Silent Night, Deadly Night (1984)

User Rating:

5.4/10   

Director:

Charles E. Sellier Jr.

Writers:

Paul Caimi (story)
Michael Hickey (writer)

Release Date:

9 November 1984 (USA)

Genre:

Horror | Thriller

Tagline:

You've made it through Halloween, now try and survive Christmas

Plot:

After his parents are murdered, a young tormented teenager goes on a murderous rampage dressed as Santa, due to his stay at an orphanage where he was abused by the Mother Superior.

Plot Keywords:

Orphanage | Sex | Killing | Mother | Young Boy

Cast

Lilyan Chauvin	...	Mother Superior
Gilmer McCormick	...	Sister Margaret
Toni Nero	...	Pamela
Robert Brian Wilson	...	Billy Chapman (age 18)
Britt Leach	...	Ira Sims
Nancy Borgenicht	...	Mrs. Randall
H.E.D. Redford	...	Captain Richards
Danny Wagner	...	Billy Chapman (age 8)
Linnea Quigley	...	Denise
Leo Geter	...	Tommy
Randy Stumpf	...	Andy
Will Hare	...	Grandpa Chapman
Tara Buckman	...	Ellie Chapman
Geoff Hansen	...	Jim Chapman (as Jeff Hansen)
Charles Dierkop	...	Killer Santa

Also Known As:

Slayride (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

79 min | USA:85 min (uncut version) | Belgium:96 min (video version)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Finland:(Banned) (1989) | Iceland:16 | Netherlands:16 | Canada:R (Manitoba/Nova Scotia/Ontario) | New Zealand:R18 | Finland:K-18 (2007) | Canada:16+ (Quebec) | Italy:T (DVD rating) | Italy:VM18 (video rating, cut) | Australia:R | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Heber City, Utah, USA

Company:

TriStar Pictures

Trivia:

This film was planned to be a limited release but open wider by Christmas, but the protest canned the idea, and was pulled after two weeks of release.

Quotes:

Officer Miller: Can you believe this? It's Christmas Eve and we got orders to bring in Santa Claus.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Going to Pieces: The Rise and Fall of the Slasher Film (2006)

Soundtrack:

Santa's Watching

An enjoyable and controversial 80s slasher.

I have to admit, there's a part of me that regards SILENT NIGHT, DEADLY NIGHT as a great movie. It's cheesy and the idea of a killer Santa Claus is really in poor taste, I know, but this as well as other slasher films from this era are actually rather fun to watch for it's camp value. The terrible acting and dialog make it funny, and the murder sequences make it scary.

The film is about a boy named Billy who witnesses his parents being murdered by a man dressed as St. Nick himself. He's then sent to an orphanage where the Mother Superior constantly beats him for every little thing, and tries to get young Billy to appreciate Christmas. When he turns 18, on Christmas Eve he dresses up as Santa Claus as hacks people up with an ax screaming "punish!"

It's not surprising when this film was first released in Reagan America, that it was highly protested by parents saying that the image of a killer Santa Claus is too disturbing for children to watch. My answer: don't take your kid to see it! Wait until they grow up to find that there is no Santa Claus, they'll have to learn it somehow. But I guess that's why I wanted to see this: for the controversy.

It's not a "classic" slasher like THE Texas CHAINSAW MASSACRE and HALLOWEEN, but it's still a good relic from that era.