Great Film overall

Absolutely brilliant

This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.

Mostly, the movie is committed to the value of a good time.

In 1974, Bob Clark released Black Christmas. At the time it was probably great, but to me, it's kinda tame in today's time. In 1980, we got Christmas Evil, aka You Better Watch Out. I'll admit that it has grown on me over the years, but there's one Christmas horror film that beats 'em all; Silent Night, Deadly Night. It was extremely controversial when it was released in 1984. Tons of angry mothers petitioned to have the film removed from theaters, and they were all crazy! I was about 10 when I first saw this, and I've loved it ever since. It's a must watch if you're a horror fan that loves Christmas. The movie has a great sleazy tone, and it has a pretty depressing storyline. At a young age, Billy witnesses the murder of his parents by a guy in a Santa Claus suit. Billy believes he's the real Santa and that he was punished for being naughty. He and his brother Ricky (Who takes over in the later sequels) are sent to an orphanage where the brutal Mother Superior tries to discipline him. Years later, Billy gets a job at a toy store, but it soon takes a turn for the worse when his boss asks him to play Santa for the kids. All the repressed memories come out, and Billy goes on a mission to punish the naughty by killing them. With an axe, a crossbow, deer antlers, Christmas lights and other deadly gadgets. This is the perfect film to watch and get cozy with as you celebrate the bloody Christmas season. I highly recommend SILENT NIGHT, DEADLY NIGHT!!!

The original classic that started it all (it all being the pentology of films it would go on to inspire over the next two decades), is about as close to perfection as one can expect a slasher film to achieve.It is constructed in four sections, with the first half covering the psychological development of our antagonist, Billy, and the latter half documenting his fall, as well as the slashy aftermath that would ensue in it's wake.Everything begins with an ominous warning from his creepy old Grandpa: Beware Santa, for he punishes those who are naughty.Coincidentally, shortly after this, a murderous criminal in a Santa Claus outfit intercepts their vehicle...murdering his mother and father...right before his eyes.Fast forward to the local orphanage three years later. Billy now suffers from extreme bouts of PTSD, as a result of his ordeal. And it doesn't help his psychological well being any, when the head nun unknowingly reinforces his delusions, with her mildly sadistic punishment fetish.Everything goes well for Billy, until he is asked to fill in for an injured Santa, at the toy store where he works, shortly after his eighteenth birthday. Something inside him snaps. He starts to think he IS Santa...and he knows what Santa does to the naughty on Christmas Eve...punish them...The rest of the film is essentially made up of boobs, psychological breakdowns, strangulations, impalements, axe killings, and mistaken identity murder. Though there is this one moment of sweetness, where you think he's about to off this lovely little girl- only to give her his trusty boxcutter, instead.The best part of this film is that the action comes into play quite early in the film, and manages to retain it's laughable shock value throughout. Although the gore is relatively mild, the kills are pretty creative...and the special effects are excellent. Very realistic, with good attention paid to little details. And to top it all off (the icing on the gingerbread house, you might say), the whole thing is saturated with catchy and hilarious one liners (that give Evil Dead a run for it's money).Of course, it leaves room for a sequel...and (as was previously mentioned) would eventually go on to spawn a pentology.A must see Christmas classic, for sure.8.5 out of 10.

A kid who sees his parents get butchered by a maniac in a Santa suit grows up to be a killer Claus himself in another '80s gorefest with a sense of humor and Linnea Quigley.After HALLOWEEN, Friday THE 13th, MOTHER'S DAY, and MY BLOODY VALENTINE, it was only a matter of time til Christmas rolled around and when it finally did in November 1984, the film even out-grossed A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET, which opened the same week. I actually remember the tidal wave of backlash which soon followed, making SNDN one of the more controversial films of the decade, along with William Friedkin's CRUISING. Outraged by TV & print ads showing Santa with a bloody ax, "the PTA fought to have this film removed from theaters" and "large crowds (mostly angry families) formed at theaters and malls around the nation to protest the film". Siskel & Ebert read off the filmmakers' names on their TV show, saying "shame, shame" and the film was soon withdrawn from theaters for awhile. (The free-wheeling '70s were a lot more chill - when I saw BLACK Christmas at the drive-in back in December 1974, there wasn't an uproar in the press or anywhere else.)SILENT NIGHT DEADLY NIGHT was eventually re-released with cuts and without the offensive ads that scared so many kids and the DVD I have is "the most complete version" spliced together from two different film elements -one crisp and the other dark- so it was interesting to see just what had been cut (mostly lingering or explicit shots of the more gory murders). No better or worse than most '80s slasher films, the low budget didn't hamper the decent kills and Linnea Quigley as a randy babysitter helped make this something of a cult film over the years.

I've watched numerous 'slasher' films over the years, so I flatter myself I've seen most things when it comes to the genre, but 'Silent Night, Deadly Night' kind of left me speechless. Yes, there's nothing that new about what you get here – killer stalks various people and despatches them in bloodthirsty ways. However, the whole feel of the film just left me unsure of what I was watching.This 'vibe' I'm talking about is either a deliberate attempt to do something a little different with the genre, or just bad film-making. I think there are arguments for and against each of these. I'm not sure whether the structure was supposed to be all over the place, but I was left never really sure where this film was going until about the final third (where it does start to conform to a more generic slasher film structure).You've probably seen the promotional material depicting a 'killer Santa' so I'll just leave it at that and I won't go into too much detail regarding the plot because I'd never seen the film before and I genuinely didn't know what to expect (besides the obvious slasher stuff). There are some bits that are actually quite neat and offer a slightly more refreshing take to a genre which was already pretty old when this film was released in 1984.Then you have bits of the film which suddenly become so damn cheesy and daft that you wonder whether this is a film that's a little more 'self aware' than you gave it credit for. Bits of it are so over the top I could see them being parodied on something like South Park.The gore isn't great, most likely due to budget restraints, so don't expect too much of the red stuff or any death scenes that you haven't already seen before. It may all be a bit tame (and very dated!) by today's standards, but, if you're looking for a classic slasher film with a few weird quirks and things you might not expect, this one may do the job.