The legacy of slasher cult classic Silent Night, Deadly Night can be boiled down to a couple of things: 1. The 1984 original got pulled from theaters shortly after its was released after widespread backlash surrounding its protagonist Billy Chapman going around killing people while dressed as Santa. 2.This mesmerizing clip from the 1987 sequel that racked up millions of views during the early days of YouTube 19 years ago. As unimpressive as that resume sounds for a slasher movie that was released during the same window of time as A Nightmare on Elm Street and Friday the 13th, Silent Night, Deadly Night spawned a 5-film franchise that ran through 1991 as well as a 2012 remake from low budget action/horror titan Steven C. Miller entitled Silent Night. Now, a second remake of the 1984 original from writer/director Mike P. Nelson (Wrong Turn remake, The Domestics) has arrived on the scene with the very inventive title of Silent Night, Deadly Night.
Nelson's take on the film takes the general premise of Billy Chapman killing people in a Santa suit (Halloween Ends star Rohan Campbell steps into the axe-wielding Saint Nick role this time around) and gives it a pretty drastic, freaky remix. What exactly do I mean by that? Well, I'm not going to spoil all of the specifics here (it's easy enough to find that information elsewhere if you want to find out), Chapman is portrayed as an antihero with a strict moral compass that dictates who he kills around the holidays and there are both supernatural and romantic elements present in the story. These changes are absolutely going to lose some people for a host of reasons, and I'd love to hear some reactions from people who weren't aware of the crazier elements of the plot going in.
After a bit of a clunky start where Chapman's tragic backstory of witnessing his parents get murdered on Christmas Eve as a child is explored, I was able to get onboard with Nelson's vision. As deeply silly as the vast majority of Silent Night, Deadly Night is, there's a lot of ingenuity on display that gives it a unique personality, and the blending of its sweet and nasty elements is pretty smooth, particularly during the final act where Campbell and co-lead Ruby Modine really get to explore the emotional complexity of their characters. Nelson's ability to deliver a collection of memorable kills (budgetary constraints could be to blame for that as there's an emphasis on showing off the practical gore effects over constructing elaborate slasher sequences) isn't on par with his narrative ambition or ability to build suspense in other key moments, but putting less thought into how the people on the receiving end of Billy's axe go out in favor of being the rare remake in this classic horror subgenre that's willing to experiment with its source material is a totally fine trade-off. Time will tell whether or not this Silent Night, Deadly Night is able to become a mainstay in the Christmas horror movie rotation, but I'm confident that there will be some sickos out there that will fall madly in love with Nelson's wacky, sadistic and surprisingly warm movie.
Grade: B-
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