Silent Night, Bloody Night

Preceding the "psycho killer on a rampage on a holiday" era of horror films by a few years, this film manages to wring a fair amount of suspense and some well-directed murder scenes out of its miniscule budget. An eerie musical score, Andy Warhol veterans Ondine & Candy Darling in cameo roles, & the presence of Mary Woronov aid in the film's success. One complaint: It is VERY poorly produced resulting in most of the film being overly dark.

The delightful Mary Woronov stars as a witness to some very grisly goings-on at the gorgeous old Butler House. The house has been abandoned since the death of the family patriarch Wilfred, about 20 years ago. Now, a member of the family, Jeff (James Patterson), has returned to sell the house off. (Patterson - dying of cancer during the filming of Silent Night Bloody Night - gives a depressive, menacing and bizarre performance, which works quite well here). There is an inexplicable amount of local concern about the house, and soon, the reasons begin to reveal themselves.

Some of the acting in this film is quite poor, and there are rather immense problems with believability and plot holes galore. Nevertheless, this ambitious and complex film deserves attention for its clever storyline and affective (if annoying) low light photographic technique. There is too much voice-over, but without it, comprehending the plot might be impossible. The film is alternately engaging and tedious, largely depending on who is on screen.

All-around, for an axe-murder film, Silent Night Bloody Night is surprisingly subtle, clever and well directed. Recommended for horror fans.

Terror flick containing eerie events , dark atmosphere , gory effects, and high body-count . The film is a fair murder mystery in which at an isolated location a series murderous goes around to slice up as well as hack people who are relentlessly butchered . Here takes place several grisly murders between towners and other inhabitants carried out by a strange murderer . As an escaped lunatic terrorizes a small New England town , particularly a house that was once an insane asylum . A man called Jeffrey inherits a mansion which once was a mental home . A few years later , Jeffrey (James Petterson dead at 40) finally decides to sell this grandfather's house , and a real state businessman (Patrick O'Neal) and his girlfriend (Astrid Heeren's last feature film , though she only starred three movies) arrive in the mansion to sell it , but the towns people including the Mayor (Walter Abel) have mixed feelings on keeping people away from the mansion , while a killer on loose carries out an extreme slaughter . For one night in each century , the devil controls the heavens...and earth becomes an inferno of horrors! The night earth became an inferno of horrors! . The mansion... the madness... the maniac... no escape.

Terrifying and scary horror movie in which a serial killer escapes from a mental institution causing chaos , destruction and a lot of killings . It displays a confusing plot dealing with non-sense murders and an inheritance wished by corrupt people , ambitious people , incest , and investment speculators into selling mansion . Not great , but well done terror thriller with mysterious events , some nail-biting suspense and slick scene changes . The classy plot about a criminally insane man executing a criminal spree with unexpected consequences , while scaring the people living in the region . Stars a decent cast as the early deceased James Patterson who died of cancer several months after , here playing the heir who begins to investigate some crimes happened in old times , he played along with the gorgeous Astrid Heeren and Patrick O´Neal in The Castle Keep (1969) by Sidney Pollack . And Mary Woronov who performed various cult movies for her second husband Paul Bartel and two veterans actors of long career as Walter Abel and horror myth John Carradine. There's a thorny discussion about if this Silent Night , Bloody night (1972) results to be the first slasher , while others considering Black Christmas (1974) by Bob Clark . In fact , the picture is regarded as being one of the first slasher films , being actually the first : A Bay of Blood (1971) by Mario Bava , though others as Psycho (1960) by Alfred Hitchcock , and Peeping Tom (1960) by Michael Powell had already established the seed of this popular sub-genre .

This classic terror picture was professional and strangely directed by Theodore Gershuny (1933-2007) with vivid images , though very sinister at times and abounding night , dark scenes . Theodore was married to Mary Woronov who here has a main and well played role . Theodore Gershuny was a writer and director, who wrote and directed a few films , being especially known for Tales from Darkside , Stephen King's Golden Tales (1985) , Monsters (1988) and Sugar Cookies (1973 , ) Kemek (1970). Rating : 6.5/10. Decently made and original terror movie . The motion picture will appeal to terror genre enthusiasts.

A casual viewing of this old cult favorite will not explain what's going on. The characters are frequently called by other names, and the unseen (until the last scene) insane killer calls himself Marianne. There are so many characters related to each other and so many people involved in the tragedy that it's hard to keep up with who-did-what and why. Jeffrey is a red herring, and we never know for sure if he is who he says he is, even though Diane checks his ID (which is a California drivers license). John Carradine is wasted as a mute who only rings a bell, grunts and writes on a pad to communicate. Mary Woronov is very likable, as is Astrid Heeren, but one I would have liked to see more of was a reluctant telephone operator played by Lisa Richards. In fact, in order to vaguely understand what I had seen, I had to reread all the information here. I am still not impressed with the result, which could have been so much better.

Really bizarre film that has some sepia film flashbacks-in-time which truly makes the footage look like it was filmed in 1910. The acting is so-so and the first half of the movie is kind of slow-paced. I wish there were still some good clean copies of the film, the DVD versions that are out are somewhat murky and it distracts from the viewing at times. All in all, a weird film that should be viewed at least once.