Just in time for the holidays. I decided to re-watch the controversial Christmas carnage that was delivered in Silent Night, Deadly Night. In the year 1984, this film was released around Christmas time and dismissed as a holiday film. Upon further inspection, this was a slasher film received as psychological warfare against their children. The PTA and a mob of angry mothers took to the streets to have this film removed from theaters. Of course, these PMS-ing hypocrites had the film pulled only a short time later. The same controversy occurred when illiterate people took their children to Child's Play without researching the film. A stab at the enraged mothers was plastered on an old Child's Play comic with a stamp that said something along the lines of "Mothers Against Killer Dolls".
The plot takes an inventive turn and creates a sympathetic killer. A child is told by his crazy grandfather that Santa is a punishing bastard and ruins the child's malleable mind by poisoning his happiness with venom. Later that night, his parents stop to help a stranded Santa only to be murdered/sexually assaulted. Having witnessed this and becoming an orphan, young Billy grows up under the stern nose of a sadistic nun. Upon reaching adulthood, he reaches within and snaps, causing his primordial aggression gene to swell up revealing the darkness within, thus executing many horny teenagers while growling "Naughty!".
Silent Night, Deadly Night is a certain type of slasher that got too much credit for its controversy. Having an abundant amount of breast shots, the average male will feel at home with this film, but the horribly predictable script allows this film to reek of an unknown waste. I called the "two ball, corner pocket" line long before the sex scene was over. Silent Night, Deadly Night was a project that didn't take too much from the thought process to create. Hell, I'm sure there are many better Yuletide terror films. For example, Bill Goldberg's Santa's Slay which was a low-budget horror film with a plot of fantasy and a single scene in which Fran Drescher's hair bursts aflame.
The high point of Silent Night, Deadly Night is the versatile kills. One woman, in an ode to The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, is hung on a pair of antlers, leaving her hanging in a grotesque fashion over a mantle piece. Adult Billy shows incredible strength and prowess as he hangs potential rapists with Christmas lights. His pent up rage allows for his power to surge through his arms, allowing him to systematically murder without remorse and creating an intimidating atmosphere as he lifts a full grown man with a single arm. Billy is a serial killer one would prefer not to challenge.
While Silent Night, Deadly Night had the balls to tackle a controversial subject of a child icon turning into a murderer; the same could be said for the fictional Mr. Stay Puft man in Ghostbusters. Silent Night, Deadly Night isn't the best slasher film but deserves a fraction of the devoted cult following it has garnered, but the franchise speaks for the film itself. The idea is tired, played out, and wore to the bone. For the holidays, I cannot find a better horror film to recommend, but then again, I haven't dabbled much in the holiday horror genre. Silent Night, Deadly Night is an above-average horror outing, perfect for fans of cheese and gratuitous tit shots.
The plot takes an inventive turn and creates a sympathetic killer. A child is told by his crazy grandfather that Santa is a punishing bastard and ruins the child's malleable mind by poisoning his happiness with venom. Later that night, his parents stop to help a stranded Santa only to be murdered/sexually assaulted. Having witnessed this and becoming an orphan, young Billy grows up under the stern nose of a sadistic nun. Upon reaching adulthood, he reaches within and snaps, causing his primordial aggression gene to swell up revealing the darkness within, thus executing many horny teenagers while growling "Naughty!".
Silent Night, Deadly Night is a certain type of slasher that got too much credit for its controversy. Having an abundant amount of breast shots, the average male will feel at home with this film, but the horribly predictable script allows this film to reek of an unknown waste. I called the "two ball, corner pocket" line long before the sex scene was over. Silent Night, Deadly Night was a project that didn't take too much from the thought process to create. Hell, I'm sure there are many better Yuletide terror films. For example, Bill Goldberg's Santa's Slay which was a low-budget horror film with a plot of fantasy and a single scene in which Fran Drescher's hair bursts aflame.
The high point of Silent Night, Deadly Night is the versatile kills. One woman, in an ode to The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, is hung on a pair of antlers, leaving her hanging in a grotesque fashion over a mantle piece. Adult Billy shows incredible strength and prowess as he hangs potential rapists with Christmas lights. His pent up rage allows for his power to surge through his arms, allowing him to systematically murder without remorse and creating an intimidating atmosphere as he lifts a full grown man with a single arm. Billy is a serial killer one would prefer not to challenge.
While Silent Night, Deadly Night had the balls to tackle a controversial subject of a child icon turning into a murderer; the same could be said for the fictional Mr. Stay Puft man in Ghostbusters. Silent Night, Deadly Night isn't the best slasher film but deserves a fraction of the devoted cult following it has garnered, but the franchise speaks for the film itself. The idea is tired, played out, and wore to the bone. For the holidays, I cannot find a better horror film to recommend, but then again, I haven't dabbled much in the holiday horror genre. Silent Night, Deadly Night is an above-average horror outing, perfect for fans of cheese and gratuitous tit shots.
-mAQ
Agreed. But the poster is definitely classic.
ReplyDelete"The idea is tired, played out, and wore to the bone."
ReplyDeleteI completely disagree!
Not the idea of Christmas evil, mind you. Rather the annoyingly formulaic stalk/kill methods that Sellier, Jr. falls upon. While the "Naughty" tagline was invigorating at first glance, I found that the rest of the "RAH Punishment" just rubbed me the wrong way.
ReplyDeleteCool poster. The movie definitely has its flaws. It's not perfect. It was still fairly enjoyable back when I saw it. Not sure what I would think of it now.
ReplyDeleteWell put SS!
ReplyDeleteNice review.
I actually prefer this one over Black Christmas (the original - I hated the re-make)
Still, Santa's Slay is definitely my favorite in this genre! :-)
Its strange why "thebonebreaker" stopped posting over on his site (the mad ravings of an entertain-girl-t junkie) well over 2 years ago now in May of `09, i always had a sneaking suspicion that it might have had something to do with this site, my reasoning simply being that this site is problematic, offensive, and objectionable, and there-fore he might have read something here that put him off of blogging for the rest of his life, it also proves perhaps that he is in reality a bit of an emotional weakling who cant deal with the truth about the world around him.
ReplyDelete