Silent Night, Deadly Night

 

Silent Night, Deadly Night

Release Date - 1984

Country of Origin - United States

Directed by Charles Sellier

Starring - Robert Brian Wilson, Lilyan Chauvin, Gilmer McCormick, Toni Nero, and Linnea Quigley

Well would you look at that, it’s Christmas time, a time that is known around the world as a season of joy. It (Christmas) is a day of celebration for both religious purposes and for cultural purposes. It is the suggested and accepted date of Jesus’ birth and is most known for as the day that everybody gives presents. This cultural aspect is what stands out the most and is celebrated by people regardless if they’re Christian or not. Like Halloween it is a holiday with many a tradition: giving gifts, watching Christmas movies, eating cookies, decorating trees and your home, eating cake (well at least in Japan), rape, murder, mental scaring, and watching a naked Linnea Quigley. What’s that, those last four aren’t Christmas traditions? Well sure they are! Haven’t you ever watched the timeless Christmas classic known as Silent Night, Deadly Night (1984)?

Silent Night, Deadly Night is one of the more prominent films in the slasher genre, it coming out in the mid eighties. While it isn’t in the same tier as some of the other films of the genre (it tends to fall in with the My Bloody Valentine crowd instead of, say, the Halloween crowd) it’s regarded as a classic of the genre. It’s also one of the most controversial, it becoming a lightning rod for controversy upon release. Why? Well to make it short, parents were upset after television ads for the film strongly emphasized the killer Santa aspect of the movie, they deeming it too much for kids and audiences. People began protesting the film and it gained negative reviews. Most famously the film was virtually assassinated by “esteemed” film critics Siskel and Ebert as well as Leonard Martin. Siskel and Ebert even named of the names of the crew members in an attempt to shame the makers, because you know, that’s totally the mature thing to do. It’s a bit sad really that this Christmas horror movie got so much slack, but the 1980 film Christmas Evil (which also featured a deranged Santa) didn’t. Then again this was protested by people who didn’t have the smarts to turn the channel, explain to their kids that the Santa in the ads wasn’t the real Santa. The controversy only helped the film though, even after its original distributor TriStar Pictures dropped it. Hell, the film was released the same day as A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) and outgrossed it. Not bad for a cult classic that was shit upon by angry parents.

Since then it’s become a cult classic of the slasher genre and the controversy has died down. The film has even gotten more positive reviews in recent years due to people actually reviewing the film and not reviewing it simply on the basis of “killer Santa.” However controversy and cult status does not make a great film. So for my Christmas gift to all of you, my loyal followers, I’m going to take a look at the movie. Let’s find out if its reputation is as good as it’s said to be, or if it’s only hyped because of the controversy.

The film begins on Christmas Eve 1971. Little Billy Chapman (played during this section by Jonathan Best) is taking a trip with his parents and baby brother Ricky. Where are they going? Why to the asylum to visit his catatonic grandfather. Why? Because it isn’t Christmas unless it’s with the ones you love. Especially those in a mental institute. When Billy’s parents go off to study grandpapa’s records, grandpa comes to life and informs Billy that Christmas Eve is the scariest night ever. He continues on and tells Billy that Santa does reward those who are good, but only fully good. Any boy or girl deemed naughty is punished. This obviously (and rightly) scares the shit out of Billy, grandpa laughing at the child’s fear until the parents return, he then becoming catatonic again. I’ve always been curious just why Billy’s grandfather is like this. It is true that what he says is the truth, but he does it in such a shit your pants fashion. Plus why does he act catatonic? They should’ve made one of the sequels about him and show why he is the way he is.

Nearby, a man dressed like Santa Claus (who sounds like Joe Pesci) robs a small market and kills the cashier. The man escapes, he angered by the fact that he only got $35 from the register (he shouldn’t be complaining though, that’s $31 in 1980s money). Our joyful family is now heading home, Billy telling his parents that he doesn’t want Santa to come for fear of being punished. Well unfortunately for Billy he gets to meet Santa, as Robber Claus’ car seems to have broken down, he standing in the road as the family approaches. Billy’s dad pulls up and after asking what’s wrong is met with a gun. He backs up as quickly as possible but is shot and the car stops. Billy escapes into a nearby field as the robber pulls his mother out of the car and lays her in the road, he ripping her top off and attempts to rape her. She fights back, her attempt only angering the man to the point that he pulls out a knife and slits her throat, killing her. He calls out for Billy, the madman obviously making him his next victim.

