The Twelve
Days of Christmas horror marathon continues with another killer Santa Claus
movie. This one is supposed to be a remake or maybe sequel to the Silent Night
Deadly Night franchise. It’s a different story and origin for the Santa Claus
killer but does have some references to the classic that kicked off the
franchise.
The small
town of Cryer is known for one thing, its annual Santa Claus parade. Lots of
different folks dress up as the holly jolly fella and stroll around trying to
win a contest. While that might normally be a fun thing when you have a mass
murderer hanging around dressed like Santa it becomes problematic. Lucky for
them they have Sheriff Cooper, played by Malcom McDowell, on the job and he is
determined that they solve the crimes. He isn’t really all that good at the task
because even after the killer is locked up the deaths don’t stop! Yep he
arrested the wrong guy. More murders happen and eventually our main character deputy
Bradimore finally gets her man. See she was the only one that realized they
maybe had the wrong suspect.
Not
normally a remake guy but this movie is a lot of fun. Let me begin by warning
you that while this movie has a much different story to tell it still embraces
the silliness that many of us love from the original series. It is very cheesy while
still delivering some decent kills. The fun kicks off from the first scene with
a death by Christmas lights and keeps right on rolling to the end with Santa
cleaning house with a flamethrower. Things are spread out over the duration so
that there isn’t a slowdown or wasted scene. Everything that isn’t murderous
mayhem goes towards developing the plot and adding to the suspect list. We get
several red herrings along the way until they final reveal the killer’s
identity at the very end. There are also a few sleazy scenes if you are into
that.
Best Christmas themed kill ever! |
Since
Silent Night is a Christmas slasher movie we have to talk about the kills. We
have a couple of people dispatched with a scythe, one of them to the “sack”
which I suppose is festive. You know because Santa has a sack of gifts for all
the boys and girls. There is the flamethrower action, an axe to the back,
another victim is gutted, and yet another is beaten to death with brass
knuckles that have a message to share. Seriously pay attention! They also call
back to the original series with an unfortunate young lady meeting up with some
antlers, though this time it is on screen in all of its glory and not just seen
as a shadow. My favorite kill has to be when the internet “model” meets up with
Santa on a Christmas Tree lot and he makes use of the handy nearby woodchipper.
This movie has a ton of gore practical and CGI. Both are done decently enough
to make this a good time.
Some other
things I enjoyed are the little bratty girl meeting up with a cattle prod, the
deputy complaining that it must be “garbage day”, and finally the ending which
ties things up. I won’t spoil the movie other than to say that the final few
minutes not only reveals the identity of Santa but also explains why he went on
his rampage to punish the naughty. The filmmakers already had a fun slasher
movie and then topped it by dropping a twist ending that explains everything
and teases at a possible sequel. I’m highly recommending Silent Night.
© Copyright 2018 John Shatzer
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