"Silent Night, Deadly Night" was extreamly controversial when relesed in 1984. Parents were outraged that such a family oriented icon like Santa Clause would be turned into a psychopathic serial killer. (Appereantly Valentine's Day and All Hallow's Eve weren't as sacred.) Anyway, "Silent Night" is about young Billy, who one Christmas goes with his parents to visit his invalid grandfather. The Grandfather scares the wits out of young Billy. A little later Billy watches his parents get killed in front of him by a theif in a Santa Clause suit. To make matters worse he is sent to an orphanage run by a fanatical nun (do they come any other way?) who really enjoys "punishing" the "wicked" just way too much. (You guess what I'm talking about!) Anyway, little Billy grows up, and is released on his 18th birthday. He quickly gets a job in a toy store. Things are going great for awhile, until the Holiday Season rolls around. Then, as the last straw, Billy is asked to play Santa for the kids. He snaps and goes on a particularly grisly killing spree through town. It seems that Billy (in a Santa suit) is making his way toward the orphanage. There are a lot going for this movie. First and fore most, "Silent Night" is a relentlessly dark and cynical movie. It seems that Mr. Charles E. Sellier has a huge problem with Christmas. Not concerning the Birth of Christ or anything with Christianity, but more like the commercialism that has now become synonamos with Christmas. All the murders are excicuted with a Christmas theme (choked to death with Christmas lights, the accidental shooting of a Santa, and my favorite, '80s screem queen icon Linnea Quigley impaled on reindeer deer antlers). The murders are extreamly gory, blood flowing like water. Much in the way of '80s gratuitious sex and nudity. But there are a few problems. I'll skip the bad acting by the no name cast, that's a givin'. The biggest problem was this; I just don't understand why Billy simply didn't refused to play Santa, that would have solved then whole problem (but wouldn't have been much of a movie). The police are needlessly stupid (which is almost forgivin) and way too reckless. They also say that Billy is smart, and that is why he is eluding the police. All he's doing is hiding in ditches when the police drive by, if they'd just slow down they would have found him many times over. But all in all, I really liked "Silent Night, Deadly Night", and I think it desereves to be a classic slasher up there with the other hoilday themed thrillers.
