Silent Night, Deadly Night (1984)

Director:

Charles E. Sellier Jr.

Writers:

Paul Caimi (story)
Michael Hickey

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 | Mother | Santa Suit | Boy

Cast

Lilyan Chauvin	...	Mother Superior
Gilmer McCormick	...	Sister Margaret
Toni Nero	...	Pamela
Robert Brian Wilson	...	Billy at 18
Britt Leach	...	Mr. Sims
Nancy Borgenicht	...	Mrs. Randall
H.E.D. Redford	...	Captain Richards
Danny Wagner	...	Billy at 8
Linnea Quigley	...	Denise
Leo Geter	...	Tommy
Randy Stumpf	...	Andy
Will Hare	...	Grandpa
Tara Buckman	...	Mother (Ellie)
Geoff Hansen	...	Father (Jim) (as Jeff Hansen)
Charles Dierkop	...	Killer Santa
Eric Hart	...	Mr. Levitt (Storekeeper)
Jonathan Best	...	Billy at 5 (as Jonathon Best)
A. Madeline Smith	...	Sister Ellen
Amy Styvesant	...	Cindy (as Amy Stuyvesant)
Max Robinson	...	Officer Barnes
Vinc Massa	...	Young Boy Sledding - Doug (as Vince Massa)
John Michael Alvarez	...	Young Boy Sledding - Jim (as Michael Alvarez)
John Bishop	...	Older Boy Sledding - Bob
Richard C. Terry	...	Older Boy Sledding - Mac (as Richard Terry)
Oscar Rowland	...	Dr. Conway
Richard D. Clark	...	Officer Miller
Tip Boxell	...	Officer Murphy
Angela Montoya	...	Little Girl on Santa's Lap
Molly Cameron	...	Girl's Mother (as Mollie Cameron)
Jayne Luke	...	Other Mother in Store
Joan Forster	...	Other Mother in Store (as Joan S. Forster)
Betsy Nagel	...	Other Mother in Store
Barbara Stafford	...	Teen Lover at Orphanage
Paul Mulder	...	Teen Lover at Orphanage
Spencer Ashby	...	Santa at Orphanage
J. Paul Broadhead	...	Santa in Store
Alex Burton	...	Brother (Ricky) at 14
Max Broadhead	...	Brother (Ricky) at 4
Melissa Best	...	Infant Ricky
Dan Rogers	...	Dispatcher
Spencer Alston	...	Child at Orphanage
Kristi Ballard	...	Child at Orphanage
Jacob Peterson	...	Child at Orphanage
Jonathan Wilde	...	Child at Orphanage
Susie Massa	...	Child at Orphanage
Sarah Stuyvesant	...	Child at Orphanage
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Aron Kincaid	...	Obnoxious Deejay (uncredited)
Judith Roberts	...	Mother Superior (uncredited)
Jean-Paul Rodrigues	...	Child in Orphanage (uncredited)
Micheline Rodrigues	...	Child in Orphanage (uncredited)
Monique Rodrigues	...	Child in Orphanage (uncredited)
Don Shanks	...	Santa Climbing in Window (uncredited)

Directed by
Charles E. Sellier Jr.

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Paul Caimi		story
Michael Hickey

Produced by
Ira Barmak	....	producer (as Ira Richard Barmak)
Scott Schneid	....	executive producer (as Scott J. Schneid)
Dennis Whitehead	....	executive producer

Original Music by
Perry Botkin Jr.		(as Perry Botkin)

Cinematography by
Henning Schellerup

Film Editing by
Michael Spence

Casting by
Stanzi Stokes

Production Design by
Dian Perryman

Art Direction by
Linda Kiffe

Set Decoration by
Linda Kiffe

Makeup Department
Judee Guilmette	....	assistant makeup artist
Perri Sorel	....	hair stylist
Perri Sorel	....	makeup artist
Karl Wesson	....	special makeup effects artist
Richard N. McGuire	....	special makeup effects artist (uncredited)
Susan Reyes	....	assistant special effects makeup artist (uncredited)

Production Management
Bart Foster	....	production manager
Denis L. Stewart	....	unit manager (as Denis Stewart)

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Perry Husman	....	second assistant director
Michael Spence	....	second unit director
Denis L. Stewart	....	first assistant director

Art Department
John Bateman	....	assistant props
Terry Haskell	....	construction supervisor
Terry Haskell	....	property master
Jim Stoddard	....	set dresser

Sound Department
Chris Carpenter	....	sound re-recording mixer
Flash Deros	....	boom operator
Mel Metcalfe	....	sound re-recording mixer
Dean Okrand	....	sound re-recording mixer
Terry Porter	....	sound re-recording mixer
Rod Sutton	....	sound mixer
Bill Wistrom	....	supervising sound editor
James Bailey	....	foley artist (uncredited)
Michael Keenan	....	sound department assistant (uncredited)

