PopHorror Let's Get Scared
It’s officially the holiday season again, and while normal folks celebrate and get into the Christmas spirit by watching traditional films like It’s a Wonderful Life, Miracle on 34th Street, and other Yuletide classics, the Martin household always gets ready by watching the 1984 slasher flick classic Silent Night, Deadly Night (my wife and I watch it and the original Black Christmas every Christmas Eve before we go to bed and await Santa’s arrival). There’s just nothing like an ax wielding homicidal Santa Claus that screams “Merry Christmas!” and this is the perfect time of the year to revisit this movie in my opinion.
So, gather around the Christmas tree, pour yourself a big mug of eggnog, and let’s revisit this holiday classic that has been terrorizing audiences (and offending parent groups) for 40 years.
Synopsis
After seeing his parents murdered by a man dressed like Santa Claus on Christmas Eve when he was a little boy, a mentally unstable man dresses up as the jolly old fat man and goes on a killing spree, slaughtering anyone he comes across that he considers naughty.
I remember when I was in the 5th grade, and one Monday around Thanksgiving a lot of my classmates were buzzing about a movie trailer they saw on TV that featured Santa Claus chasing people around with an ax. I didn’t see it myself, but after hearing about it I knew that I had to see it because I thought that it sounded awesome. I had to see it even more after seeing stories on the evening news about parent groups protesting the movie due to its depiction of Santa.
Unfortunately, I didn’t get to see it in theaters and had to wait until it was released on VHS about a year later but believe me it was worth the wait as I absolutely loved it when I first saw it and think that it is just as awesome now as it was all those years ago when I initially watched it.
While the plot is simple it is still extremely effective. It revolves around a guy named Billy, who is told by his weirdo grandfather on Christmas Eve when he is a boy that Santa is evil, and he should run away as fast as he can if he sees him. On the way home that night, a man dressed as Santa (who just robbed a beer joint) kills Billy’s parents and he ends up in an orphanage overseen by a sadistic nun who torments him mentally and physically for years.
Billy ends up developing an utter hatred of Santa over the years, and unfortunately when he grows up, he is forced to play Santa at the toy store where he works (you would think that the old guy running the store would have known about his feelings about Santa, but I digress). On Christmas Eve Billy snaps at the store’s Christmas party and proceeds to go around dressed as Santa and hacking people to pieces if he believes them to be naughty.
Sounds cool, right? Believe me, it truly is.
One of the biggest strengths of the film is Robert Brian Wilson (The Wrong Roommate, A Nanny to Die For) as Billy. Wilson does an amazing job of bringing the character to life, and even though he is the antagonist of the film, you still can’t help but like him. He is a very sympathetic character and goes through a lot in the film, but you can’t help but root for him even though he eventually becomes a homicidal maniac.
I don’t think it is really his fault though, as his life was basically a living breathing nightmare, and you can’t blame him when he eventually snaps as a result. Yeah, he may have gone a little overboard and should have handled things a little differently, but you can’t help but feel a little bad for the poor guy. I mean deep down he isn’t totally evil like guys like Freddy and Chucky, he’s just got some mental problems and had they been addressed the proper way maybe things would have been different for him.
I also think that this movie has some awesome death scenes. In addition to someone been choked to death with Christmas lights and someone being shot with an arrow we also get some extremely fun stuff, with the highlight being poor old Linnea Quigley (Night of the Demons, Return of the Living Dead) being painfully impaled on the antlers of a mounted deer head. I also love the bit when the kid sledding down a hill and think that it is one of the funniest and coolest death scenes, I have ever seen in any horror film. Needless to say, Santa Billy doesn’t play around when it comes to taking out his victims, and I always have a total blast watching him do so.
As you can tell, I love Silent Night, Deadly Night and I consider it to be a true holiday horror classic right up there with the likes of Halloween and My Bloody Valentine. There is just something about it that makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside, and it just isn’t Christmas unless I watch it every year. Just about everything about it works, and it truly has stood the test of time. It spawned several sequels and a remake, but none of them are as nearly as good as the original.
If you’re having trouble getting into the spirit this holiday season then give this movie a look as you are guaranteed to be full of Christmas magic afterward (if you are demented like me, anyway). Do yourself a favor and check it out as this is one Santa Claus that you will definitely want to leave cookies and milk out for this Christmas Eve.
