25 Days of Christmas: Day Five

Silent Night, Deadly Night (1984)

"Naughty." - Billy












I don't know why I put this on the list. I was trying to have a good mix of old and new, comedic and dramtic... and then there is this thing.

It cause quite a stir when released back in '84 as parents all over the country were trying to get the film banned from their movie houses. The ads depicting a murderous Santa was thought to be unfit for the public as the question came up as what would happen when children started seeing them. Would they think that Santa really was an axe murderer?

It's a cheap horror movie that capitalized on the trend of basing horror flicks after holiday's and this happened to be the first to use Santa as it's villain. Of course it isn't the real Santa. It's Billy. Billy who had watched his father and mother murdered by a man in a Santa outfit and then would eventually get a little... off... due to that traumatic experience.

We see that in the orphanage he is sent to with his little brother, Ricky, that every year around Christmas he starts acting up. The repressed memories of his parents murder come out here and there. Eventually he grows up into a strong young man who gets a part time job at the local toy store. But soon the holidays roll around and he starts to remember more and more until Christmas Eve is upon him and he is asked to be the store Santa. This is when it gets bad.

Billy remembers the murders of his parents and he snaps and just starts killing folks. All the people at the store Christmas party go first and then random people around town who are being "naughty". See... Billy's crazy grandfather in the beginning of the movie told him that Santa gives toys to good kids... but the naughty ones get punished. So he's punishing folks doing bad things. Having sex, drinking, and stealing some kids sleigh will be the end of you in this flick.

At the end Billy goes after the Mother Superior at the orphanage that tormented him for years and this proves to be his final act. Before he can off the nun he is gunned down while his little brother watches. It ends with the passing of the torch when Ricky looks hatefully at the nun and says one word. Naughty.

And that's why there a few sequels to this flick.

It's your run of the mill horror movie with t & a, blood & gore, etc. The only thing different about this flick is that it feels more appropriate to watch it during Christmas rather than Halloween. Is it really worth the watch? Not really.

So far... on the list of best Santa's in the movies on this list... this one is at the bottom.