Special Effects by
Rick Josephsen	....	special effects
G. Lynn Maughan	....	special effects assistant (as Lynn Maughan)

Stunts
Frank L. Bare II	....	stunt coordinator (as Frank Bare)
Jeff Chumas	....	stunts
Doug Coleman	....	stunt double
Eliza Coleman	....	stunt double
Lisa Resendez	....	stunts
Don Shanks	....	stunts

Camera and Electrical Department
Billy Dickson	....	camera operator (as Bill Dickson)
John Farr	....	grip
Joseph Gutt	....	first assistant camera (as Joe Gutt)
Bruce Hamme	....	gaffer
Scott Howell	....	second assistant camera
Dennis Jorgenson	....	electrician
Kim Kono	....	grip
Richard A. Mitchell	....	best boy (as Rick Mitchell)
Rebecca Poulos	....	second assistant camera
Bill Sellier	....	still photographer
Arly H. Thomsen	....	key grip (as Arly Thomsen)

Casting Department
Marcia Reider	....	casting: Utah
Debra Rubinstein	....	casting assistant (as Debbie Rubinstein)

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Patricia Duran	....	assistant wardrobe
Verkina Flower	....	wardrobe
Jim Manson	....	assistant wardrobe

Editorial Department
Simon Gittins	....	assistant editor
Mark W. Rosenbaum	....	associate editor (as Mark Rosenbaum)

Music Department
Adam Milo Smalley	....	music editor (as Adam Smalley)

Transportation Department
Jim O'Keefe	....	transportation captain
John Orlebeck	....	driver
Field Smith	....	driver
Vikki Williams	....	driver

Other crew
Eugene Barmak	....	assistant to producer
Steve Bennett	....	caterer
Martin Combs	....	security coordinator
Eric Grosshan	....	extras assistant
Andy Howard	....	production auditor
Janet Johnson	....	production coordinator
Connie Kruger	....	business affairs
Solomon J. LeFlore	....	production financing
Julie Magnuson	....	assistant: Mr. Sellier
Joy Mendenhall	....	production secretary
Patricia Motyka	....	script supervisor
Cate Praggastis	....	extras coordinator
Jamie Reeves	....	set mechanic
Marcia Reider	....	dialogue coach: children
Bill Sellier	....	emergency medical technician
Garth Wilkinson	....	location manager
Tom Willett	....	craft service

Production Companies

• TriStar Pictures
• Slayride

Distributors

• TriStar Pictures (1984) (USA) (theatrical)
• Aquarius Releasing (1984) (USA) (theatrical) (re-release)
• Umbrella Entertainment (2010) (Australia) (theatrical)
• Anchor Bay Entertainment (2003) (USA) (DVD)
• Anchor Bay Entertainment (2012) (USA) (DVD)
• Antoniana Home Video (Italy) (VHS)
• Avid Home Entertainment (1991) (USA) (video)
• Future Film (2007) (Finland) (DVD)
• Image Entertainment (USA) (laserdisc)
• Indies Home Entertainment (2004) (Netherlands) (DVD)
• International Video Entertainment (IVE) (1987) (USA) (video)
• Live Video (video)
• Lumina-Films (1986) (Belgium) (video)
• MRA Entertainment Group (2005) (Australia) (DVD)
• Showtime (????) (Finland) (VHS)
• USA Home Video (II) (1986) (USA) (VHS)
• Umbrella Entertainment (2010) (Australia) (DVD)
• Umbrella Entertainment (2010) (Australia) (TV)
• Umbrella Entertainment (2011) (Australia) (video) (VOD)

Also Known As:

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:

Australia:R | USA:R | 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 (VHS rating) | UK:18 | Belgium:16 | Argentina:18 | West Germany:18

Filming Locations:

Heber City, Utah, USA

Company:

TriStar Pictures

Trivia:

All the film's TV ads were immediately pulled off the networks because of the trailer showing Santa Claus carrying an axe, which practically depicted him as a mass murderer. This motivated parents to protest the film and instantly had it yanked out of theaters after making a profit with its limited release.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: Following the murder of Ellie Chapman (Tara Buckman's character), she is shown one more time before the flash-forward to 1974, during which her heart can be seeing beating against her bare chest; even far more visible is the carotid pulse beating against the stage blood on her neck.

