Review of Silent Night, Deadly Night (1984) by Rasmus P — 01 Jan 2008

This has always been a cult classic of mine ever since I saw the original Australian VHS version with the picture that slightly pokes out of the cover. I must have been only 9 or 10 if that, but can remember pestering my parents to let me borrow it from my Dad's cousin who we used to visit at least twice a year on the south coast. I can never remember much from the film, but it was mainly the cover that appealed to me since it stood out from the large western collection he had. Now ever since I brought the dvd I have been watching it once a year for almost 4 years and always during the Yule Tide festivities. It's a guilty pleasure of mine and brings back great child hood memories from around those years. It's not the greatest slasher flick and has a basic plot. We start on christmas eve 1971 with a family on their way home from a visit to see their granddad at the nut-house. They are flagged down by a drunk dressed as St Nick. He takes advantage of Dad and puts a hole in his head. Young Billy runs off and hides in the shrub as the jolly attacker tries to rape his mum. He tears off her clothes, but she gets in a shot, so the jolly attacker slits her throat. All seen by poor little Billy. After this he grows up in an orphanage run by over-moralistic Nun's, where he is whipped and punished for his sins. Growing up with fear we cut to when he is 18 and unleashed into the world. He is given a job at a toy store and it is at a work party where he is asked to dress as Santa and this is when his persona takes a turn for the worst. All of the emotional pain, all the fear, it comes back.

That is just about how it goes. The gore and the way the victims are dispatched are standard very for the 80's, but that is not why this film is so notorious. Many christian groups disliked this and even had it banned, but they had the wrong motives. All they saw was that the film may bring bad publicity to their religion and/or saw the movie as dangerous. Unfortunately there is nothing to be said about religious groups in this flick. There was no axe to grind. It was just a drunk santa who dressed as St Nick like many other homeless/drunks do on christmas eve to make money, but this one was a killer who killed Billy's family and unfortunately because of poor Billy's circumstances while growing up he could not rid the emotional pain caused from those events in his life. Despite the overall mediocre feel of the film and acting it is well worth checking out...