie. The first half features Billy’s brother Ricky (Eric Freeman) recounting a summary of the first movie to cynical shrink, Dr. Henry Bloom (James L. Newman). This is pretty standard horror movie stuff, but the bloody thing goes on for 40 minutes! When Ricky’s story properly begins, which again happens at the halfway mark, things pick up as Freeman offers a hilariously unhinged performance, but in terms of overall quality, this is a massive step down in terms of story, acting and gore.
The thing is, though, Silent Night, Deadly Night Part 2 is also one of the most gleefully stupid and wildly entertaining horror films ever made. Watched as a serious horror flick? It’s a disaster. But whacking this thing on with your mates after you’ve necked or smoked a few? It becomes a piece of bizarre, avant garde outsider art. Every acting choice Freeman makes is so truly bizarre that you just can’t take your eyes away from him. Sure, “Garbage Day!” became a meme, and deservedly so, but there are so many other baffling choices made in this cheap and nasty attempt to cash in on the original, that it’s worth watching at least once just for the sheer experience.
Both films are available in 4K and Blu-ray quality, although the Unrated Cut of the original is sadly only available in Blu-ray! Who the hell is voluntarily watching the version of the slasher film that has less gore and nudity? Also, the unrated footage is still video quality, so it stands out like dog’s balls. This is understandable given the age of the thing, and no one else is offering a version with the cut footage upscaled (unlike the recent 4K release of Tom Savini’s Night of the Living Dead (1990)), but it’s still worth mentioning.
The Extras:
Santa’s sack is positively heaving with extras in this 4 disc collection. For SNDN, there’s audio commentary by author Amanda Reyes and The Hysteria Continues Podcast, another with actor Robert Brian Wilson and co-executive producer Scott Schneid and a third with writer Michael Hickey, composer Perry Botkin, editor and second unit director Michael Spence, and co-executive producer Scott J. Schneid.
There are featurettes like Oh Deer! – Linnea Quigley on Silent Night, Deadly Night (an interview with the iconic Scream Queen), Christmas in July: Silent Night, Deadly Night Locations and various other goodies. Best in show goes to Slay Bells Ring: The Story of Silent Night, Deadly Night which tells the whole history of the flick from conception to execution to the release and the legacy of this film. It’s a story that involves a lot of chutzpah, some seriously dodgy producers and an unexpectedly long-lasting legacy.
For SNDN2, we have audio commentaries, a handful of solid featurettes and interviews with cast and crew. Best in show is Slay Bells Ring Again: The Story of Silent Night, Deadly Night Part 2, a feature length documentary that has appearances from director Lee Harry, who seems to have a great sense of humour about the whole thing, and an unexpectedly sombre Eric Freeman, who is grateful for the fans but not super psyched about being the ironic punchline for the terminally online since the mid 2000s.
The whole edition comes in a massive hardbox (seriously, it’s huge) with four large full colour posters, eight lobby cards, a comic book and (this is amazing) an actual VHS copy of the original film in all its sleazy, unrated glory! Hell, most of you don’t have a VHS player, but this is a glorious addition sure to please those of us who saw this nasty little flick at an ill-advisedly young age.
The Verdict:
Silent Night, Deadly Night is a perfectly efficient slasher film, dripping with mid ‘80s sleaze and misanthropy and featuring a smart script with lashings of jetblack humour and a surprising amount of empathy for its main character.
Silent Night, Deadly Night Part 2 is a cynical cash grab from lazy producers looking to make a quick buck, buoyed by solid direction (when new material finally arrives) and a wonderfully camp, genuinely unhinged lead performance that makes this an unintentionally hilarious classic.
Having both films together in this gorgeous-looking edition is a boon, and while it’s certainly not cheap, fans of these films (and ‘80s slashers in general) would do well to pick it up on a sale.
Or perhaps you could ask Santa…