Quotes:

Jim Chapman:Need a ride, Santa Claus?
Killer Santa:Oh, no, not exactly.
Jim Chapman:What's the problem?
Killer Santa:Oh, there's no problem. It's just that I've run into a bit of lolly luck.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The Crow: Salvation (2000)

Soundtrack:

Christmas Flu

One of the best Christmas horror films

Ah, Christmas. Although it has become increasingly commercialized and sometimes appears to be nothing more than a huge crash-grab for multi-million dollar corporations, Christmas have remained popular year after year. While the underlying message the holiday carries with it of caring for one another has been overshadowed by companies desperate attempts to launder more money out of consumers, the holiday-themed films often still carry these reaffirming messages. There's a reason that "A Charlie Brown Christmas" and "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" air on TV every year to solid ratings: in today's dour times, where even our popular movies have deviated from escapism and taken on a depressing quality, it is refreshing to see a film that can make us feel good about ourselves and life in general.

This is also why Christmas-themed horror movies are often more disturbing than their regular themed counterparts. Christmas has become representative of joy, cheer and ignorant bliss, and even the most jaded of adults can remember with fondness the excitement they felt as children at the idea of Santa. When you give Santa an axe and have him hacking people to pieces, he might as well be hacking up all our good feelings for the holiday. Christmas is supposed to be happy and people can't stand to see it represented as otherwise. This is why "Silent Night Deadly Night", a slasher that is no more violent than your average Friday the 13th film, was targeted by a massive protest during its release in 1984 and subsequently pulled from theatres and home video. People couldn't stand to see the feel-good time of year used in such a depressing manner and their childhood idol, Santa Claus, turned into some sort of psychopathic murderer. It wasn't just ultra-conservative Christians that fought to have this movie banned: even Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel shamed the entire cast and crew on their show.

The movie starts out with a series of tragic events on Christmas Eve that instill a warped view of St. Nick into young Billy. First, Billy's family pays visit to his clinically insane grandfather, who warns Billy that Santa will punish him for his naughty behavior. Then on the drive back from the institution, a criminal dressed as Santa murders his father and rapes his mother, slitting her throat afterwards and leaving Billy and his baby brother without parents. The two children are brought to an orphanage, where head-nun Mother Superior consistently punishes young Billy for the rest of his childhood, especially around Christmas time, which is usually when Billy begins acting out with memories of his parents murder still fresh in his head. By the time Billy has reached his eighteenth birthday, he lands a job at a local toy store. However, when he is required to don a Santa's suit for Christmas Eve and the co-workers begin referring to him as Santa, Billy goes over the edge, setting out to punish those who have been naughty...with the help of an axe.

Silent Night Deadly Night is another entry in the long list of eighties slashers, and while some may see it as nothing more than Friday the 13th featuring Santa Claus instead of Jason, it differentiates from other slashers in several ways. The over-the-top gore, often a staple of the slasher film, is toned down here, with much more tonally realistic violence, excluding an instance of death-by-antlers. However the biggest difference is the subject matter, which is much more grim than usual, including such topics as rape, sexual abuse and child abuse. Juxtaposed against the cheery Christmas setting, these factors propel Silent Night Deadly Night to a disturbing level that most other slasher films don't ever reach. Sure, some of the deaths are good old fun, but the murder and rape of Billy's mother, as the young child watches, is fairly shocking, as are several of the other sequences throughout. The grainy camera quality smears another layer of sleaze and grunge over top the film. While Silent Night Deadly Night isn't quite as vile and disturbing as the notorious Maniac, it is pretty darn close.

Slasher films have never been known to feature the most likable characters, and Silent Night Deadly Night is no different. In fact, here the films sole attention is on the murderer himself, Billy, with his victims usually getting nothing more than a minute or two of introduction before being snuffed. And while Billy isn't likable (and I would be a little scared of anyone who said he was), he generates a certain amount of pity, stemming from the fact that he is not a bad guy. He is a good guy who has been driven insane by the constant abuse he suffered as a child. He is a product of his environment, and while he may not induce much compassion as he begins to pull a box cutter on a child, he is a sad case of the effects child abuse can have on a human, and generates empathy despite his heinous crimes. There is more depth to Billy than Jason or Freddy, and that is part of the reason the film is more disturbing than most other slashers.

The final aspect of Silent Night Deadly Night that really propels it above most other slashers is not a variation from other slasher genres (like the previous things I have mentioned), but an improvement on most others. This is to say that there are actually some very creepy and frightening sequences, particularly the ending which sent shivers up my arm. The infamous protests that greeted this films release may lead people to believe that Silent Night Deadly Night is nothing more than some sort of exploitation piece. This is not what it actually is though. It is a depressing, quite suspenseful and well-done entry in the sleazy slasher genre, and possibly one of the best Christmas-themed horror movies out there.