[The second of the /slash Filmfestival Christmas Special movies.]

Silent Night, Deadly Night is a horror movie directed by Charles E. Sellier Jr. and starring Robert Brian Wilson, Gilmer McCormick and Lilyan Chauvin.

Plot:
When he’s 5, Billy (Jonathan Best) has one hell of a Christmas: first his otherwise catatonic grandfather (Will Hare) gives him a speech about Santa punishing naughty children. Then his parents get murdered in front of him by a guy in a Santa costume. This all leaves Billy severly traumatised (as you might imagine) and is not made better by the treatment he receives in the orphanage he’s subsequently sent to.
Ten years later Billy (Robert Brian Wilson) is working in a toy store on Christmas when Santa falls in and he is asked to replace him. But donning that Santa costume is too much – and Billy snaps.

Silent Night, Deadly Night is every stereotype of bad 80s horror movies combined – the ridiculous backstory, the nudity for no particular reason, the ending which already lays everything down for a sequel, the mediocre, over-the-top-performances. And even though all of this should make it a trite affair, the movie is immensly entertaining.

It doesn’t surprise me that I had never heard of any of the actors playing in this film before – it’s not like they were particularly good or worth remembering. But they were perfect for this film. Good performances would have been misplaced. [Though Lilyan Chauvin manages to wrestle some kind of seriousness from her role.]

Also, Charles E. Seller Jr. doesn’t make the best director. And the script was, quite frankly, ridiculous. (“PUUUUNNNIIISH!”) Though I did like the line about the religious experience.

And despite all of this, or maybe because of it, the film makes for an excellent cheese-fest and had me laughing most of the time. (The scene alone where Santa!Billy meets the little girl and gives her the knife as a present is pretty much worth the entire set-up. And the sleighing scene.)

I think the movie’s saving grace is that it knows how bad it actually is and just runs with it. That’s always a good thing.

Summarising: If you like your horror movies cheesy, this one’s for you!