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The release of this film was picketed by angry parents who were not happy to see Santa Claus depicted as an axe murderer. As a result, box office sales plummeted and the film was shelved for another year where it saw new light in an uncut video form (that has since gone out of print).
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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.
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To protest the film, critics Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel read the credits out loud on their television show saying, "shame, shame, shame" after each name.
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This film was known as "Slayride" throughout its production. Tri-Star decided to change the title to "Silent Night, Deadly Night" at the last minute.
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The title "Slay Ride" actually ended up as a subplot in another film, the Disney holiday movie Ernest Saves Christmas. In the Ernest film, the prospective Santa that Ernest was looking for was appearing in a horror film entitled "Christmas Slay".
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The toyshop where Billy gets his first job is called "IRA'S TOYS", Ira is the first name of one of the film's producers.
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All the films' TV ads were immediately pulled off the networks because of the trailer showing Santa Claus carrying an ax, which practically depicted him as a mass murderer. This lead parents to protest the film and instantly got yanked out of theaters after making a profit with it's limited release.
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Opened on the same weekend as A Nightmare on Elm Street, and briefly out-grossed the latter by around $161,800 before profits fell about 45% by the second weekend.
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In an interview from the documentary 'Going to Pieces: The Rise and Fall of the Slasher Film (2006)', Lilyan Chauvin (Mother Superior) admitted it was a mistake to center the film's publicity campaign on Santa Claus, and believed it would have generated far less controversy if the studio instead focused on Billy's psychological plight.
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When the film was released widely, angered parents picketed theaters where it was being screened, and asked oncoming patrons to sign petitions to have the film removed from theaters. Two weeks later, the film had been withdrawn.
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