When he was a boy, Billy's parents were murdered by a Santa Claus-dressed killer. After being raised in a strict Catholic orphanage, Billy, now a young man, is forced by his shopkeeper boss to dress as Santa for a holiday promotion. His mind, aided by a few drinks, snaps, and Billy decides to "punish" the naughty. Lethally.
Also known as: Slayride
Subgenres: slasher, psychological
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This movie caused an awful lot of controversy before and during its release--it seems kids were terrified by the idea of Santa Claus wielding an axe and murdering people. I can understand people's concern--I was only eight when the film was released, and I didn't like the idea at all. However, when I recently saw Silent Night for the first time, I discovered that it isn't half-bad, as far as slasher films go, and not nearly as exploitational as it was made out to be. The first half of the film is actually pretty good, serving as a slowly painted portrait of a boy's psychological scars, and featuring a decent performance by the lead actor. Unfortunately, the second half is standard slasher fare--random, gratuitous, and senseless. Another of the film's problems is that it does spend the first half of its run getting us to care about Billy, so when he becomes a killer--the bad guy--we still want to root for him. Bit of cognitive dissonance there, folks. (Dec 16, 1999/Dec 14, 2000) | ||||||
Followed by Silent Night, Deadly Night Part II, Silent Night, Deadly Night III - Better Watch Out!, Silent Night, Deadly Night 4: Initiation, and Silent Night, Deadly Night 5: The Toy Maker.
