Silent Night Deadly Night

This killer Santa movie got quite the infamous reputation upon its release due to excessive violence. The film differs from a lot of slasher films in that it spends half of its running time showing the back story of the killer, as we watch him endure a parade of horrors from childhood through his teenage years. In the end, it leaves him mentally unbalanced, with a particularly skewed vision of who Santa Claus is and what he's supposed to do.

Once he dons the Santa suit and goes on his killing spree, the film drops any attempt at story as we watch him move from one scenario to the next, killing those he encounters, or as he thinks of it, "punishing the naughty." It's all pretty dopey, but the lead (Robert Brian Wilson) gives it his all, and some of the gore effects are memorable. Also with Charles Dierkop, Tara Buckman, and scream queen Linnea Quigley. Followed by several sequels, and remade in 2012.

It isn't hard to see why this movie offended so many people. I mean, it's a slasher movie about CHRISTMAS, and it actually has SANTA as the killer. However, I feel the movie deals with an interesting question. What if you suffered some traumatic event right at Christmas, and the event was somehow bound up with one of the major icons of the holiday? This is what happens to 5-year-old William, who, on Christmas Eve, sees his mother raped and both parents murdered by a street thug dressed as Santa Claus -- right after his semi-senile grandfather tells him that Santa Clause punishes those who are naughty. I think the first part of this movie does an effective job of showing the preadolescent William's struggle to deal with this event as he is raised in a Catholic orphanage and brought face to face with Christmas every year.

I was particularly impressed with the portrayal of the Mother Superior. Although she was most definitely from the Old School of discipline, beating children, locking them in closets for extended periods, and such, I somehow was able to believe she was sincerely trying to do the right thing and cared about the children -- that she was not simply a sadistic hag. There was also an interesting conflict between her and a younger nun, who believed in gentler, more progressive methods.

Alas, the whole thing turns rather formulaic when William puts on the Santa suit and goes on his killing spree. So, as a serious exploration of the question we started with, it falls very short of what it could be. As a slasher movie, though, it's definitely above average.

I enjoyed this film alot. I'm a horror nut and I love 80's slasher movies..so no its not for everybody...but for those who do like 80's slashers you should really check this out. The story is good, it sounds cheesy with santa being a killer, but the back story is very well done, the character development is great, the music works, and it has one of the coolest death scenes in a movie ever....(antlers) Sure, here and there it can be cheesy-PUNISH!- but it still is very watchable and I recommend it to any horror fan around the holidays.

In 1971, on the Christmas Eve, a family heads to a nursing home to visit the catatonic grandfather of the 5-year-old Billy and the baby Ricky. While his parents go with the baby to discuss the treatment with the doctor in the office, Billy is left alone with grandpa. Out of the blue, he awakens and tells Billy to be afraid of Santa Claus since he punishes who is naughty. While driving back home, a killer posing of Santa Claus lures Billy's father that pull over his car on the road and Billy witnesses the killer murdering his parents. A few years later, Billy and his brother are raised in an orphanage run by the tyrannical Mother Superior (Lilyan Chauvin) that believes that punishment is the better way to educate children. Sister Margaret (Gilmer McCormick) feels that Billy needs psychological support but the Mother Superior does not agree. In 1984, when Billy (Robert Brian Wilson) turns 18 years old, Sister Margaret finds a job in a toy store for Billy. On the Christmas Eve, Billy´s chief Mr. Sims (Britt Leach) asks Billy to replace the employee that plays Santa Claus for the clients and their children since he is injured. The Santa suit associated to alcoholic drink trigger his insanity and Billy begins his murder rampage punishing naughty people.

"Silent Night, Deadly Night" is a bold 1984 horror movie that challenges the Christmas symbol of Santa Claus. The scene on the beginning of the feature with Billy witnessing the murder of his parents is also very brutal and cruel. The deaths and the special effects are original and do not disappoint fans of slaher genre. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Natal Sangrento" ("Bloody Christmas")

Silent Night, Deadly Night tells the story of a boy whose parents were killed in front of him as a child, and it was by a man dressed as Santa Claus. Not only that, the man shot the kid's dad in the head and tried to rape his mother before slitting her throat while the boy watched. He hid so he escaped, but the memory remained, even throughout Catholic school where the Mother Superior was strict and violent, saying punishment is good and all naughty children should be punished. Naturally, this messed with the kid's head, so one day when he's finally all grown up, Christmas time comes along at his job and someone has to dress up as Santa Claus. Well, who better than the kid whose parents were killed by Santa to play dress up! He then embraces being Santa Claus, a judgmental fat man who kills naughty people, and that's when the bodies start piling up.

It's a truly dark story. The movie would have been much better had they focused more on the psychological aspect as opposed to it just boiling down to "Santa is a killer. Now I'm Santa. Now I must kill!" It felt like the whole setup was wasted for an anticlimactic, soulless killing spree. Sure, there are some good kills, and there are plenty of boobs in typical '80s B-horror affair, but it failed to make an impact on anything more than a surface level. It's an enjoyable movie, it's simply a matter of greater potential not being realized.

Now this is a horror movie, not an unintentional comedy like its infamous sequel, and it's admittedly effective as one. It's refreshing when a horror movie has an actual narrative you can follow. Worth a watch if you're a horror buff or just want to watch Santa kill topless women for an hour and a half.