Silent Night, Deadly Night

Not to be confused with the 1972 horror film Silent Night, Bloody Night.

Silent Night, Deadly Night is a 1984 American slasher horror film directed by Charles E. Sellier, Jr., produced by Ira R Barmak, written by Michael Hickey, and starring Robert Brian Wilson, Lilyan Chauvin, Gilmer McCormick, Toni Nero, Linnea Quigley, Britt Leach and Leo Geter. Set during Christmas, the story concerns a young man, who after witnessing his parents murdered and raised tumultuously in an abusive Catholic orphanage as a young boy begins to suffer traumatic experiences years later and emerges into a spree killer (donning a Santa suit) himself.

Released by TriStar Pictures on November 9, 1984, the film gained substantial attention upon release towards the advertising's deception. In response, the film received negative reviews and was pulled out of theatres a week after its release. While successful during its opening week, the film was a moderate success with $2.5 million made overall. Since its release, the film has developed a cult following and was followed by four sequels (with the fourth and fifth installment having no connection to the film) and a loose remake released about 28 years later. This was the only film in the series to be distributed by Tristar Pictures.

Plot

In 1971, 5-year-old Billy Chapman and his family go to visit a nursing home where his catatonic grandfather stays; he tells Billy about how Santa Claus punishes the naughty. While driving back, a criminal dressed in a Santa outfit, who robbed a liquor store and killed the store clerk, seemingly has car trouble and gets Billy's family's attention to pull over and help. As they pull over, the Santa-clad criminal shoots the father with a pistol and slits the mother's throat with a switchblade in front of Billy and his younger brother Ricky. Billy then runs off to hide with Ricky left in the car, as the criminal leaves them.

Three years later in 1974, Billy and Ricky are celebrating Christmas in an orphanage run by Mother Superior, a strict disciplinarian who persistently strikes children who misbehave and considers punishment for their wicked actions a good thing. Sister Margaret, the only one who sympathizes with the children, tries to help Billy play with the other children, but Billy is constantly subject to Mother Superior's scrutinizing eyes and regularly punished. On Christmas morning, the orphanage invites a man in a Santa Claus suit to visit the children; Billy gets dragged by Mother Superior and he punches the man before fleeing to his room in horror.

Ten years later, a now adult Billy leaves the orphanage to find a normal life, and obtains a job as a stock boy at a local toy store thanks to Sister Margaret. At the store, he develops a crush on his coworker Pamela; he has sexual thoughts regarding her, but are often interrupted by morbid visions of his parent's murders. Despite his protestations, Billy is coerced by his co-workers into dressing up as Santa Claus on Christmas Eve for the store. He sees Pamela nearly being raped by his co-worker named Andy, and psychologically triggers his insanity; he hangs Andy with a string of Christmas lights and stabs Pamela with a utility knife, uttering darkly that punishment is good. After he murders his boss Mr. Sims with a hammer, he chases after his co-worker Mrs. Randall with a double-bladed axe before shooting her in the torso with a bow.

As Sister Margaret discovers the carnage and returns to the orphanage to seek help via telephone, Billy breaks into a nearby house where a young couple named Denise and Tommy are having sex; he breaches in and impales Denise on a set of deer antlers before he throws Tommy through a window. This awakens Denise's young sister. Billy then confronts her and asks her if she has been nice or naughty; she says nice and Billy gives her the utility knife he had used earlier. After this, he witnesses bullies picking on two sledding teenage boys and decapitates one of the bullies with his axe as the other flees in horror.

The next morning, the orphanage is secured with Officer Barnes and Captain Richards aided by Sister Margaret, who knows that Billy has been doing the murders. The deaf pastor Father O'Brien, who was dressed in a Santa outfit, is mistakenly shot by Barnes upon coming forward and is soon axed by Billy while distracted. Due to his Santa outfit, Billy gains access into the orphanage and confronts Mother Superior, who remains in a wheelchair. She taunts Billy due to her disbelief in Santa Claus and just as he prepares to kill her with his axe, Richards appears and shoots him the back much to Sister Margaret's disapproval. As the dying Billy lays on the ground, he utters to the nearby children "you're safe now, Santa Claus is gone." before succumbing to his wounds. As the children gather around, his younger brother Ricky witnesses this and coldly staring at Mother Superior, he utters "naughty".

Cast

• Robert Brian Wilson as Billy Chapman (age 18)
  • Danny Wagner as 8-year-old Billy
  • Jonathan Best as 5-year-old Billy
• Alex Burton as Ricky Chapman at 14
  • Max Broadhead as 4-year-old Ricky
  • Melissa Best as Infant Ricky
• Lilyan Chauvin as Mother Superior
• Gilmer McCormick as Sister Margaret
• Toni Nero as Pamela
• Britt Leach as Mr. Sims
• Nancy Borgenicht as Mrs. Randall
• H.E.D. Redford as Captain Richards
• Linnea Quigley as Denise
• Leo Geter as Tommy
• Randy Stumpf as Andy
• Will Hare as Grandpa Chapman
• Tara Buckman as Ellie Chapman
• Geoff Hansen (Credited as Jeff Hansen) as Jim Chapman
• Charles Dierkop as "Killer Santa" (criminal in a Santa Claus outfit)
• Eric Hart as Mr. Levitt
• A. Madeline Smith as Sister Ellen
• Amy Stuyvesant as Cindy
• Max Robinson as Officer Barnes
• Vinc Massa as Doug
• John Michael Alvarez as Jim
• John Bishop as Bob
• Richard C. Terry as Mac
• Oscar Rowland as Dr. Conway
• Richard D. Clark as Officer Miller
• Tip Boxell as Officer Murphy
• Judith Roberts as Mother Superior (uncredited)

Production

Initially throughout production, the film was titled as Slayride, before TriStar decided to change the title to Silent Night, Deadly Night at the last minute

The films editor Micheal Spence came in as the co-director for the film. This was because director Charles E. Sellier Jr. was uncomfortable with shooting the death scenes.

