SILENT NIGHT, DEADLY NIGHT (2025)

New in select theaters from Cineverse!
Directed/Written by Mike P. Nelson.
Check out the trailer here!!

After witnessing a man in a Santa Claus suit murder his parents, Billy (HALLOWEEN ENDS’ Rohan Campbell) grows up to be a serial killer who hears the voice of Santa Claus in his head (voiced by Mark Acheson). The voice instructs Billy to kill naughty people every day all through December leading up to Christmas. Billy has been doing this for years, but this year is different as he meets Pamela (Ruby Modine), the daughter of a gift shop owner who tends to explode with rage. The two off-kilter kids hit it off, convincing Billy that he should quit his killing ways. But there is an over-amount of naughty people out there and Santa’s voice keeps prompting Billy to keep this killing spree going.

Overall, I am not a fan of remakes. I can probably count on one hand the remakes that actually work; MY BLOODY VALENTINE, BLACK X-MAS (the first remake, not the last one), INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS, THE BLOB, I didn’t hate BLAIR WITCH. Maybe a few others. I’m probably forgetting a lot of them. But usually, the films are remade by people who have no idea what worked in the original and really have no investment in it either other than to sleep in a bed filled with the initial cash the remake gets before it gets out that the movie sucks. But every now and then, someone seems to get it.

Mike P. Nelson was the man behind the FRIDAY THE 13TH: SWEET REVENGE short film from Angry Orchard Hard Cider, a film that was capable and even downright ok in parts, but let’s face it, still paled in comparison to any of the F13 entries, even THE FINAL FRIDAY and I hate that movie. But with this new SILENT NIGHT DEADLY NIGHT film, Nelson seems to understand the material and expands upon it in fun and exciting ways.

Some of the more interesting details of SILENT NIGHT DEADLY NIGHT were touched upon in my recap of the film. We can hear the voices in Billy’s head, prompting him to kill and letting him know who is naughty or nice. Yes, this is swiping a page from DEXTER and the VENOM movie series, but still, it is used to both uncanny and sometimes darkly funny effect. Instead of really changing the story of the original SILENT NIGHT DEADLY NIGHT film, it simply looks at it from a closer perspective of the killer. This film pries open Billy’s mind and in this version, Billy believes Santa’s essence absorbed into him that fateful night his parents died and since then, he has been haunted by Santa’s voice. Now, one can look at this literally, and make it so that there is something cosmic going on. But really, whether this is some kind of supernatural transferal of essences from one person to another or if it is all just a way Billy’s broken mind reasons with this childhood trauma doesn’t matter. Other than what Billy believes, there is no suggestion that there is anything otherworldly going on, so for me, it makes it more interesting to think that Santa’s voice is just Billy’s fractured mind. But since we get to hear these conversations between Billy and Santa, it makes for some interesting moments of awkwardness and lunacy.

Other differences include, some grindhousey and stylized chapter breaks which signifies every new naughty target that crosses Billy’s path that makes things fun. And of course, there’s the inclusion of Pamela, who Billy feels a kindship with. Again, having a serial killer fall in love is not new, what with Bonnie and Clyde, Mickey and Mallory, and of course, Chucky and Tiffany. But this detail, paired with the DEXTER stuff, are fun additions to what was a pretty run of the mill slasher film. And let’s face it. Aside from the controversy around the original SILENT NIGHT DEADLY NIGHT, it was a pretty lackluster film with a handful of fun moments. The original is not anything new, but it did play around with a fun concept and had some memorable scenes that have since been deemed classic. But it ain’t a great film.

As slashers go, though, this new SILENT NIGHT DEADLY NIGHT is a fun romp that fleshes out all of the slow bits of the original with some interesting concepts. On top of that, the pace moves quick. The blood flows freely. And they do some things with the Santa killer motif that I hadn’t seen before. And then there was…that scene. The one everyone is talking about where Santa happens upon a secret Nazi rally. The scene is super fun. It’s always fun seeing one man JOHN WICK his way through an army of bad guys and the carnage is gratuitous and gory goodness. It definitely stands out as the key scene of the film and almost outshines the climax of the movie, which deals where Billy takes on another Santa-killer type. Honestly, if the big final reveal would have been that the Santa-killer was a part of a Nazi cult, I think it would have made the film more even, but that didn’t happen.

The problem is this. I hate Nazis as much as the next guy. But because that word has been tossed about like a frisbee over the last ten to twenty years, it’s kind of lost it’s zing and seeing Santa kill a bunch of Nazis is fun, but it also feels like really easy writing as it shines a big applause sign for the trained seals in the cheap seats in audience. The scene was fun, but I hope this doesn’t become a trend in horror where the monster of the week wipes out a bunch of Nazis in a scene. It works here because we are inside Billy’s head and forced to live in his shoes for the duration of the film, but I don’t think I’d like to see the same kind of scene happen in a Friday the 13th or Leatherface film. Can you see Leatherface chasing some gal, and then happening upon a Nazi rally? I mean, cannibalism, abducting people, murder, that’s fine and all. But Nazis…that’s where Leatherface draws the line.

I think that Nazi scene has a meta-meaning behind it that those lauding it and maybe even the filmmakers might not fully understand. You see, Billy’s main issue is that he is ultimately judgmental. His core belief is that he has a strict code of naughty and nice and cannot see beyond black and white. His main conflict is trying to see outside of that limited view of people when he meets Pamela, a flawed, but ultimately nice person who sometimes does naughty things. Having Billy take on Nazis could be a metaphor for the way this country has become so polarized. With murder being bad, but Billy is justified in doing so if the right people are the ones being slaughtered. It definitely feels ripped from the headlines given recent political assassinations. Depthy stuff, indeed, that I think would lead to interesting discussions, if this were an era where debate is possible. But probably too deep for a review of a slasher remake.

Back to the film. Rohan Campbell is scores more tolerable than he was the las time I saw him in the CHRISTINE remake entitled HALLOWEEN KILLS. Here he is personable and restrained, but lacking of the arrogance that permeated his time in Haddonfield. The inner monolog and the moments where Billy accidentally talks to his voices out loud in public is cliched and could fall as flat humor, but somehow Campbell sells it. Ruby Modine is also quite charming as Pamela. Once again, this character who suffers from Intermittent Explosive Disorder or the tendency to bouts of rage and acting out, could be a hard sell, but Modine makes it work and still feels likable the whole time. This is no easy task.

Filmmaker Nelson peppers in some really fun lines of dialog that not only nods to the previous SILENT NIGHT DEADLY NIGHT FILMS, but others such as BLACK CHRISTMAS. It’s stuff like this that shows Nelson is one of the good guys. He’s made a wonderfully entertaining film that should please mainstream and gorehounds alike. All the while honoring the past and adding to it. No easy feat, but Nelson did it. While I don’t think Nelson should take on the next FRIDAY THE 13TH film, as I feel his short felt uninspired, he does seem to have what it takes to make potent horror when he puts his mind to it.