Silent Night, Deadly Night

I didn't go in expecting much. I was expecting just another bad remake. Was I ever delighted to see that the film had an interesting plot and tried to do some character building and camp (LOTS of it) done really well. It had everything a good bad horror film needed and was tremendously entertaining while being simultaneously interesting and somehow even touching. All while serving up the guts and gore too!

Silent Night, Deadly Night (2025) is a remake of the original film, and going into it, I genuinely had no idea that was the case. I walked into this thinking I was about to watch a brand-new horror movie, not a reimagining of something that already existed. Because of that, the first portion of the film left me confused. I honestly thought I was in for a stupid, throwaway horror experience that would be over-the-top in all the wrong ways. Sitting there early on, I fully expected this to be one of those movies you regret watching five minutes in.

But surprisingly, something clicked. Once the film settled into its rhythm, it completely pulled me in. Instead of feeling disjointed or pointless, it became engaging, focused, and oddly gripping. The story started to generate momentum, and before I realized it, I was locked in. That alone caught me off guard because I had written this movie off almost immediately.

The violence is heavy, brutal, and unapologetic, but it is not as extreme as you would expect, especially considering the people behind Terrifier are involved. It walks a very fine line between disturbing and restrained, and that balance actually works in the film's favor. It never feels like violence for shock value alone. Instead, it feels intentional, controlled, and used to serve the narrative rather than overpower it.

The performances were another major surprise. I didn't recognize the actors, but that honestly worked to the film's advantage. The lead performances felt grounded and committed, especially considering the subject matter. The actress in particular felt familiar even if I couldn't place her, and she carried herself in a way that kept me emotionally invested. The voice work was strong, and the characters felt present rather than disposable, which is rare in holiday horror.

The direction is where the film truly shines. The director absolutely knew what they were doing here. The pacing is tight, the tension builds naturally, and the December setting is used effectively rather than as a cheap gimmick. The screenplay is solid, giving the story room to breathe while still keeping things intense. The concept of being forced to kill throughout December, tied to an advent calendar and a curse, adds a unique layer of dread that separates this from standard slasher territory.

What really hits is the emotional weight behind the story once the twist is revealed. Understanding why Billy is doing what he's doing reframes the entire film. It's not just about violence anymore, it's about inevitability, trauma, and survival. The inclusion of the child abductor element brings an unsettling realism that echoes films like The Black Phone, making the experience even more uncomfortable in the best way.

I did everything I could to discuss this film without spoiling it, because it deserves to be experienced fresh. I was completely wrong about this movie. I expected something awful, something forgettable, something I'd only watch to check off my 2025 list. Instead, I got a genuinely strong horror film with a story that actually mattered. It kept me focused, invested, and surprised me from start to finish. Silent Night, Deadly Night is violent, intense, and emotionally grounded, and it's absolutely one of the better horror experiences of the year.

Mike P. Nelson's Silent Night, Deadly Night (2025) swings into the holiday slasher battlefield with a bloody wink and a bold pivot: this isn't a shot-for-shot redo of the 1984 cult classic, nor a spiritual successor to the 2012 remake. Instead, Nelson stitches together a gnarly, grindhouse infused Christmas nightmare that plays fast, loose, and occasionally paranormal with its source material.

You know how Black Christmas now has two wildly different remakes? The SNDN franchise is officially in that club, another beloved slasher with a pair of cinematic "re-imaginations" that couldn't be more different from one another. And honestly? This 2025 version is a pretty good time... even if it occasionally stumbles in its ambitions.

The biggest surprise is the origin story. Gone is the trauma-driven, psychologically scarred Billy of 1984. This Billy, played by Rohan Campbell is something different altogether: a December active, morality-obsessed serial killer who hunts the "naughty" like a holiday-season Dexter.

It's a change that definitely shakes the snow globe. It also introduces some grindhouse aesthetics: flashy splash screens announcing each victim, a mid-film sequence (yes, the one that leaked online) that goes full exploitation cinema, and a tone that occasionally dips into supernatural territory. It's bold... even if not fully committed.

Campbell does genuinely good work here. It feels like a chance for him to wash off the stink of being stuck in Halloween Ends, where he got saddled with a character arc that deserved at least two movies, not one and a half scenes of being bullied by band geeks. This film uses him better, but you can still feel some DNA from Ends bleeding into the storytelling. Almost as if this was a middle finger to Blumhouse.

