"Christmas" and "slasher movie" are apparently two concepts that do not mix well together. 1974's Black Christmas was a bust (and so, for that matter, was the 2006 remake), and the only stuff Hollywood seems interested in putting out today on the subject is… More
"Christmas" and "slasher movie" are apparently two concepts that do not mix well together. 1974's Black Christmas was a bust (and so, for that matter, was the 2006 remake), and the only stuff Hollywood seems interested in putting out today on the subject is direct-to-video schlock like Santa's Slay and Jack Frost. In fact, the only movie that even came close to making that nauseating high-concept cocktail work was 1984's cult phenomena Silent Night, Deadly Night, another offering from the holiday-horror wave that followed John Carpenter's original Halloween and gave us such notable knock-offs as April Fool's Day, New Year's Evil, My Bloody Valentine, and, of course, Friday the 13th. Following the tried and true recipe for exploitation- naked breasts and graphic bloodshed- Silent Night, Deadly Night pissed off a lot of parents due to its killer-in-a-Santa-suit subject matter, and ended up being pulled by its distributors due to P.T.A. protest; this, of course, simply lent the film a legendary status among horror aficionados, and all subsequent re-releases and home entertainment formats promoted it almost exclusively on the firestorm of controversy that surrounded it. Watching it now, it's still easy to see why Reagan-era moms would have such a big problem with it- not just because the killer dresses as Santa, but because this is a <i>dark</i> film if taken seriously. In fact, the main character is actually the killer himself- the first fifty minutes of the movie are devoted to exploring the killer's backstory and motivations, charting every pit and chasm in his slow and inexorable descent into madness, and by the time he starts hacking people up, there's not a protagonist in sight; because we have no one to identify with but the killer, the film isn't just a slasher movie, but it's also kind of a tragedy, as we watch the gradual degradation and final destruction of the hero brought about ultimately by his own demons. Sure, it's got some typical '80s cheese in it, and the exploitation comes on a little strong (the opening murder of the killer's parents in particular is WAY too much), but of the troupe of post-Halloween slashers, this is definitely the cream of the crop.
Like I said, this movie's kinda unique among the cookie-cutter horror stable of the "Me" decade in that the main character is the killer himself- which means no virginal heroine or standard horror cliche characters, but it also means that once the hero goes into full-on psycho mode, there's no longer anyone for the audience to identify with. Still, the set-up is pretty well-done, if a bit unlikely: young Billy Chapman and his parents take a trip to see Grandpa in a mental institution, where the supposedly catatonic old man delivers a foreboding (and incredibly hammy) warning to the young boy- beware good ol' Saint Nick, because while he gives presents to good little boys and girls, he <i>punishes</i> those who have been naughty. With a set up like that, it's no surprise when, on the ride home that night, Billy's mother and father are horribly murdered before his eyes by a guy who just happens to be in a Santa costume. Flash forward a couple of years, and little Billy is in an orphanage, where we see that the poor kid has developed some entirely understandable issues with Christmas and Kris Kringle. Because he's in a Catholic orphanage, however- and because this is an exploitation flick- the stern Mother Superior decides <i>against</i> getting the boy the psychological help that he needs, opting instead to belt him whenever he starts acting up and instilling in him the idea that "punishment is good". We then jump forward <i>ten</i> years, where we find little Billy all grown up and working in a toy store. As Christmastime approaches, Billy starts to get more and more anxious, and when the store's Santa breaks his ankle and the owner enlists Billy to fill the big red suit, that is finally the last straw. Poor Billy snaps like a dry chicken bone, picking up an axe and going on a yuletide rampage to punish those who've been "naughty"; gratuitous violence follows shortly thereafter.
