Silent Night [Blu-ray]

I remember when I was a teenager and I heard they were doing a slasher film with a killer Santa Claus. 20/20 and everyone was up in arms about this concept and Silent Night, Deadly Night's hype was born. And to any horror fan or movie nut in general, when people complain and try to ban a film, those are the ones you have to go see first. The sad news is most of us did get to see this film when it hit home video a year later we did not think it was warranted of what the uproar was about. Now that being said, if Silent Night which is directed by Steven C. Miller would have been the film coming out at that time, I would have seen what the uproar was about. While this is a very loose remake of Silent Night, Deadly Night make no mistake about it, this film is a million times better than any other Christmas slasher film I have seen so far. In a small quiet town in Wisconsin, Santa Claus seems to be coming to town a day early and seems to know who has been naughty and nice. This film has some of the weirdest yet amusing one liners I ever heard, like one I felt could describe this film to a tee. "Once you see it, you can't unsee it". This film is a gore hound's wetdream, and there is no lack of killing, death scenes and fun ways to kill someone. I mean, the film starts off with an electric chair made out of Christmas lights.

Malcolm McDowell plays the town sheriff and you talk about someone who is having a ball in his role, Malcolm uses so many dopey and silly one liners that you will find yourself just waiting for what gem he will say next. When he keeps on describing a situation as putting toppings on a hamburger, you just sit there and think this is dark comedy fun. Jaime King plays the deputy who we learn is going thru a crisis of her own, this is her first Christmas single and she is spent trying to piece the puzzle together and stop the evil Claus. Jaime I was ready to write off after she followed up Sin City, with so many bad films till she got a second life with Mother's Day. And now this, she may have found her calling with these horror remakes.

The funny thing about this movie is that Steven with his wide range of characters touched on everything a small town could never ask for. Also, this film breaks a lot of taboos, and this viewer blesses them for doing so. A foul mouthed little girl gets killed in one of the more fun scenes of the film and when the mother of the girl talks to the police she claims that she did not wish for this to happen she just was hoping for some kind of break or something. Then, you have the perverted priest, who is also another scene stealer especially when in this town; every woman looks either like she stepped out of a modeling agency or off the pages of Playboy. Did anyone else ever notice that in this town, there is no lack of beautiful women and guys who are either drug users, dealers, clueless, perverts or drunks?

I think Steven made this film hoping for backlash, he wanted to give fans a fun horror film that had balls and did not care if it offended anyone. This film is what people expect when they see a slasher film and looks like all involved were having a blast with this film, and it shows when you watch it. This film gives so much fun, I mean I can go on and on about scenes that really shined in this film. When people think about Christmas films, they think of those films that your family or girlfriend drag you to with that feel good message and romance, thank god Steven made the cure for that with this film that is geared towards the horror fan. This film is bat shit insanity from start to finish, and if you sit there and you are not entertained by this very violent bloodbath full of hate, dark humor, cruelness and boobs then maybe you should seek out Four Christmases or something in that nature, this is by far the best Christmas themed horror film I have seen.

This is the rare case of someone following up a really great movie like The Aggression Scale with another great film Silent Night. In film much less horror, this feat these days is rare. All in all, this was a very fun film that offers something for every horror fan on your Christmas list. To me, this feels like the original and the one from the 80's feels like the inferior remake. This is a must see for all horror fans, perverts and anyone who is a fan of anything that pushes boundaries and does not conform to the norm. And fan boys, Steven heard your silent prayers he gives you a cameo of Jessica Cameron playing a nurse and Wanda from Todd and the Book of Pure Evil in some seductive outfit as well. This film has cult classic written all over it, and there is so much more I did not talk about like the topless chase scene, and the total brutality of the kills in this film. This film is vile, disgusting, perverted, cruel and full of humorous hate but damn if I was not entertained from start to finish.

