Silent Night, Deadly Night (1984)

After his parents are murdered, a 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.

Director:

Charles E. Sellier Jr.

Writers:

Paul Caimi (based on a story by), Michael Hickey

Stars:

Lilyan Chauvin, Gilmer McCormick, Toni Nero

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
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

Storyline

After seeing his parents murdered in front of him a young bit spends most of his life in an orphanage where he is abused by the mother superior when he turns into a teenager he gets a job as a department store santa and when he sees two people having sex in the store he gets flashbacks when his parents and when he can't take it anymore he turns into a santa serial killer.

---

Plot Keywords:

santa claus | serial killer | christmas | christmas horror | serial murderer | 

---

Taglines:

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

---

Genres:

Horror | Thriller

---

Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

9 November 1984 (USA)

Also Known As:

Slayride

Filming Locations:

Heber City, Utah, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$1,065,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$1,432,800, 11 November 1984, Limited Release

Gross USA:

$2,491,460, 18 November 1984

Company Credits

Production Co:

TriStar Pictures,Slayride

Technical Specs

Runtime:

79 min 85 min (uncut) 96 min (video)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Graphic designer Burt Kleeger created the infamous poster art of Santa going down the chimney with an axe.

---

Goofs

While Billy and family are traveling in the opening scenes of the film, the radio reports the weather twice as being in the low 20s. Despite this very cold weather, no one in the family is wearing winter coats or gear.

---

Quotes

Grandpa: You see Santa Claus tonight you better run boy, you better run for ya life!

---

Connections

Referenced in The Crow: Salvation (2000)

---

Soundtracks

Sweet Little Baby
Written by Morgan Ames

User Reviews

Merry Kill-Mass

In the height of the Reign of the Slasher film, "Silent Night, Deadly Night" (like the far superior "Friday the 13th" and "Halloween" series) mixes horror with a theme, this time, Christmas. Taking place of three periods in time, the film follows Billy Chapman and the horrific events that he witnessed on Christmas as a child - the murder of his parents by a man dressed up as Santa Claus.

Naturally, this disturbed young Billy who (along with his younger brother Ricky) was placed in an orphanage, run by the cold Mother Superior, where each Christmas he gets understandably upset. When Billy reaches 18, he gets a job working in a store, but at Christmas time Billy starts to get a little ax-happy, killing anyone who he sees doing anything naughty - usually involving sex, for years or child hood trauma had disturbed him so much, Billy was told people who do naughty things get punished, so now he was the punisher.

Production values aren't that bad, but the acting is rather mediocre. Lilyan Chauvin is quite good as the wicked Mother Superior, but hottie Robert Brian Wilson, as Billy gives the standout performance. The music is utterly awful, not just because there are Chrismas Carrols littered all throughout the film, but the score is annoying, and the one proper song shoved in is just as bad. Being the 1980's and during the Reign of the Slasher, naturally there is plenty of sex and bare breasts.

"Silent Night, Deadly Night" is a fairly good film that could have been explored a little further, it just didn't seem to hit the mark in terms of addressing the story on more than a couple of levels. There were some decent and interesting death scenes though. It's certainly not the worst slasher film around, and is followed by one rather dull sequel and three semi-unrelated sequels which have yet to be released on DVD.