by: Shaun Anderson
Posted on 01.23.10 in All Horror Films > Slasher
Release Date: 1984

When John Carpenter and Debra Hill elected to set their Psycho (1960) inspired stalk and slash film around the time of Halloween, there was a certain inevitability about a film like Silent Night, Deadly Night. The only surprise about the film is that it took until 1984 for a major festive themed slasher to emerge. Prior to this, audiences had endured Prom Night (1980/2008), Mother’s Day (1980), New Year’s Evil (1980), Graduation Day (1981), and My Bloody Valentine (1981/2009), before the image of Santa Claus got his moment in the slasher sun and the dubious pleasure of hacking through a bunch of unimaginative stereotypes. Christmas had figured before in slasher mythology; the excellent low budget Canadian entry Black Christmas (1974), utilised the ironic properties of the festive season and almost as an afterthought put in place most of the conventions that would form the slasher sub-genre. You Better Watch Out (AKA Christmas Evil, 1980) can be viewed as a stronger inspiration, but this obscurity has rightly drifted into the mists of time. Silent Night, Deadly Night has forced itself into a position of prominence, because it deals not in irony, but in hard headed cynicism.

Like Paramount with the Friday the 13th series, major producer Tristar decided to get in on the slasher action with this film, but unlike Paramount they didn’t have the balls for the flack to follow. As a result Silent Night had a reasonable budget of $750,000, and the film has a visual look far superior to many of its contemporaries. The premise was also strong enough to tempt the successful and highly competent producer/director Charles E. Sellier Jr (creator of Grizzly Adams) to helm it. His direction is assured and on occasion innovative, his work with cinematographer Henning Schellerup creates a number of impressive set pieces, none more impressive than the infamous antler sequence. The writers try valiantly to create some depth here, and succeed in small measure to create a psychopathic protagonist who has an arc of development. This is done with extended sequences set firstly in Christmas 1971 (in which Billy Chapman is firstly terrorised by his insane grandfather and then witnesses the murder of his father, and the rape and murder of his mother by a nut job in a Santa suit). We then move to Christmas 1974, where Billy endures the strict regimen of a Catholic run home for orphans. Here he is tied to the bed, beaten, and forced to confront his festive demons by a cruel and sadistic Mother Superior. By the time we move to 1984 Billy seems fairly normal as he begins work at a toy store, but when he his asked to don a Santa suit for the Christmas promotion he soon forgets the generosity of the season.

There are some clever touches here such as Billy despatching his first victim with Christmas lights and the beheading of a sledding bully, but the moral undertone of the narrative is far too simplistic. It also fails to cover up the mean spirited nature of the film. This is a film made by adults who take every opportunity to cynically ridicule the festive season and present it as a time in which perverts, psychopaths, and sadists are abroad. The anti-catholic stance of the film whilst potentially commendable and interesting is ultimately a device to include more scenes of cruelty and sadism. The film makes a few cursory efforts to criticise the commercialisation of Christmas but these are secondary concerns to the set pieces. Admittedly the set pieces are excellent, and the special effects very effective, and this will please horror fans. But this fails to cover up the bad nature at the heart of the enterprise. Nevertheless despite these criticisms this author still remains totally mystified at the controversy this film caused on its initial US release. The film makes it clear that this is a narrative about a mentally disturbed guy who dresses up in a Santa outfit and goes on a killing spree – how this was construed as a film about Santa Claus himself slaughtering young people will forever remain a mystery.

• ★★★★★

  Acting:

• ★★★★★

  Blood:

• ★★★★★

  Violence:

• ★★★★★

  Partying:

• ★★★★★

  Language:

• ★★★★★

  Humor:

• ★★★★★

  Predictable:

• ★★★★★

  Girls:

• ★★★★★

  Gore:

• ★★★★★

  Sexuality:

• ★★★★★

  Torture:

• ★★★★★

  Overall:

I think that I've seen this film a few too many times. In the past, if a friend hadn't seen it, I then say, "OH MAN...you have to see this." Then we watch it, and i'm a bit disappointed. It's fun, but as you have said, it lacks a lot of substance. It can easily lose it's appeal.