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There seem to be three roads to take when making a horror film these days. The first and least used path is to make something original. Unfortunately few in charge these days are willing to risk anything to make an original film. The second is to make a sequel. The sad part here is that when an original film is made that succeeds it tends to go this route to far lesser productions. The last road is that of the remake. The bad news is that some people feel they need to improve what can be considered a classic and update it for the times, more often than not by adding a few more scenes of titillation or more gore. Most of these fail. But once in a while...

SILENT NIGHT is not actually a remake of the classic bad movie SILENT NIGHT DEADLY NIGHT, the film that caused such an outrage when it was released years ago. Yes, a few of the memorable items from that film are here including a killer dressed in a Santa costume and the antler scene. But this film feels more like a tribute to all of those low budget slasher flicks from the 80s instead of a remake.

Its Christmas time and in a small Midwestern town everyone is gearing up for the annual Christmas parade as well as the Santa costume contest. Aubrey Bradimore is a new deputy for the Sheriff's department. Still dealing with the recent loss of her husband, Aubrey is called in to work the night shift when another officer fails to show for work. Bad goes to worse when Aubrey is sent out to find him only to discover his body strapped to a chair and electrocuted in a basement as well as the dismembered body of a woman upstairs. For those of us watching we know full well who the killer was. Well sort of. It was a man dressed in a Santa outfit with a mask on to keep everyone from knowing up front who the killer is.

The cantankerous Sheriff Cooper (Malcolm McDowell) insults his deputies and rules with an iron fist. Discovering he has a possible serial killer in his town while a major event is schedule doesn't bother him. Instead he welcomes the chance to face down the killer without the help of the State Police or FBI since the roads to town are presently closed. To him this just means that the killer can't leave.

As Aubrey and Cooper as well as the other deputies search for clues, signs of what is about to happen creep up around town. Various town members each receive a small wrapped package but none of them open them. Had they done so perhaps a clue would have led them to the killer? Included in those who receive a package are the mayor, the sheriff and Aubrey's father, an ex-policeman in town.

The victims at first appear to fall prey to that most dangerous of things found in slasher movies; they all seem to be having sex. The deceased deputy was having a fling with a married woman. The killer's next victims are shooting low budget soft core porn in a motel room giving the film makers the chance to offer some nudity, thus satisfying the prerequisite T&A required for all low budget horror films.

As the body count rises, Aubrey continues to try and figure out just who this mass murderer is. Cooper, on the other hand, is ready to blame almost anyone. The clues slowly unravel a bit but in all honesty it doesn't matter. For slasher films of this sort its more about body count and the methods of murder that matter most.

As I said at the start this movie isn't quite a remake of the classic bad film of the same name. That movie revolved around a young boy scarred by a life in an orphanage who had traumatic experiences around Christmas time as well as having witnessed his parents murdered and raped by a man in a Santa outfit. A twist on that is offered here at the very end, but nothing that would lead us to the identity of the killer early on.

The movie seems to pay homage to those cheap slasher films of the 80s by following their patterns fairly faithfully rather than try and make something more meaningful. It offers the masked killer who seems unstoppable. It offers the gushing fake blood by the gallon, more than any wound would actually spout out. It offers victims who are either in the midst of sex or have a secret in their past that began this whole cycle to start with. And it offers a heroine who comes to the rescue before the final reel. It also offers one more classic 80s slasher item but I won't reveal that one. If you don't recognize it then you're not a fan of the genre.

Offering few scares but enough story to hold your interest, this movie isn't that bad. It will be a nice addition to the collection of holiday horrors on your shelf. If you're offended by that sort of thing it will be easy enough to walk by. But for those who have a fond remembrance of those 80s slasher films then you'll want to give this one a watch. The vibes that emanate from this one bring back the feeling of those films in spades.

Absolutely loved this movie - and I'm not one for slasher films! It's just the right combination of silly and scary, which I think makes it better than a lot of horror movies out there. Malcolm MacDowell was a badass, and Jaime King was much better than I expected. Definitely going to add Silent Night to my DVD collection.