Silent Night, Bloody Night (1974)

User Rating:

5.1/10   

Director:

Theodore Gershuny

Writers:

Theodore Gershuny (writer)
Jeffrey Konvitz (screenplay)

Release Date:

April 1974 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Horror | Thriller

Tagline:

The mansion... the madness... the maniac... no escape.

Plot:

A man inherits a mansion, which once was a mental home. He visits the place and begins to investigate some crimes that happened in old times, scaring the people living in the region.

Plot Keywords:

Christmas | Christmas Eve | Serial Killer | Sepia | Flashlight

Cast

Patrick O'Neal	...	John Carter
James Patterson	...	Jeffrey Butler
Mary Woronov	...	Diane Adams
Astrid Heeren	...	Ingrid
John Carradine	...	Charlie Towman
Walter Abel	...	Mayor Adams
Fran Stevens	...	Tess Howard
Walter Klavun	...	Sheriff Bill Mason
Philip Bruns	...	Wilfred Butler (1929) (as Phillip Bruns)
Staats Cotsworth	...	Wilfred Butler (voice)
Ondine	...	Chief Inmate
Tally Brown	...	Inmate
Lewis Love	...	Inmate
Candy Darling	...	Guest
Harvey Cohen	...	Inmate

Also Known As:

Death House
Night of the Dark Full Moon (UK)
Zora (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

88 min | USA:81 min | Canada:64 min (dvd version)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Norway:18 | USA:R | Iceland:(Banned)

Filming Locations:

Oyster Bay, Long Island, New York, USA

Company:

Armor Films Inc.

Trivia:

Since star James Patterson died shortly after principle photography another actor had to be used to dub his dialog for later scenes in the film.

Quotes:

Diane Adams: How old are you?
Jeffrey Butler: You mean how many years have I lived?

Movie Connections:

Edited into Mad Ron's Prevues from Hell (1987) (V)

Nice idea, but kind of a mess.

This movie had to have had a very miniscule budget, because it looks very poor. Everything in this one looks very shoddy, it doesn't help that the company that put this one on dvd looks like they got a copy of this movie on vhs back when tapes first came out and just transferred it to dvd without making any improvements, or cleaning it up. The story could have been interesting, but it really falls apart in the end with a very long flashback scene that is very poorly done. The end also is kind of confusing as I was wondering about this and that. You will know who committed the murders, but you won't know a couple of the other details. On the plus side this one moves very fast and is relatively short. John Carradine is in this one, in a rather small role. For some reason he doesn't talk and only rings a bell or writes on a pad to tell people stuff. This is a waste as Carradine has a very distinguished voice. The Christmas decorations here and there don't look very good either, as they look like they were just draped here and there without much thought as to where they would go. All in all, I won't say stay away from this one, just don't expect too much.