[Yuletide Terrors] Day 12: SILENT NIGHT, DEADLY NIGHT

Throughout the month of December, we will be highlighting a film a day that has some tie into the holiday somehow. Some titles will be obvious, others won’t be. Some films will be good and, again, others won’t be. However, we think all titles are worth your time whether to give you chills inside your home or to make you drink more eggnog until you puke laughing.

Christmas Eve is a time for family and Billy’s family, including baby brother Ricky, is driving all day to visit his Grandpa in the State Psychiatric Hospital. Seems Gramps hasn’t said a word in years. But when Billy is left alone Grandpa tells him “Christmas Eve is the scariest damn night of the year!” And that Santa Claus punishes anyone that is naughty. On the way home, a man dressed as Santa attacks and kills Billy’s parents. He and brother Ricky are put in an orphanage, where he is systematically tortured by a hard-ass Mother Superior. When Billy (now played by Robert Brian Wilson) is finally 18, he gets a job at the local toy store. Things are going great until Christmas rolls around. An injury forces Billy to dress up as the store Santa. I job he takes on a little too literally. His fragile little psyche snaps and he decks the halls with lots of bodies. You guys, this movie is crazy. Silent Night, Deadly Night has a mean streak a mile long. Billy is put through hell in the first 45 minutes. While there is a lot of intentional and unintentional humor, the sleaze is strong with this one. Billy’s character sees every female cast member disrobe, besides the nuns, and the deaths are grisly. Robert Brian Wilson is pretty good as  a traumatized Billy who is a ticking time bomb. And Gilmer McCormick (the only character in the movie who cares about Billy) does great as Sister Margaret.

The production was not easy, shot mostly at night in the middle of winter in Utah. The long nights and low temperatures were nothing compared to the reactions when ads started running in the paper and on TV. Focusing on Santa Billy stalking prey, the backlash was intense. Parents organized protests outside of theaters playing the film. Siskel and Ebert took time in their show to name the crew and say “Shame! Shame! Shame!” after each one. It’s first weekend the movie outperformed A Nightmare on Elm Street, released on the same day. Only to be pulled from theaters by Trimark shortly after. It would get the last laugh on home video. Since then, Silent Night, Deadly Night has been available off and on on DVD uncut for the last nine years. Last year, Fangoria gave the movie a small theatrical run and I saw a 35mm print of it back in 2011, courtesy of Late Nite Grindhouse. 2014 marks the 30th Anniversary and a Blu-Ray was released in September to mark the occasion. And if that wasn’t enough, Death Waltz Recording is releasing for the first time ever the full soundtrack. And Morgan Ames who wrote “Santa’s Watching” and “Warm Side of the Door” for the film, was set to release a full album of songs. That of course didn’t happen. Better late than never, though. I can’t recommend this movie to everyone, but I feel the ones who get it, will love it. It is my favorite Christmas Horror film and it’s one I can watch anytime of year.