Review of Silent Night, Deadly Night (1984) by Pure Rock Fury — 19 Oct 2008

For all the hype and controversy surrounding this film back when I was too young to have been allowed to see it, this movie is relatively tame. I was about 8 when it hit theaters and people were up in arms over its violent and offensive content.

Fast forward to yesterday when I find the uncut version on DVD for $4 and I can say while it definitely has it hliarious moments, this movie is hardly violent or offensive compared to other films of it's own era, let alone today.

This movie is rooted firmly in mid-1980's cheese, though I was propelled to fonder memories of playing with Castle Greyskull thanks to early product placement. Most of the kills are performed of camera, even in the uncut version, but there are some notably hysterical moments.

Somewhere in it all, the movie tries to inject a message of sorts or a moral conflict, but it gets easily brushed aside by it's overall silliness. Overall, it's a decent movie with some laughs to be found, but it fails to capture the legend built around it.