By Geno McGahee
“You see Santa Claus tonight you better run boy, you better run for ya life!” – Grampa (Will Hare)
When I was a kid, there was a movie that had really gotten my attention. I was always attracted to the horror genre and when I saw the trailer for “SILENT NIGHT, DEADLY NIGHT,” I desperately wanted to see it, but then it was gone, gone, all gone. A bunch of fat housewives with nothing better to do, protested and had the movie removed from the cinemas out of fear that it would corrupt the youth. Amazingly, the production company listened and pulled the movie.
On top of that, we had Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert come out against the movie, saying “shame” after each one of the names in the credit. Apparently having strippers bouncing on his lap on the Howard Stern show was OK, but a horror film is not for that idiot Roger Ebert, and, on a side note, I am tired of his face. He is all over the news now saying how whatever he has that has mangled his face is not going to beat him and so on and so forth, and I’m sick of it. Who wants to hear that? Ebert and his deceased buddy there, Siskel, did whatever they could to stop the slasher flicks of the 1980s. Thankfully, they failed.
What makes this movie so controversial is the idea of a killer Santa Claus. Horror films like holidays. We have HALLOWEEN, MY BLOODY VALENTINE, and NEW YEARS EVIL to name a few, and Christmas needed to be covered. Well, BLACK CHRISTMAS did so, but they did not incorporate a Santa. This one did and it is a very good horror movie.
We begin with young Billy (Danny Wagner) driving along with his younger brother and parents when they see a Santa Claus broken down on the side of the road. When they stop, the Santa kills the father, rapes the mother, and tries to kill the children that get away. The incident forever screws up Billy’s head, and he is sent off to live with some nuns, and we know what the church can do to people.
Prior to the death of his parents, they brought him to visit his grandfather (Will Hare). Gramps is in bad shape, oblivious to the world, or so it seems. When the parents leave Billy and Gramps alone, he opens up and tells the young boy that Santa punishes children and if he should see him, he needs to “run for your life!” Will Hare was fantastic in this role. He really steals the show as the crazy Santa-hating grandfather. I could picture Ebert: “Shame on you Will Hare.” He’d never say it to his face. Ebert would be picking up his teeth. Sorry, I got sidetracked.
At 18, Billy (Robert Brian Wilson) is released and finds a job at a toy store, and things seem to be going really well, until they dress him up as Santa for the holiday. He seemed OK for a while until he prevented an attempted rape. One of his co-workers got too frisky with one of the females that worked there and he was about to rape her when Billy, her knight in shining armor, comes by and kills the dude and saves her junk, but she has no gratitude. In fact, she calls him “crazy,” and that was enough to send him off the deep end. Now you wonder why so few prison rapes are stopped. No gratitude.
The killing spree begins and the killer Santa is on the loose and it turns into your basic slasher with a reasonable body count and an axe-wielding maniac.
I really love SILENT NIGHT, DEADLY NIGHT. It’s perfect for the Xmas season and shame on you, Ebert, for trying to kill the slasher film. SILENT NIGHT, DEADLY NIGHT did spawn a few sequels, but sadly, none of them are really any good. The sequel has been long regarded as one of the worst movies of all time, next to TROLL 2. So avoid, those and watch the first. It is a classic slasher, sure to amuse. I highly recommend it.
Scared Stiff Rating: 7.5/10. Shame on you Ebert you scumbag.
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