The film has energy. It has personality. It has ambition.

What it doesn't quite have is... iconic kills.

Some of the score choices miss the grindhouse tone entirely, and while the vibe suggests over-the-top carnage, the execution doesn't always get there. For a movie pushing the "naughty list" slasher angle with splash screens, you expect something gnarlier, something with more "oh damn!" moments. Instead, the kills, while fun, are mostly forgettable.

That's the part that stings, because the movie wants to go big. It just doesn't always deliver. Some people will love it. Some will hate it. Some will be like, "Wait, why did that part feel like a trailer for another movie?"

But for me? It was a fun one-time watch with genuine rewatch potential. The same way the Black Christmas 2019 remake grew on me until it became an annual holiday comfort film, Silent Night, Deadly Night (2025) might climb that list for me over time. I just need another viewing to know for sure.

And hopefully I'll get that second watch in before our holiday slasher rankings on YouTube, because as wild as this one is, I want to give it a fair shake. Right now, it sits in that interesting zone of: "I liked it... I just don't know how much yet."

After finding a new job, a man working a retail position tries to live a normal life with the woman who works with him, but when his old demons start to resurface, and the voices in his head get too strong, he dons a Santa costume and commits a massacre against those disrespecting him.

Overall, this was a wholly likable and enjoyable genre effort. Among the better elements within here is the central setup that manages to provide a strong foundation for his unraveling mental state for the eventual rampage. Setting up the same backstory and the eventual trauma of the holiday season is a fine touch so that it fills in a lot of the necessary backstory early on which makes the so much of the first half feel like a solid retread involving the quest to be normal and like a valued member of the community with his relationship with his coworker provides a great setup here. Along with the natural attempts at trying to make sure he has a sense of normalcy in his life, the fact that his conscience is always talking to him and spurring along his murderous antics, fueling the sense of inner conflict he has, which brings about the different encounters later on. That comes about in a series of solid and generally enjoyable confrontations that focus on the wholly enjoyable series of slashing encounters featured throughout here. The initial series of setpieces showing him going around the town hacking up those who are rampaging through the community, as it leads up to the great sequence involving the massacre at the racist rally, where the brutal axe slashing and stabbing, which has a ton of bloodshed amongst the carnage. This leads into the solid encounters where his demented inner monologue instills more of a psychological display that is at the center of the film, works to deliver what's necessary here in the holiday cheer, as well as the brutal deaths featuring the axe being used to elicit some solid splatter. These all come together to make for a fun time here, while there are some factors here that bring this down. The main drawback to be had here is the film's jagged sense of pacing, where it's hard to remain invested at points with what's going on. The early dynamics of getting the job at the retail store, getting to meet the co-worker, and starting to develop a relationship with her by being involved in her life set up the sense of normalcy he craves following his traumatic childhood, yet that keeps the slashing to a non-existent point during this period, so that little happens. This leaves the stalking to be a rather brief bit where it's so short and barely a feature in the film that there's stretches where it doesn't matter all that much, only to then be wiped aside when the few scenes of slashing take place to intrude for such a brief time before going back to the drama so the back-and-forth nature is quite distracting. As well, there's also the series of changes made to the structure of the film that aren't all that impactful or worthwhile. The inclusion of the talking voice in his head due to a form of possession that drives the rampage along is a bizarre touch that seems to come about at the worst times and never adds much once the gag has already been worked out. Moreover, the decision to take away the second half of a long-winded rampage and do more of a police investigation on the previous massacre is a strange way of going about this type of story, which lowers the action considerably as it's downgraded in favor of the psychological implications of what he's going through. That's already been established by that point in the film, and it doesn't need it as it needed more action in the proceedings, and will be what ends up holding this down the most.

Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Violence and Graphic Language.

No pun intended - full disclosure: I have never watched the other slasher movies ... this being a remake! A friend of mine was with me and he has seen the first two (with him telling me that he loathed the second one) ... and generally he confirmed that this is the best version of the .. well "story" of them all (I doubt the other Silent Nights were better than the original, let alone this one).

It starts off slow and feels a bit ... off, but it is here to stay ... and character build ... and consume (or merge if you will). There is supernatural in this - it has to be. But the movie works because of the actors and the gore ... so if you like your blood stained (splattered) movie to have some weight and gravitas ... this is one of those cases! It is a bit predictable ... and you may hear voices (no pun intended), but they know best ... well almost all of the time! Now be nice ... or else ...