“If Charles Dickens were alive today, if he lived in Utah and was raised by a castrating nun, if he learned to hate women almost as much as he hated life, if he admired B-grade horror movies, and – most importantly – if he suffered from massive brain damage, he might have written the screenplay to SILENT NIGHT, DEADLY NIGHT.”
Robert S. Cauthorn
The Arizona Daily Star
Ah, good ol’ SILENT NIGHT, DEADLY NIGHT. My first exposure to the series came from renting the first sequel that I didn’t really care for and the fifth installment which all I can remember was having a really cool sex scene with invading demonic toys straight out of a Full Moon picture. The film has attained quite a cult following throughout the years; the first 20 minutes are full of all kinds of sleaze any sicko would want in his holiday stocking-
*a bat-shit crazy grandfather
*a robbery and shootout complete with a goofy bullet hole in the forehead
*another shooting
*an attempted rape and throat slashing
*a pair of titties
*a vicious nun giving meaning to the word “naughty”
*beatings of young children
*a crude drawing of Santa with multiple stab wounds and a decapitated reindeer
*a teenage sex scene
*another pair of tits
When the local mom-and-pop video store next to my grandparents house were liquidating their VHS titles a few years back, the oversized VHS release to the film was priced at $50 since it was considered a “collector’s item”. I personally never really cared much for the SNDN series, the ultimate Christmas movie in my opinion would have to be Stuart Jackson’s YOU BETTER WATCH OUT aka CHRISTMAS EVIL, available in two great editions from Troma and Synapse. Anyways, Anchor Bay released SNDN and its sequel back in October of 2003 . AB/Starz have recently reissued just the first film onto DVD again with the same extras, minus the sequel and its supplements. This DVD review is for the first film, but contains information on the extras for the second film for collectors.
IMAGE: A disclaimer opens the first film stating it was taken from two different print sources. While the film looks perfectly fine for the nature of its budget and age, the re-inserted gore footage looks as if it was taken from an ‘80s one-inch videotape with a strange filter over the image. It appears Anchor Bay could no longer find actual film footage of the extra gore, similar to Anchor Bay UK ’s release of RAZORBACK. Hopefully, someone will find the footage stored in some film lab one day.
Compared to the first film, the sequel looks great with no problems I could see.
AUDIO: Standard mono. Nothing special. Although I would like to point out the effective late ‘80s synth score composed by Michael Armstrong in the sequel.
EXTRAS: I was rather disappointed by the extras for the first film. There isn’t a single theatrical trailer, television or radio spot to be found! For a movie which gained its notoriety by its marketing campaign, Anchor Bay certainly dropped the ball in this respect. Other than that complaint, there is a nice 36 minute phone interview with the film’s director, a sparse collection of 20 still images (posters, VHS covers, newspaper ads), and “Santa’s Stocking of Outrage”, a collection of review blurbs from critics and concerned parents.
Surprisingly, the extras for the second film are far more interesting than the first! We have the film’s theatrical trailer, the screenplay (!), 43 still images (hilarious behind the scenes footage, storyboards, newspaper and marketing ads), and audio commentary with writer/director Lee Harry, writer Joseph H. Earle, and actor James Newman. I haven’t listened to the commentary in over three years, but I do remember it being very informative and entertaining. I recall the three participants wondering the whereabouts of the latest killer Santa, Eric Freeman. I’d like to say this fan won’t be satisfied until Anchor Bay or another company track Eric Freeman and Robert Brian Wilson down, force them to don bloody Santa suits, and give an on-camera interview about the two films.
Overall: If you don't already have Silent Night, Deadly Night and want to see the film, the new Anchor Bay/Starz disc would be a perfect opportunity to get the film.
Buy Silent Night, Deadly Night
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