Silent Night, Deadly Night (1984) TriStar Pictures/Horror RT: 85 minutes Unrated Version (language, strong graphic bloody violence, nudity, strong sexual content, disturbing images and themes) Director: Charles E. Sellier Jr. Screenplay: Paul Caimi and Michael Hickey Music: Perry Botkin Jr. Cinematography: Henning Schellerup Release date: November 9, 1984 (US) Cast: Lilyan Chauvin, Gilmer McCormick, Robert Brian Wilson, Toni Nero, Britt Leach, Nancy Borgenicht, H.E.D. Redford, Danny Wagner, Linnea Quigley, Leo Geter, Randy Stumpf, Will Hare, Tara Buckman, Geoff Hansen, Charles Dierkop. Box Office: $2.4M (US) Body Count: 13
Rating: ****
Silent Night, Deadly Night is a holiday-themed slasher movie that might have gone unnoticed had it not been for all the controversy surrounding it. The PTA was up in arms about the movie’s content and fought to have it removed from theaters. Irate parents complained to television stations that aired the commercial featuring an axe-wielding killer dressed as Santa Claus during the day when young children were likely watching. Large crowds of angry adults picketed theatres showing it. Critics condemned it, calling it worthless garbage and describing it as utterly reprehensible. Leonard Maltin went so far as to speculate how horror filmmakers would follow this one up by asking “What’s next, the Easter Bunny as a child killer?” Naturally, that put Silent Night, Deadly Night at the top of my must-see list! I was sixteen and nothing (not even wild horses) could keep me away from any theater showing a violent horror flick.
It’s a good thing I saw Silent Night, Deadly Night opening weekend. It didn’t stick around for long. Newspapers pulled all advertising about six days after its release. TriStar yanked it from theaters shortly thereafter despite the fact it was doing pretty good box office. TriStar ultimately disowned their product and an edited version was released on video in spring ’86 by an independent distributor.
Why am I telling you all this? I’m providing a frame of reference for the place Silent Night, Deadly Night holds in 80s pop culture and its current status as a cult holiday favorite. It isn’t a particularly outstanding movie by the usual standards. It’s a fairly amateurish production and the acting is pretty bad. However, since it’s a slasher flick, the only thing that really matters is the amount of violence and gore. This one has plenty of it! By the time the closing credits roll, the body count is 13; not too shabby for a movie with an 85-minute running time.
Originally titled Slayride, Silent Night, Deadly Night opens in 1971. It’s Christmas Eve and little Billy Chapman is visiting his grandfather (Hare, Enter the Ninja) at a mental institution with his parents and baby brother. They leave the 5YO alone with dear old Grandpa for a few minutes while they talk to the doctor. That’s long enough for the crazy old man to come out of his catatonic state and scare the hell out of Billy by telling him Santa Claus severely punishes naughty children. On the way home, his parents pull over after spotting a guy in a Santa costume seemingly stranded on the side of the road. He’s actually a robber who just killed a convenience store clerk. He then murders Billy’s parents right in front of him.
A few years later, Billy is residing at St, Mary’s Orphanage with his younger brother Ricky. He’s still deeply traumatized by the events of that night and Christmas always sends him into a downward spiral. Strict Mother Superior (Chauvin, Predator 2) ignores what sympathetic Sister Margaret (McCormick, Godspell) has to say about the boy’s damaged psyche. Her methods of dealing with his problems are right out of the 14th century. She beats him with a belt for disobedience and ties him to his bed when he wakes up screaming from a nightmare. It’s not a very loving environment for a troubled boy. The abuse he suffers at the orphanage only exacerbates his problems.
Billy (Wilson), now 18 and on his own, grows into a strong, handsome young man who works at a toy store. He seems just fine eleven months out of the year. It’s that 12th month that’s hard on him. He’s never gotten over the trauma of seeing his parents slaughtered on Christmas Eve. Unaware of his issues, his boss (Leach, Weird Science) asks him to fill in at the last minute for the store Santa on Christmas Eve. That’s the final straw. Billy snaps and kills his co-workers at the store Christmas party before going out into the night with an axe and a compulsion to punish the naughty.
Obviously, the kill scenes are the high point of Silent Night, Deadly Night. Director Charles E. Sellier (The Annihilators) gives us some good ones. The best is easily when Billy impales a half-naked babysitter (horror superstar Quigley) on a pair of reindeer antlers. Coming in a close second is the teenage bully who gets decapitated while riding a stolen sled down a hill. One victim is strangled with a string of lights. Another is stabbed with a box cutter. The boss gets it via a hammer to the cranium. A lady is shot with an arrow. The babysitter’s boyfriend is thrown through a window. Somebody gets an axe to the chest. A woman’s throat is cut. Several people are shot. The unrated version restores all the gory moments as well as the close-ups of Billy in his Santa suit carrying weapons.
Some of the dialogue in Silent Night, Deadly Night is absolutely priceless like when Billy’s drunken boss says, “Stick with me, kid. By the time this party is over, you’ll think you ARE Santa Claus.” Can we say “poor choice of words”? Billy is fond of saying things like “Punish!” and “Naughty!” before dispatching a victim. When a couple of dim-witted cops receive instructions from their captain, one of them says “Can you believe this? It’s Christmas Eve and we got orders to bring in Santa Claus.” Billy’s grandfather says, “You see Santa Claus tonight, you better run, boy. You better run for ya [sic] life!”
Like I said, the acting is pretty bad, but it’s not the kind of movie that demands master thespians. Thankfully, the gore effects are quite good. In fact, they’re GREAT! The original poster art is pretty cool. It features Santa’s arm sticking out a chimney holding an axe. The taglines read “You’ve made it through Halloween, now try and survive Christmas.” and “He knows when you’ve been naughty.” On the DVD box, the taglines read “Hordes of angry mothers couldn’t keep it away!” and “Slashing through the snow……looking for his prey!” To me, this is pure coolness.
Silent Night, Deadly Night is a truly demented Christmas movie for those who can’t stand the likes of It’s a Wonderful Life. It’s funny that it comes from a filmmaker primarily known as the producer of 70s/early 80s family fare like The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams, In Search of Noah’s Ark, Beyond and Back, The Bermuda Triangle, In Search of Historic Jesus, Hangar 18 and Earthbound. Silent Night, Deadly Night is the complete opposite of kid friendly. I can see where young impressionable children would be upset by the ads. HOWEVER, I don’t agree with it being pulled and censored. That’s just BS! My only regret is that there was no picket line for me to cross when I went to see it. I’m just glad future generations can see it in its full uncut bloody glory. That’s as it should be.
