Silent Night, Deadly Night is seen as a Christmas horror classic and spawned a series of five films and a reboot. Cineverse, the company behind Terrifier 3 and The Toxic Avenger reboot, have taken on the task of rebooting the series for a second time.
Billy Chapman (Rohan Campbell) is a drifter who goes from town to town and works odd jobs. He also has a voice in his head, called Charlie (Mark Acheson), telling him to kill people during the run-up to Christmas. When Billy arrives in the town of Hackett, he develops an interest in Pamela (Ruby Modine) and takes a job at her father’s Christmas store. But Charlie encourages Billy to continue the killing spree.
The original Silent Night, Deadly Night was made at the height of the slasher boom. It was released in the same year as Nightmare on Elm Street and Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter. Silent Night, Deadly Night was a low-budget film that made a big profit and had a unique spin since it told the story from the killer’s perspective. It was a product of its time since it had the grindhouse grain, and it came up with any excuse to show topless ladies. It was a decent film for slasher fans. The “Garbage Day” shooting spree in the sequel has become a meme.
The Silent Night, Deadly Night reboot felt similar to Cineverse’s reboot of The Toxic Avenger, a film made by fans. The reboot does its own thing with the premise instead of copying the original, which was appreciated. When the reboot did take inspiration from the original film, it felt more like loving homages and winks to the fans instead of blatant copying.
The trailer for Silent Night, Deadly Night made it seem like a fun kill fest where Billy would eradicate people in creative ways, but it came across as more strait-laced and po-faced. Billy has a tragic backstory, and the film emphasised tension, like when the reboot does its own version of the scene where Billy was pressed into becoming a store Santa. A ritual Billy performed after every kill he took a sample of blood and put it in an Advent calendar. It was a grisly idea since every panel was covered in dried blood after years of killing. There was a subplot where children across the county were disappearing, and there were reports of a ‘snatcher’ targeting children.
Silent Night, Deadly Night did provide some of the B-Movie carnage as promised. This was done when Billy infiltrated a Nazi Christmas party, so there was satisfaction in watching Billy hack down Neo-Nazis. It was like the church massacre in Kingsman: The Secret Service, although not so well executed since everyone was dressed like Santa, and it became a little confusing. There was also a montage showing Billy committing multiple festive-themed kills. I wanted more of that. There were some B-movie homages through the opening credits and the title cards. They had a grindhouse look to them. Pamela was an entertaining character because she suffered from violent outbursts.
The film came across as a cross of Dexter and Tom Hardy’s Venom movies. Billy went from town to town and killed bad people, like Dexter Morgan, who channelled his killing urges in a way that benefited the community. The relationship between Billy and Charlie was similar to that of Eddie Brook and the Symbiote, as they argued with each other, with Charlie trying to convince Billy to kill people. It made for a fun dynamic. However, when more information was revealed, it did lead to questions and holes, like why Billy resisted Charlie so much, and why Billy considered doing certain actions.
Silent Night, Deadly Night deserves praise for doing its own thing with the premise, and on a technical and acting level, it was an improvement. It offers alternative Christmas viewing to people with a more cynical outlook. However, the original film ultimately prevails due to its compelling character work and unapologetic grindhouse experience.
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