Douce nuit, sanglante nuit: les jouets de la mort

Another in-name-only sequel, this time with a "Pinocchio" theme about a toy maker (Mickey Rooney) and his son creating toys that kill people. Interesting premise marred by amateurish performances. Technically well-made, though. My evaluation: ** out of ****.

The Silent Night, Deadly Night franchise is a weird one, the first was about a man who went on a killing spree in a santa suit, the second was about the same mans brother doing the same, the third picked up where the second left off and then suddenly they dropped that whole storyline with part 4 and told a dodgy story about witches.

Well here in part 5 it's another Christmas themed movie with absolutely no connection to the original plot.

It tells the story of a boy traumatised after watching a Christmas toy kill his father. It turns out that someone is creating killer toys, parcelling them up in gift wrapping and sending them to people for Christmas.

Though the movies sfx both practical and cgi aren't great they are saved by some originality. Truth be told I quite liked it despite its glaring flaws.

Starring Mickey Rooney and with a cameo appearance by Silent Night, Deadly Night 4 (1990) star Clint Howard this is an interesting (If a little goofy) horror movie.

The funny thing is that Rooney infamously slammed the creators of the first movie back in 1984. He deemed it disgusting that they'd make a horror movie set during Christmas and publically kicked up a stink about it, then several years later here he is starring in one!

I think this is the best of the Silent Night, Deadly Night franchise but treat it entirely as a stand alone film as that's exactly what it is.

The Good:

Mickey Rooney

Quite original

Well constructed

Great twist

The Bad:

Eyebrow raising finale

Lot of 90's cliches

Things I Learnt From This Movie:

Having the same actor play a different character by the same name in the same franchise is logical, right?

A young boy sees his father killed by a toy that was anonymously delivered to his house. After that, he is too traumatized to speak, and his mother must deal with both him and the loss of her husband. Meanwhile, a toy maker named Joe Peto builds some suspicious-looking toys, and a mysterious man creeps around both the toy store and the boy's house...but who is responsible for the killer toys? despite being a part five in a weak (With the exception of part four and this one) and dead end series, SNDN5 is a very good horror film that is lifted by a interesting premise and innovative special effects. the acting isn't too bad but rather unimaginative and the script is flat. Other than that, this film is almost perfect. After all, Brian Yuzna produced it. You know it's going to be a winner!!!!!!! 7/10.

This film begins with a young boy by the name of "Derek Quinn" (William Thorne) waking up to the sound of a doorbell and, upon going to check it out, finding a Christmas present with his name on it. Naturally, being somewhat excited about this, he immediately tries to open it up but is interrupted by his father who loudly admonishes him and tells him to go back to bed. Curious about what is inside, his father "Tom Quinn" (Van Quattro) then decides to open it up and finds a strange toy inside. Unfortunately, upon further investigation, the toy suddenly springs to life and kills him--while Derek looks on in complete shock from a distance. The scene then shifts to a couple of weeks later with Derek suffering from post-traumatic stress and unable to speak. Although the doctor tells his mother "Sarah Quinn" (Jane Higginson) that he will eventually recover, she still feels sorry for him and, to help cheer him up, takes him to a small toy shop not far from where they live. Not finding anything of interest, they eventually head back home. Not long afterward, the terror begins again. Now, rather than reveal any more, I will just say that this film started off well enough, but it went downhill at the end due to the overacting on the part of Brian Bremmer (as the teenage boy "Pino"). Be that as it may, while I don't consider this to be a good film by any means, it was still better than a couple of others in the series, and I have rated it accordingly.

After subpar sequels 2 to 4, had lowered expectations for this final film in the franchise.

This film is different in comparison to the original but it works in a sense. The plot is creative and makes sense. There is a sense of intrigue as it starts out relatively mysterious and confusing where many things do unfold as the story progresses. Clever twists in the end.

The aspect regarding the toy owner and his creepy teenage son with these killer toys makes for an interesting story. How the intro began regarding the killer toy killing the character left us wanting more.

What ultimately makes this film watchable is not only is the acting passable, the characters are solid and the lead mother and her child son are easy to root for. There are some unique kill scenes, one highlight involving a young teenage man and girl in the bedroom where these killer toys go completely rogue.

A lot better than part 4, also noting that the lead female Kim and the boy Lonnie appear here with lesser roles. Perhaps not on the level of the original but it's certainly at least the second best of the franchise.