We then cut to three years later with no word on what happened to our crazed Santa. Billy (played in this section by Danny Wagner) is now residing in a Catholic (at least I think their Catholic) orphanage. He is sent to the office of the Mother Superior (played by Lilyan Chauvin) for drawing a graphic picture of Santa being killed. She sends Billy to his room as punishment and tells him to stay there until she says he can leave. After he leaves, Sister Margaret (played Gilmer McCormick) tells the mother that this is happening because Billy still remembers the events of his parents’ murders. Mother Superior denies it, she claiming that there is no way he can remember (yeah because five year olds always forget seeing the graphic murder of their mother and father).

Later during the day Sister Margaret tells Billy he can come out and play. On his way outside he hears noises, they leading him to a closed door. When he peeks inside the keyhole he sees two teenager residents having sex, this causing him to flashback to the near rape of his mother. Mother Superior comes charging in after pushing Billy aside, she then using a belt to “punish” the two, Billy running outside. She (Superior) confronts Billy outside and asks what he saw, Billy saying he doesn’t know which makes sense; he’s only 8 after all. She tells him that what he saw was very naughty and worthy of punishment, she then going on to say that punishment is absolute, necessary, and good. The dear mother then takes Billy to his room and spanks him with a belt as punishment for leaving his room (even though he was told he could leave). That night Billy starts having nightmares about the murderous Santa and his dead parents, he running out of his room in terror only to be caught be Mother Superior. For leaving his room Mother Superior straps him down to the bed. You know spanking is one thing, but strapping somebody down to a bed as punishment is another, especially considering he only left his room in fear. Then again why didn’t his roommate go and get help?

The next day on Christmas Billy looks to be in good spirits, he joining in with the other kids quite merrily. But Mother Superior has a plan in place. You see it seems that every year the orphanage hires somebody to play Santa and come in so that the children can thank him for their gifts, she finding them spoiled and needing to give thanks (when has anybody ever thanked Santa?). She plans to force Billy onto Santa’s lap, she determined to get him over his fear of Santa. You know the one she said he didn’t have. Well things go as well as you expect, Billy struggles and loses his mind, he even punching the Santa square in the face before running off. He runs to his room and huddles in a corner, he repeating that he didn’t mean to be naughty and that he doesn’t want to be punished.

Cut to 10 years later and Billy is now 18 (and is now played by Robert Brian Wilson). With the help of Sister Margaret (I guess he’s out of the system now and the nuns are helping him get set up in the real world) he gets a job in a toy store and does very well there, leaving his boss and fellow employees impressed, he even forming a crush on one of them named Pamela. However the year goes by and it’s now Christmas time, Billy obviously starting to get depressed and withdrawals from everybody else. One night he dreams of making love to Pamela, the dream abruptly ending as a killer Santa kills him and Pamela. His co-workers have noticed how shaky he’s gotten recently, one named Andy in particular to get his head out of his ass. Christmas Eve comes and due to an employee injuring himself the stories in need for a new Santa. The job is given to Billy and, well, yeah he takes to it as you’d expect. When it comes time to meet the kids he seems to do a good (albeit soft) job of it, but he gets upset a little girl struggling and tells her if she keeps being naughty he’ll punish her. She stops struggling some and the rest of the day seems to go by well enough.