Not only is Billy our main character, but he's quite a sympathetic one as played by Robert Brian Wilson. The guy's a big, blond, all-American boy scout-type when we first meet him as an adult- a little too reserved, maybe, but affable and good with kids, with a really open face and a kind nature. But when the holidays start approaching, we begin to see the stress building up in his demeanor; you have to feel bad for the guy as he grapples with the mounting neuroses that keep him from approaching the girl he's interested in for fear of being "naughty"- the ultimate resolution of which is pretty bleak. When he finally loses it, though... things get a little silly. First of all, it's pretty strange to see his handsome, innocent-looking face peering out of a Santa wig and fake beard as he goes about his business- he doesn't really look like a stone-cold killer so much as a kid up to some mischievous hijinks. Secondly, the filmmakers have him stupidly shouting "punish!" and "naughty!" as he goes about his slashings, robbing him of any menace as he chases down his prey; this is not a character with a lot of slasher-villain cred. Still, he's a surprisingly fleshed-out character, and he's quite well-played by Wilson; don't be surprised if you're actually saddened by his inevitable downfall come film's end. Probably the only other really <i>important</i> character in the film would be the evil Mother Superior, played by Lilyan Chauvin, and BOY is she a hateful creature. Played with just a <i>hint</i> of a German accent (not that Germans are evil or anything, but, y'know... they are), Mother Superior is the embodiment of callous authority, less interested in protecting Billy's fragile ego than she is in getting him to behave like everyone else. What really sucks, though, is that she never gets her comeuppance- and you <i>really</i> want to see her get her comeuppance. Aside from them, there are only a few notable characters: Toni Nero is cute (if not smart enough NOT to insult a psychotic Santa-suited killer) as Pamela, Billy's would-be love interest; Gilmer McCormick is a decent pseudo-heroine as Sister Margaret, the only nun at the orphanage who seems to give a crap about Billy and the one who has to chase him down with the cops when he starts offing people; Britt Leach is unbelievably slimy as Mr. Sims, the toy store owner; and Will Hare (of Back to the Future fame... sorta) is pretty damn laughable as the menacing grandpa- not the least because the kid playing Billy at age five (Jonathan Best) <i>never reacts to him</i>, no matter how over the top he gets.
The script by Michael Hickey deserves props if for no other reason than that it manufactured an acceptable reason for someone to be afraid of Santa Claus, of all people; however, the sheer number of horrible things that happen to the main character around Christmas is just a little unbelievable. First his grandpa gives him that ominous warning (and how weird is it that his gramps just <i>happened</i> to be the only person in the whole freaking universe to think that Santa is evil? <i>No one thinks that!</i>), and then THAT VERY NIGHT his parents are murdered by a Father Christmas wannabe. Wow, THAT'S a big coincidence. But it doesn't stop there: sadistic nuns, unrequited love, and an attempted rape (that flashes Billy back to his parents' deaths) ALL center around Christmas somehow; in fact, I don't really blame Billy for going insane, because it's like someone is intentionally orchestrating his life to fall to pieces whenever December 25th rolls around! (Which, well, I guess is actually <i>true</i>, but c'mon... if we could explain away EVERY plot contrivance just by saying it happened "'cause the writer said so", what would the point be of even reviewing movies?) The direction is nothing special- in keeping with exploitation cinema, style is not a big feature in the way the movie was shot. The best thing I can say about it is that it makes some creative use of shadows at times- light from a keyhole illuminating an eye, the execution of a violent murder in silhouette, stuff like that. Speaking of "execution" and "violence", the gore in the movie is pretty cheap, but effective; the one major make-up effect, a woman getting impaled on a set of deer antlers, is milked for all its worth in at least three close-ups, and there's one decent decapitation gag, but for the most part the effects are just blood-squirting knives and cut-off stabbing make-ups... which is fine, because the <i>gore</i> doesn't really sell the story as much as the psychological plight of the main character does. The soundtrack is loaded with Christmas songs I have never heard outside of the context of this film, and the score sounds like a cat having a seizure on a synthesizer keyboard.
I can see why a movie like Silent Night, Deadly Night eventually became a cult phenomena, while the other dime-a-dozen holiday slashers of the time have long since been forgotten. There's an attractive subversive edge to the film, both due to its subject matter and the parental hysteria surrounding it, that's just too powerful for a horror buff to ignore; yet at the same time, there's actually a pretty decent story here under all the layers of exploitation and cheese. It's a tragedy about a man so consumed by the trauma and the fears of his past that he literally becomes his own worst nightmare, systematically destroying everything he cares about because the shame and guilt that's been foisted upon him has convinced him that everything he really wants out of life is evil. Maybe I'm over-analyzing it, but that's what I got out of Silent Night, Deadly Night, and it really struck a chord with me. This movie would go on to spawn a final tally of four sequels (the first of which is notorious for being the source of the YouTube clip "GARBAGE DAY!", and features Eric Roberts as Billy's equally psychotic little brother Ricky), but none of them would have the same appeal as the first one, no matter how many goons they stuffed into Santa suits, because they lacked a strong central character. Our hero/villain, Billy Chapman, may not be the kind of splatter-film icon that his contemporaries Michael Myers and Jason Voorhees turned out to be, but he's a far more complex and sympathetic character than either of them, and probably any other cinematic stalker you could think of this side of the Frankenstein monster. Just try not to focus too much on the inane shouting.
"Punish!"
