[Yuletide Terrors] Day 14: SILENT 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.

The small sleepy town of Cryer, Wisconsin is ready for Christmas. Their annual Santa Claus Contest draws Santas from all over the country. But this year a Santa comes to town to punish those that have been naughty. The town’s Sheriff (Malcolm McDowell) and Deputy (Jamie King) are trying to close in on the killer. Could it be the cranky out of town Claus (Donal Logue)? And what about the out of work lumberjack (Mike O’Brien)? But in a town overrun with Santas everyone is a suspect.

Silent Night is a modern slasher that delivers the goods. The deaths are incredibly gory and inventive. A man electrocuted with Christmas lights whose eyes burst from the voltage and head cracks like an egg exposing his brain. The sleaziness from the original is present, too. My favorite has to be the woman snorting lines in front of a Nativity set. Malcolm McDowell may get top billing (and he’s good) but the real star is Jamie King. She’s become a bit of a Scream Queen in the last seven years, starring in remakes of My Bloody Valentine and Mother’s Day and David Arquette’s The Tripper.  Donal Logue is great as one of the out of town Santas. Logue’s grizzled jaded act is reliable and always fun to watch(the only good thing in Gotham).

I don’t know if it’s fair to call it a remake. Silent Night, Deadly Night followed the meltdown of Billy. Where here, Jamie King’s character Aubrey is the lead. It’s a mystery who this Murderous Claus actually is. But there are some bits and pieces are used from the original. In the updated version a catatonic Grandfather warns his shithead teenage Grandson. This scene falls flat. Telling an awful teenager he’s gonna die isn’t shocking. And this twerp deserves everything he gets. The antler impalement is reused, which is odd considering all the other gruesome kills, why recycle one? Near the end of the movie a character references the most famous line in Silent Night, Deadly Night: Part 2, it’s a lame joke. About as confusing as the ones in the new Robocop.

If you’re looking for a double feature for a nontraditional Christmas movie night I think this and Silent Night, Deadly Night would work well together. Or if you’re really into punishing people you could always show the Santa Clause trilogy.