Later that night the store has its Christmas party, everybody getting shitfaced saved for Billy, Pamela, and Andy (though Billy does drink some alcohol, it probably not helping his current mental state). As the night goes on Billy’s boss Mr. Simms tells him that he should remember that he’s Santa Claus and needs to do what Santa Claus does. Billy soon finds Pamela being raped by Andy in the stockroom, this in combination with what his boss told him, and his whole mental state brought on by the holiday, and probably the alcohol sets him off big time. He kills Andy by strangling him with some Christmas lights, they even cutting into his neck. When he tries to console Pamela she only calls him crazy and attacks him, again setting off Billy who now deems her naughty, he stabbing and killing her with a utility knife. When Mr. Simms comes to check the stockroom after hearing noises come from it he is met with the claw side of a hammer to his head. A fellow employee named Mrs. Randall discovers the murders and attempts to leave, Billy killing her with a toy bow and arrow (man the 80s really didn’t fuck around with toys did they?). Billy then unlocks the door and leaves, Sister Margaret soon coming to the store and discovering what has happened.

In a house in some other part of town two teenagers named Tommy and Denise are starting to get it on (they played Leo Geter and scream vixen Linnea Quigley). They’re interrupted shortly by a little girl (I’m not sure if Denise is her older sister or her babysitter, they never really say) but quickly send her back to bed with the promise of Santa not coming if she doesn’t go to sleep. The couple starts to go at it again but Denise hears bells, she coming to the conclusion that the cat wants to come in (I’m sure Tommy wants to open Denise’s cat door). She goes upstairs and lets the cat in, but Billy pops up proclaiming to punish her. Denise closes the door but Billy has an axe and, as you could expect, chops the door down. He chases her into a living room and eventually is able to kill Denise, impaling her on a pair of Deer antlers. Tommy goes upstairs and finds the carnage, Billy popping out and the two start fighting. Tommy gives a good fight but is eventually vanquished after Billy tosses him out of a window, large shards of glass going into his face, neck, and chest. The little girl comes down stairs after Billy has finished his mayhem, she approaching him due to his appearance. He asks her if she’s been naughty or nice, and when she replies nice he gives her his bloody box cutter (apparently Billy is the Santa from Futurama).

The following morning on Christmas we say Sister Margaret in a police station, she having been there all night with Police Captain Richards, telling him all about Billy. It seems the police haven’t been able to catch up with Billy, so the captain deduces they try to think about where he’ll strike next off of the sister’s information. If you the audience even has one brain cell you should be able to deduce that Billy is heading towards the orphanage and Mother Superior. The kids have just finished opening their gifts and are out playing, a police report going out to shoot Murder Claus on sight if needed. Well for one cop it means he gets action almost immediately, as he spots a Santa walking into the yard of the orphanage. He pulls over and without a moment’s hesitation shoots Santa down in front of all of the kids. But, uh oh, turns out that wasn’t Billy, it was a deaf priest who was going to play Santa for the kiddies (why did they hire a deaf guy to listen to kids?). Mother Superior gets upset at the cop and asks him why he killed the now deceased priest, she finding it weird he would kill somebody dressed in a Santa Claus outfit (apparently she has not paid attention to the news).

In an attempt to get away from the dear old Mother our cop friend goes outside to patrol the premises, he eventually going down into a basement/boiler like room area after seeing the door moving, he finding nothing there. On his way back up however he does indeed find something, an axe firmly planted in his chest, courtesy of Billy. Billy then heads towards the orphanage, though he does make a quick pit stop to decapitate a snowman (guess he didn’t like Michael Keaton’s performance in Jack Frost). He goes up to the door and gets a child to let him in (I guess they either locked the door or it’s the type that can only be opened from the inside), much to the chagrin of Mother Superior. Billy walks with the child for a bit, he hiding his axe behind his back. The nun seems to recognize him almost immediately, calling the kid next to Billy over to her. Once close enough Billy reveals his axe, bringing it over his head ready to strike down the woman responsible for a major part of the pain and suffering he felt in his life, the audience ready to cheer as the (somewhat hero) defeats the villain. Except guess what, Captain Richards and Sister Margaret have made to the orphanage in time to catch Billy about to kill the Mother Super. The Captain shoots Billy down, he landing right in front of the children and Mother Superior, Sister Margaret rushing to his aid. He then tells the children that they’re safe now, that Santa Claus is no more. The film ends as the camera pans and focuses on Billy’s little brother Ricky (played here by Alex Burton) who has witnessed the whole thing. The movie ends right as Ricky proclaims Mother Superior and Captain Richards “naughty.”




