Silent Night

A pretty straightforward remake of the sicko seasonal 1984 classic "Silent Night, Deadly Night", this is all just insane enough, mean-spirited enough, and sadistic enough, to tickle genre fans looking for a no-fooling-around good time. Filmed in my own home province of Manitoba, in Canada, it's actually set in Wisconsin, as a demented moralizer dressed in Santa Claus garb is hellbent on punishing the naughty - insufferable brats, pornographers, slutty teens, everyone is fair game. A young police deputy (the lovely Jaime King) who's not sure she's cut out to be an officer of the law is among those following the mutilated corpses that Psycho Santa is leaving in his wake. Die hard horror fans will relish the high body count and the plethora of practical gore; digital bloodshed is kept to a minimum. They'll also be happy with the amount of female skin on display; Courtney-Jane White, playing Tiffany, is a real looker, but it's Cortney Palm as porno actress Maria who delivers a pleasing dose of extended gratuitous nudity. Palm also figures in what has to be the highlight of the piece. I won't say too much, but let's just say it's similar to something that happens in the Coen brothers' "Fargo". Commendably, none of this is ever played TOO seriously, and fans of the original "Silent Night, Deadly Night" parts 1 and 2 will love the nods to memorable sequences and lines from those two films. This makes for good no-brainer entertainment, and it's done with a reasonable amount of slickness; note the lighting and the atmospheric quality of the final showdown with Aubrey and the killer. It's also worth a mention how the filmmakers are willing to slaughter the younger members of the cast. Director Steven C. Miller keeps the action flowing, and the cast gives this a great effort. King, who'd pulled remake duty in "My Bloody Valentine 3-D" as well, is winning in the lead, and veteran Malcolm McDowell is a total hoot as her macho, posturing sheriff. Donal Logue as cynical Santa performer Jim, Ellen Wong as dispatcher Brenda, Lisa Marie as Mrs. Morwood, and Brendan Fehr as ill-fated deputy Jordan round out a good group of actors. The only real complaint on this viewers' part is that there's no wintertime feel to any of this. Would it have killed the filmmakers to at least have SOME snow on the ground? Overall, though, not bad. Seven out of 10.

I was initially lured in by the somewhat odd cover for this movie; having a strange-looking Santa there with a flamethrower. If that is not an eye-catcher, then I don't know what it.

Having seen the movie now, I somewhat sit here and wonder where the horror in the movie vanished off to, because this movie was anything but scary. And if anything, then the older movies in the same genre, such as "Silent Night, Deadly Night" or "Black Christmas" were actually more entertaining than this 2012 movie.

The story in "Silent Night" is about a mysterious and masked person dressed up as Santa Claws who goes on a killing spree in a small town during the Christmas holidays. And it is up to the local police force to bring an end to the murderous rampage.

Story-wise, it wasn't the most interesting of movies, as it was all something that basically had been seen before in other movies. That being said, I am not saying that it is all bad, because the movie does manage to entertain from the very start and up to the end. Sure, there were some questionable moments and goofy parts to the movie, but all in all, it did manage to entertain. However, this movie is not likely going to become a Christmas classic such as "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation" is, nor is it the type of movie that you will most likely ever watch again after having seen it once.

If you enjoy horror movies, then "Silent Night" is not the best of choices, but there are far worse movies available.

The police force of a remote Midwestern town search for a killer Santa Claus who is picking off citizens on Christmas Eve.

First of all, let me get this off my chest: the film takes place in the Midwest on Christmas Eve and there is not one flake of snow... and the grass is still green. Even when we have no snow on Christmas (rare, but possible) the grass is quite dead... not sure what these people were thinking.

And second, calling this a "loose remake" of the 1980s slasher "Silent Night, Deadly Night" seems to be just a way to get around the fact the idea of a killer Santa has already been done. The films have practically nothing in common beyond the title... and could be treated as completely unrelated without anyone noticing.

But comparing a 2012 slasher to a 1980s slasher is unfair from the start. The styles are different, the culture is different. And frankly, for as bad as most slashers are these days (particularly the remakes) this one holds up surprisingly well. We like seeing Santa chase people down, we love the ax... and we really love the wood chipper. Sure, I still prefer practical effects, but they did not go overboard on the CG like they could have.

Let me get this out of the way. I had not seen the original "Silent Night, Deadly Night" until last week. I am a huge horror fan and this one kind of slipped under my radar. The original is by itself pretty bad. The acting is bad and any shades of a good horror movie are lost in the mess of bad acting and nonsensical plot. This movie attempt to rectify the problems with the original by establishing a much simpler storyline. The kills are there for sure. The practical effects are for the most part pretty good. It's a welcome sign to see a horror film that attempts to take full advantage of the advances in practicals. There are some cool callbacks to the original and its sequel while at the same time the film separates itself from the original series. The major issue with the film is that it's just not very exciting. Kills happen, and they are cool, but there is just no tension built. Even though the storyline has been slimmed down compared to the original, it feels like they missed a lot of opportunities to develop some three-dimensional characters. Everyone is just kind of there. Malcolm McDowell is the weakest part of the movie. I'm not sure when he decided to start playing every character the same, but his crazy old man routine is getting stale. Jamie King is mostly okay. We really don't much of a back story on her character and her eventual transformation is kind of out of left field. Donal Logue is probably the best thing in the movie, but his character is also just another throw in. It's a weird movie because it looks professional enough to be a wide release movie, but the holes in the film are just too wide to overcome. All and all it's a fine rental if you have 90 minutes to waste, but it certainly doesn't break any new ground. The original is certainly not hallowed ground. It's the kind of movie that just begs to be remade. I'm fine with what we ended up with. This isn't The Exorcist, The Thing, or Halloween so I'm not going to go off the deep end over a classic being remade.

I have seen a lot of Steven C. Miller flicks and I liked them although they mostly got bad reviews. Automaton Transfusion (2006) and Cry Of The Banshee (2011) are a few examples.

Silent Night is another horror made by Steven and again some will hate it. The reason is simple, it's a throwback to the slasher era. That means a few things, a lot of blah blah and a few nasty killings. And that's exactly what this film delivering. Don't think that you will see a flashy horror like made nowadays with excellent CGI effects, no this is really a old school slasher and one with a season theme.

Malcolm McDowell is in it and he really plays the pain in the *ss copper. That adds something toward this flick. And it's really one for the boys because it do has gratuitous nudity for a few minutes with a girl running around with bare breasts. The first killing I saw i thought ooo nooo CGI blood but later on it becomes rougher and even a bit gory.

It doesn't add anything to the genre but it's a great slasher for the older geeks to see, I'm sure you are going to pick up the other Santa slashers.

Gore 1,5/5 Nudity 2/5 Effects 3/5 Story 3/5 Comedy 0/5