Silent Night, Deadly Night Part 2 (1987)

The now-adult Ricky talks to a psychiatrist about how he became a murderer after his brother, Billy, died, which leads back to Mother Superior.

Director:

Lee Harry

Writers:

Michael Hickey (characters), Paul Caimi (characters)

Stars:

Eric Freeman, James Newman, Elizabeth Kaitan

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Eric Freeman	...	Ricky Caldwell
James Newman	...	Dr. Henry Bloom (as James L. Newman)
Elizabeth Kaitan	...	Jennifer (as Elizabeth Cayton)
Jean Miller	...	Mother Superior
Darrel Guilbeau	...	Ricky at 15
Brian Michael Henley	...	Ricky at 10
Corrine Gelfan	...	Mrs. Rosenberg
Michael Combatti	...	Mr. Rosenberg
Ken Weichert	...	Chip (as Kenneth Brian James)
Ron Moriarty	...	Detective
Frank Novak	...	Loan Shark
Randall Boffman	...	Eddie (as Randy Baughman)
Joanne White	...	Paula
Lenny Rose	...	Loser
Nadya Wynd	...	Sister Mary

Storyline

The door of the mental hospital opens, releasing Ricky from its confines. He takes with him the terrifying memory of his brother Billy's death and the burning image of Mother Superior-the powerful figure that brought about his brother's violent demise. For Ricky, starting a new life means avenging his brother's death. By whatever means necessary, whether it be the cutting edge of a shiny steel knife blade, or the electrifying charge of a set of battery cables, Ricky is set in this blind journey of revenge leading ultimately to Mother Superior. As Mother Superior prays in the dark, we suggest she say an extra prayer for herself, because not even her faith will be enough to stop Ricky. But prayers will do little for in the silent part of this night!

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Plot Keywords:

repeat sequel | mother superior | psychiatrist | revenge | police officer shot | 

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Taglines:

The nightmare is about to begin... again!

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Genres:

Horror | Thriller

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Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

10 April 1987 (USA)

Also Known As:

Silent Night, Deadly Night Part 2

Filming Locations:

Sierra Madre, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$100,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$53,442, 12 April 1987, Limited Release

Gross USA:

$154,323

Company Credits

Production Co:

Silent Night Releasing Corporation

Technical Specs

Runtime:

88 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The love scene between Ricky and Jennifer was cut down dramatically.

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Goofs

In the VHS version, when Ricky crosses the street during his shooting rampage, the entire crew is visibly standing around, equipment and all. The DVD release crops out most of the crew, though a boom mic and the top of someone's head are still visible.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Henry Bloom: Hello, Ricky. I'm your court appointed therapist. My name is Dr. Henry Bloom. You can call me Henry, or if you want, you can just call me Doc.
Ricky Caldwell: Fuck off... Doc!

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Crazy Credits

So much flashback footage from part one is shown in the first half of this movie, that when the end credits start, they credit the ENTIRE cast and crew from part one also, along with the cast and crew of this sequel.

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Connections

Referenced in The Cinema Snob: To All a Goodnight (2018)

User Reviews

One of the worst sequels of all time

Silent Night Deadly Night 2 is the film version of those terrible recap specials that come every couple seasons or so on a popular television show. Comprised of recycled clips from previous episodes, these specials usually are close to un-viewable. They take the best clips from the series that most people have already seen and place them one after another out of context, thus stripping them of any of the original comedic value or suspense. Likewise, Silent Night Deadly Night 2 is mostly comprised of footage from its predecessor. In fact, over forty-five minutes of the footage has been cribbed from the original. This has never really been done in any movie before, and there's a good reason for this, even beyond that these clips have to be viewed in their original context to retain the same power. Most people watching the sequel have already seen the first entry. No one wants to sit through the same stuff over again. Sequels are supposed to continue the story, not rehash it. This is why while the original Silent Night Deadly Night is a personal favorite of mine, this film is possibly one of the worst sequels of all time.

Silent Night Deadly Night 2 focuses on Ricky, the younger brother of Billy who was the original "Santa Claus" killer from the original. Ricky has followed in the path of his brother and become a serial killer as well. Now detained, he recounts his story to a psychiatrist. Cue footage from the first film, used in the form of flashbacks. Not only is this boring, but it makes absolutely no sense at all. Ricky's flashbacks date back to when he was less than a year old in some cases, where it would be almost impossible to have any memory. In other instances it is certainly impossible for him to remember several of the flashbacks as many don't even involve him. The fact that Ricky has memories of things that he was never a part of and would never have a way of finding out, is just one of the many enormous plot-holes.

After about forty five minutes, Ricky begins recounting his personal story of growing up. Thankfully the recycled footage ceases and the audience is presented with something new. Unfortunately, it is insanely stupid, venturing into so-bad-it's-good area half the time and just bad area the other half. Despite not being old enough to have been emotionally scarred by the same events that sent his older brother over the edge, Ricky has also become a psychopath. The difference here is that while his brother was set off by the sight of Santa Claus, Ricky gets murderous tendencies whenever he sees the color red. When he sees a red truck he subsequently murders the owner with it. When he sees a red umbrella, he uses it to impale a gangster in what is possibly the lamest death sequence ever. When he sees a red blanket, he nearly has a heart attack. The problem with this is that it's virtually impossible to avoid the color red on a daily basis, meaning young Ricky would have heart attacks every time he got a test back graded with red marker. Not to mention that this makes for a fairly pathetic serial killer. All you have to do is put on a red t-shirt and he will probably wet himself (although by the end he has inexplicably gotten over this fear and dons a Santa suit).

In one mind-boggling sequence, Ricky takes his girlfriend to the movie theatre to watch the original Silent Night Deadly Night. Keep in mind this is a sequel to Silent Night Deadly Night that continues the exact story from where it left off. Even Ricky has a "huh" moment as the film starts and is revealed to be the first entry in the series. How can Ricky, who was in the first film and has crystal clear memories of events that occurred within it, go and watch the first film in a movie theatre? Does this mean that Ricky is delusional and the events from the original never happened? Or does this mean that Ricky has crossed over out of the movie-universe and into the real world. No, all it means is that the writers were probably snorting cocaine while they typed out this script.

It doesn't go much lower than the movie theatre sequence, but there are still plenty more examples of stupidity sprinkled throughout the rest of the film. Eric Freeman's ridiculously over-the-top acting as Ricky, accompanied by eyebrows that seem to bounce around his face like they've been injected with acid, turn his "Garbage Day" rampage into a laugh riot as he blows up cars with his pistol and shoots at people taking out the trash. The scene has since become a viral video hit, garnering hundreds of thousands of views on sites like Youtube. By the end of the film the director seems to be trying to turn Ricky into some sort of classic horror movie villain, as he is practically unfazed as he is remedially shot in the chest. While this works for inhuman villains such as Jason Voorhees, it makes absolutely no sense for Ricky to be brushing off shots straight through his chest like they are bug bites. Then the ending comes around and it truly is just plain retarded.

Silent Night Deadly Night 2 could have been enjoyable in a so-bad-it's-good way. There are certainly some instances that made me laugh out loud. However, over half of the running time consists of boring, recycled footage from the original Silent Night Deadly Night, which makes it not worth the time to get to the "good" stuff. If Silent Night Deadly Night was a nice, little Christmas gift, Silent Night Deadly Night 2 is just huge lump of coal