When it comes to analyzing Silent Night, Deadly Night one must slide away all of the controversy and hype the film has. This way you’re watching it with a fresh mindset. With the credits rolling it’s easy to say that the film both has it’s good and bad points. With that said, let’s address them and see how the film stacks up.

As one would expect, the story really isn’t anything spectacular. It’s a crazy person going around killing people dressed like Santa Claus. Nothing new as the 1980 film Christmas Evil also featured the killer Santa four years before, and there have been Christmas themed horror movies long before this one (1972’s Silent Night, Bloody Night looks to be the first). Even taking the Christmas element out of the picture reveals a fairly typical slasher, especially once Billy snaps. However while it does come off as a generic mid eighties slasher, Silent Night, Deadly Night actually has a bit more depth to it. The depth obviously coming from Billy. This isn’t a film about your average maniac, in this film we see the maniac become the maniac. We follow Billy’s journey from little boy to homicidal killer. Because of this the film is a bit of a character study, it sharing similar themes as films such as Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer (1986), Monster (2003), and Maniac (1980 and 2012) and many others. As a character study the film isn’t bad, however it definitely is a rather textbook and almost bland and standard tale of traumatic event combined with religious guilt. While it’s easy to sympathize with Billy (and equally be angered by him) the study doesn’t go far a whole lot. It does add to the story, but not by a whole lot. So when looking at the story and the sum of all of its parts, the story isn’t bad but it does fall a bit into the generic zone.

Moving onto characters they aren’t so lucky. Billy is fairly complex and we do see him develop throughout the film. His development is rather textboox however it is nonetheless development, leading to us as the audience to feel and hate him, a combination which is quite horrifying given that he’s a serial killer. The rest of the characters however are pretty damn flat. All of the characters outside of Billy and just cardboard cutouts of other characters (the strict nun, the slutty girl, the asshole guy, the drunkard, the bumbling cop). So yeah, the film loses it when it comes to the handling of its characters outside of the main one.

On the more technical side of things the film is pretty nice. The cinematography is good and some shots are really nice. It’s definitely easy to tell it’s a film from the 80’s though due to some of the sets and the overall slight grain the film has. As for music there isn’t much of it but when it pops up it’s rather nice and helps set the mood and atmosphere. The main song of the movie (which I’m assuming is called Santa’s Waiting) is pretty nice and catchy. I’m not sure if it’s a real song though or if it was just written for the movie. And as for the kills, they sure do deliver. The film doesn’t mess around with dispensing of its victims, blood finding its way all over the place. The standout kill without a doubt goes to Miss Quigley’s double penetration. Overall the cinematography, music, and kills are rather nice, though the cinematography definitely screams 80s.

And that’s Silent Night, Deadly Night. How is it? Rather nice I might say. It definitely has its issues, they mostly coming from a story that while it has some depth to it just doesn’t have a lot of meat to it, and all of the characters outside of Billy being blander then Brand X. It’s a bit grainy and dated in look but I can’t really hold that against the film. But while its cons are fairly major the movie does offer a lot of good things. The character study while rather dry is handled well and should spark a small psychological analysis/pondering, it has some chilling music, and like most slasher movies from the 1980s has great kills.

The cons may appear to outweigh the pros, but while those cons are serious I do think that Silent Night, Deadly Night is an enjoyable film. It isn’t anything award winning worthy but it’s great for an hour and a half of mindless entertainment. Was it worthy of all the controversy? Hell no. Is it worthy of the cult hype status? I would say yes. Silent Night, Deadly Night while not the best, is one of the best when it comes to the slasher genre.

C

With that said, I hope you all have a merry Christmas, a happy Hanukah, a wonderful Kwanza, or a good whatever the hell you celebrate this time of the year. I hope your holidays are filled with joy and cheer and I’ll see you all next year...

...okay fine here, have it as a Christmas gift.

There, you happy now? Hohoho and all of that.