Silent Night Deadly Night
Controversy can both work for and against a movie in so many ways. On one end, it can drive away potential viewers especially if the release seems rather ill timed in the wake of possible real life events, but on the other hand, it can raise interest as well as the profile of the film itself and make those who are curious want to seek out and see what all of the fuss is about (particularly if we’re talking about a horror film). When this low budget slasher pic was released in 1984, it raised the ire of many conservative groups of the time due to it having the audacity of having its cinematic killer commit his murders on Christmas Eve while (gasp) wearing a Santa Claus costume!! The stink that was raised by the picketed protests of parents at any theatres that were screening the film (during the Holiday Movie Season no less) resulted in such a media blitz that negatively effected even those who had worked on the film, as director Charles E. Sellier Jr. (a guy whose very background had been based in both family and Christian-themed pictures) basically disowned it, dismissing it as merely being a “paycheck job” and later stating that it was the one film that he had regretted ever making (even though it remains his best remembered work), while actor Robert Brian Wilson (who had played the actual killer) was reportedly so ashamed of his participation at the time that he had even urged his family and friends to not see it before coming around in recent years and even attending special screenings where he now meets fans, signs autographs, and fields questions. Even co star Lilyan Chauvin somewhat facetiously suggested in later years that the film would have been better received if the marketing campaign had focused less on the “killer Santa” aspect and more upon the main character’s twisted, tragic psyche, but the real irony of the whole matter is despite the fact that there have been a number of horror movies made both before and after which featured crazed killers dressed as Santa Claus, what caused such an uproar here was because of the QUALITY of the film and how it was just so damn effective, putting a considerable amount of emphasis, screen time, and character development into the actual character of Billy Chapman and depicting his extremely unfortunate life story of what Christmas had come to mean to him in such a stark, unflinching manner (including the depiction of child abuse) that it was really the (intended) morbidly dark tone of the film that had screwed with the hearts and minds of those who might have expected just another campy slasher flick only to be faced with the uncomfortable truth as to why so many out there find the holidays to be the worst, most painful time of the year for them. The story begins with young Billy and his family driving out on Christmas Eve to a mental health facility out in the middle of nowhere in the state of Utah (a nice out of left field choice for the story to be set in by the way) to visit his catatonic Grandpa (veteran character actor Will Hare, giving the single best performance in the whole movie with this one opening scene) who has apparently not spoken a word in years and, after failing to respond to either of Billy’s parents, suddenly comes alive when Billy is left alone in the room with him, cackling evilly and telling the boy how Santa Claus is coming to kill him tonight for not being good all year (and then just as quickly goes back into a catatonic state when the others come back into the room). Meanwhile, a random psychopath in a Santa Claus suit (Charles Dierkop) has just brutally and callously murdered a convienence store clerk over a mere 31 dollars, and when he gets Billy’s parents to pull over to help him with some “car trouble” (as the little boy screams with fear), he pulls a gun and puts a bullet in Billy’s father’s head before slitting the throat of and raping Billy’s mom (Tara Buckman, seemingly a gorgeous rising star after playing one of the spandex babes in Cannonball Run and who disappeared from acting after having had thankless roles like this). Now confined with his baby brother to an orphanage, it is here that Billy (and the viewer) meets the TRUE villain of the piece, The Mother Superior (Chauvin) who runs the place, and whom despite clearly seeing that the traumatized boy is emotionally and mentally disturbed by past events, decides that her “methods” of strict discipline and excessive abuse and torture as punishment for sinful thoughts and ways are the proper “training” to help Billy overcome his issues, with not a ounce of any compassion whatsoever crossing this cruel old woman’s mind. Worse, it reinforces in Billy the notion that being “naughty” is something that one will ALWAYS get caught for, leading to the administering of “punishment” which is supposed to be a good thing. Indeed, despite the presence of a more sympathetic nun character (Gilmer McCormick), the fact remains that the Mother Superior’s horribly draconian ideas are not too far removed from the actual doctrines of The Catholic Church’s feelings on guilt and repression (especially of the sexual kind, leaving Billy incredibly pent up when it comes to the concept of actual intimacy). Finally, when all grown up into a strappingly handsome, personable, and presentable young man (Wilson), Billy is given his first job working in the stockroom at a local toy store for a nattering, idiotic boss (another veteran character actor in Britt Leach), develops a mild crush on his female co-worker (Toni Nero), gets a “positive” musical montage showing him fitting in around normal people, and when Christmas season rolls around, finds himself getting roped into putting on a Santa suit at the store for the scores of brats wanting to sit on his lap, and after the film makes such a commendable effort of getting us to relate to, identify with, and even have sympathy for this poor kid, we finally see Billy completely snap on Christmas Eve (after being made by his boss to drink alcohol for the first time) and go on a massive killing spree, first taking out his co-workers and then moving on to the rest of the town. Now, while the literal overall tone of the film doesn’t really change and remains just as serious and bleak as always, the actual idea of seeing innocent people being brutally murdered on Christmas Eve of all nights (and by a character we’ve come to almost like) is just so positively horrific that all one can do to withstand it is to pretty much just switch off the “serious” mode in our brains and view the remainder of the film as an almost brutally pitch black, extremely bad taste horror comedy, simply by reminding ourselves that it’s only a movie as Billy slaughters his way through his victims (including legendary B movie Scream Queen Linnea Quigley who even does nudity), all the way to his final destination on Christmas morning, the orphanage that he grew up in (and where his little brother still resides) as perhaps some subconscious sense of self righteous rage within him seems to direct him towards the sadistic Mother Superior that he knows all too well had set him on this tragic path, even as she seems to obviously fear more for her own safety rather than that of the children (as at least Billy is shown to have a soft spot for kids even while killing others) while her most prized pupil draws near as the movie manages to hit an absurdist peak with the character of one state trooper who winds up killing an innocent man by accident and plainly comes across as a guy who would MUCH rather be with his loved ones on Christmas morning than skulking around trying to catch a crazed psycho killer. And the ending, with its gentle music (in contrast with The Mother Superior’s coldheartedness) and final stab at empathy with the tragic figure that is Billy (as opposed to his younger brother Ricky, the killer in the sequels, who was just a purely evil son of a bitch) is the stuff of insane yet effective melodrama, and after having several scenes featuring children witnessing events that would scar their souls for all eternity (along with that of any young children who would view the film), what we have here in the end is an extremely dark yet sometimes brilliant film about those unfortunates among us who really have nothing happy to celebrate about the holidays, even as others in recent years have actually been known to make this film into a Yuletide viewing staple that gets as much play in their homes as more conventional Xmas movies which could only be so in a world such as this…
9/10