Release

The film was released theatrically in the United States by TriStar Pictures on November 9, 1984.^[3] On its opening weekend, the film outgrossed Wes Craven's landmark slasher A Nightmare on Elm Street, which opened the same day. Before being pulled from theaters, it grossed $2,491,460 at the box office, still making the film a success against its $750,000 budget.^[4]

In November 2013, it was announced that Fangoria in association with Brainstorm Media and Screenvision would be re-releasing the film to theaters in the United States throughout December 2013.^[5]

Home media

The film was released three times on DVD in the United States by Anchor Bay Entertainment. The first release was a double feature disc alongside sequel Silent Night, Deadly Night Part 2 in 2003.^[6] The second release was in 2007.^[7] The first two region 1 releases are currently out of print.

The film was released on DVD in the United Kingdom in 2009 by Arrow Video; this set includes an audio interview with director Charles E. Sellier Jr., poster, booklet including "Deadly Director: Charles Sellier Interviewed by Calum Waddell" and "Silent Night, Sex Night: The Slice and Times of Linnea Quigley".^[8]

The film was re-released on December 12, 2009 in the Brattle Theatre as a double feature with Black Christmas.^[9]

On December 4, 2012, the film was again released alongside Part 2 as a two-disc "Christmas Survival Double Feature", containing the same archival bonus features as the 2003 release.^[10]

On September 16, 2014, the film was released on Blu-ray by Anchor Bay/Starz Entertainment as a 30th Anniversary Edition. No new special features were included, with the exception of a few new commentaries, none of which any of the actors participated in. The Blu-ray contains exactly the same release as previous DVD editions with the extended scenes edited back into the film with noticeable picture quality changes. There has yet to be a release of the full, uncut print from a single source.

A later version released on video contains an extra 3 minutes featuring more gore than the theatrical version.

The Anchor Bay DVD and Blu-ray releases splices in the gore footage with the theatrical print making it the most complete version containing all of the gore and nudity.

Censorship and reception

Silent Night, Deadly Night was one of the most controversial films of the 1980s because the ad campaign, particularly posters and TV spots, made significant emphasis on the killer being dressed as Santa Claus. The PTA fought to have this film removed from theaters due to its subject matter and the fact that it was shown around Christmas, although an earlier film with a similar premise had gone unnoticed. Large crowds (mostly angry families) formed at theaters and malls around the nation to protest the film. TriStar Pictures, its original distributor, pulled all ads for the film six days after its release (November 15). The film itself was also withdrawn shortly thereafter, due to the controversy.^[11]

Upon its original release in 1984, the film received a negative reception. Siskel and Ebert condemned the film and Siskel went as far as to read names of the film's production crew on air, telling them, "shame on you". Siskel also said that all the money the filmmakers were making off of this film was blood money.^[12] Leonard Maltin also denounced the film, calling it a "...worthless splatter film", giving it zero stars and asking: "What's next, the Easter Bunny as a child molester?" A Daily Variety review argued that whatever arguments the film was making on the commercialism of Christmas was overshadowed by the graphic violence, which the reviewer saw as off-putting. Michael Wilmington wrote in the Los Angeles Times: “[it's] safe to predict that Silent Night, Deadly Night… will start making ‘Worst Movie of All Time’ lists almost immediately.” One positive notice came from Kirk Ellis from The Hollywood Reporter, who complimented director Sellier's "workmanlike competence," and praised the cinematography and Gilmer McCormack's performance as Sister Margaret.^[13]

The film was later re-released by an independent distributor, Aquarius Films, in May 1985, with an ad campaign replacing the original "Twas the night before Christmas"-theme with a new one that centered on the controversy surrounding the film and edited out all close-up shots of Billy, in the Santa suit, with weapons. The print ad material also replaced the original 'Chimney' picture with one that talked about the controversy.

In the United Kingdom, the movie was never submitted for certification to the BBFC, and its sequel was denied a video certificate in 1987 after the distributors refused to make the cuts required for an '18' certificate. However, in 2009, Arrow Films submitted the film to the BBFC for classification, who passed the film uncut with an 18 certificate.^[14] The UK DVD was released on November 23, 2009.

Related Works

Sequels

The film had spawned four sequels.

• Silent Night, Deadly Night Part 2 (1987)
• Silent Night, Deadly Night 3: Better Watch Out! (1989)
• Silent Night, Deadly Night 4: Initiation (1990)
• Silent Night, Deadly Night 5: The Toy Maker (1991)

Remake

A loose remake of the film titled Silent Night was released on December 4, 2012. The film was directed by Steven C. Miller and stars Malcolm McDowell, Jaime King, Donal Logue, Lisa Marie, Ellen Wong, Brendan Fehr, Courtney-Jane White, Mike O'Brien, Cortney Palm, John B. Lowe, Curtis Moore and stuntman Rick Skene as Ronald Jones Jr., The Killer Santa.^[15]

References

• Psychotronic Video Guide (1996) - Michael J. Weldon

External links

• Silent Night, Deadly Night at the Internet Movie Database
• Silent Night, Deadly Night at AllMovie
• Silent Night, Deadly Night at Rotten Tomatoes
• Silent Night, Deadly Night review with animated screenshots
• At the Movies, 1984-Silent Night, Deadly Night