Silent Night Deadly Night 4: Initiation
For the fourth entry in the franchise, the producers decided to drop the stale linear storyline of the previous films and embark on what could be called “Christmas-themed” horror stories using the Silent Night name. Here the story involves an LA journalist (Neith Hunter, introduced memorably in a nude sex scene) happily sleeping with her co-worker in order to get a promotion at her newspaper, the LA Eye(!), who takes on the story of a young woman who suddenly burst into flames and leapt off a building to her death, only to get caught up with a cult of lesbian witches (led by Maud “Octopussy” Adams) who want to initiate her (hence the title) by having her perform a sacrifice on Christmas Eve. If this sounds like the plot of a bad b-movie, well it is, and a lot of it starts with the lead actress: Hunter floats through the film resembling Elisha Cuthbert at her worst as Kim Bauer on 24, trying to make herself seem smart and important as she digs into the case, but coming off more as a bubble-headed idiot who is easily and readily seduced into the cult. The fact that she’s very beautiful adds an element of watchable badness to her performance right up to the end. As for Adams, her days as a top Bond girl are now long behind her, playing the cult leader as someone in a complete trance in thinking that her twisted religious views are the right way. As the main character’s boyfriend and co-worker, Tommy Hinkley bumbles his way through the proceedings, sharing zero chemistry with his female lead and mouthing sweet nothings in a wooden daze. As the lesbian best friend concerned for her safety, Allyce “Agnes Depesto” Beasley also barely registers, except when she tells Hunter at the office Christmas party (in front of others) not to forget to carry out the sacrifice. The acting highlights here come down to legendary Phantasm star Reggie Bannister as the chauvinistic boss at the newspaper and longtime b-movie icon / famous sibling Clint Howard as the grubby, insect-eating homeless guy who acts as a sort of enforcer for the lesbian witches, but thankfully Howard shows a refreshing lack of pretentiousness by playing his character as just a dorky regular guy with a gnarly appearance, even as he carries out evil acts (his highlight is when he walks in on the main characters having sex and matter-of-factly sits down on the edge of the bed and turns on the TV). Director Brian Yuzna wisely recruits the FX skills of surrealist master Screaming Mad George to create several nasty bugs and other wild creations including a giant worm which gets vomited up during a ritual. Really, while not being a very scary flick, the film does get a good b-movie vibe going with some corny / cool moments like the boyfriend’s father going on a rant about how everything in the bible is true and the lead actress doing a fair amount of nudity during some of the more slime-drenched ritual scenes. Overall, so stupid it’s entertaining, and much better than the wretched Part 3…
5/10