Silent Night, Deadly Night (2007) - By Brian Morton

Film Reviews: Silent Night, Deadly Night (2007) - By Brian Morton
Posted on Tuesday, January 01, 2008 @ 04:41:31 Mountain Standard Time by Duane

Well, I know that the holidays are over and you're probably happy to be done thinking of Santa and whether or not you've been naughty or nice, but, before you shut down holiday mode completely, how about one last Christmas hurrah before you stop. And what would be a better way to celebrate the last gasp of the holiday than to sit back in your easy chair, relax and enjoy the 1982 classic, Silent Night Deadly Night?

Anchor Bay has finally put out a definitive edition of this forgotten classic. The story here is pretty simple slasher fare, really: After little Billy sees a crook dressed as Santa kill his family, he's scared for life! Now, years later, Billy is working in a toy store, and when the holidays come around, he's barely holding it together. When he's forced by his boss to dress as Santa, and then catches a couple of co-workers being 'naughty' at the Christmas party, Billy finally melts down completely and begins a Santa dress rampage across town. You see, in Billy's world, Santa not only brings toys to good boys and girls, he also punishes the naughty, so Billy begins going from door to door 'punishing' people who he sees as naughty.

While this isn't the best of the 80s slasher movies, it's one of the most original, who would ever have thought of using Santa as a killer. I vividly remember the huge outcry from across the country when this movie came out, parents groups from everywhere protested the movie and there was a ton of whining and complaining about it...in fact, that was the main reason I went to see Silent Night Deadly Night, after all the outcry, I had to see what was going on.

Anchor Bay has added into the movie a couple of scenes that were cut in any previous editions, and, while they don't add anything to the plot, if you're going to watch a classic, you want to see it uncut, don't you? There's also a pretty good audio interview with the director of the movie and there's an extra that allows you to read reviews and comments about the movie that were all written at the time of it's original theatrical release, it's all funny stuff! I can't tell you how long I've personally waited for a great version of this movie to come out, and this is it! You make any holiday brighter by picking up a copy for yourself at the Anchor Bay web site, and, until next time, when I'll be looking for a horror movie that features a murderous Easter Bunny, remember that the best movies are bad movies.