People lost their goddamn minds when the original Silent Night Deadly Night came out in 1984 – will the 2025 model get the same reaction?
Oh, the puns write themselves on this one, gang. “Santa’s gonna slay”, etcetera and so forth. It was the same back in ’84 when the original Silent Night Deadly Night was released to what seemed to my eight-year-old eyes a tsunami of controversy. The very idea that someone would make a slasher flick about a killer Santa Claus was sacrilege good for no small amount of column inches. Parents complained about TV ads, screenings were picketed, and the American PTA successfully campaigned to get the film pulled from cinemas. It was a whole thing.
And a nothingburger of a thing – the film is a schlocky shocker, and it’s pretty gnarly, but you’ve almost certainly seen gnarlier. But it was successful enough to spawn a whopping four sequels and two remakes, the second of which is heading our way this holiday season.
Silent Night Deadly Night Trailer
What’s the plot?
As the official synopsis tells us:
Silent Night Deadly Night reimagines a 1984 cult horror classic in which a young boy witnesses the murder of his parents at the hands of a man dressed as Santa, only to grow up and become a killer himself. Haunted by trauma and fueled by a twisted sense of justice, he dons the red suit, turning the advent calendar into a series of nights of terror. As Christmas Eve approaches, a small town becomes his latest hunting ground, where the naughty and bad pay the ultimate price. Blending psychological horror, brutal slasher thrills, a touch of the supernatural, and – more shockingly still – a sprinkle of romance, the film delivers a modern chilling new take on the ultimate holiday nightmare.
Who’s in it?
- Rohan Campbell as Billy Chapman, our Santa-suited killer.
- Ruby Modine as Pam, his love interest.
- Mark Acheson as Charlie.
- David Lawrence Brown.
- David Tomlinson.
Behind the camera, this one comes to us from writer and director Mike P. Nelson, who also gave us the pretty decent Wrong Turn remake in 2021
When’s it out?
Silent Night Deadly Night creeps down the theatrical chimney, axe is hand, on December 11.
What’s the vibe?
Hell, this looks like fun! And it certainly looks better than the original film, simply on a technical and aesthetic level. Plus, I’m someone who thinks a murderous Santa Claus is pretty funny, and I imagine you probably are, too. Plus, we have this sick poster to get us in the mood for some murder under the mistletoe:
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