Silent Night, Deadly Night, 2025.
Directed by Mike P. Nelson.
Starring Rohan Campbell, Ruby Modine, Mark Acheson, David Lawrence Brown, and David Tomlinson.
SYNOPSIS:
After witnessing the murder of his parents, a young boy grows up to be a serial killer in a Santa suit.
How many remakes are there of Silent Night, Deadly Night now? Only two officially, but it’s a title that seems to have been around in so many different versions over the years that it is easy to get confused, especially when you consider there are sequels to content with, plus there is also a proto-slasher from 1972 called Silent Night, Bloody Night that itself has been remade at least once and was also made in to a play.
Anyway, following on from the controversial 1984 original and the awful 2012 remake Silent Night, someone has seen fit to remake it again, although there is some involvement from the producers of the original who managed to secure the rights. They also managed to secure writer/director Mike P. Nelson, who did a sterling job reimagining hillbilly slasher Wrong Turn as a cult-based survival thriller a few years back, so what does Nelson bring to the Santa slasher that hadn’t been done already?
A few things actually, although how successful these things are depends on how much of a slasher purist you are. Before that, though, we are introduced to Billy, a young boy visiting his grandpa in an old people’s home with his parents, just like in the original. On the way home, Billy’s parents are murdered by a killer Santa Claus right in front of him, and then we flash forward to present day where Billy (Rohan Campbell) is all grown up and spends the first 24 days of every December killing somebody and pressing their blood into an advent calendar/scrap book, all on the orders of Charlie, the voice in his head.
So already we’ve moved away from the original, but don’t panic because Billy is going to get a job in a Christmas shop, only this one is not a toy shop but one that sells decorations and is owned by Dean Sims (David Lawrence Brown) and his daughter Pam (Ruby Modine). Billy is a drifter and moves from town to town, but he takes a liking to Pam and charms Dean into giving him a job, and once the two start working together Billy discovers something of a kindred spirit in Pam as she has temper problems, lost her mother at a young age, etc.
All of which is good for Billy but Charlie won’t keep quiet, pointing out to Billy the locals who need to be dealt with, such as George, a part-time shop worker who gets a bit friendly with Pam, and Delphine, a foul-mouthed local with a secret or two. Can Billy keep Charlie in check so he can continue his relationship with Pam, or does he dare to share his secret with her and hope she accepts him for who he really is?
Well, lots to take in and there is more to it as Mike P. Nelson has thrown in several twists and curveballs to keep things bouncing along and, if nothing else, Silent Night, Deadly Night does move and is never boring. The biggest plus for the movie is the kills, as the filmmakers don’t scrimp on the blood, and despite a few small CGI touch-up effects, most of the gags are practical, something that the director makes a point of commenting on in the accompanying featurette, although this being the 2020s this version is noticeably less sleazy than the original, so make of that what you will.
Nelson also comments that he saw Rohan Campbell in Halloween Ends and thought he would be good casting here, and he is, because this version of Billy is not just a deranged killer with a personality disorder and does have more to him, which is something that Campbell brings out, especially in his scenes with Ruby Modine, who is excellent as Pam, and they have a chemistry that Campbell did not have with his Halloween co-stars. David Lawrence Brown completes the trio of lead characters, with something of Sid Haig about him, and when they are all on the screen together they make you want good things to happen for them.
But this is a slasher movie, and so good things are not always going to happen to the people we like, and Mike P. Nelson is well aware that we can’t have straight-up slasher movies these days thanks to Scream, Dexter and the like – even in a remake of a classic slasher – which means that in trying to deviate from the template the movie suffers from too many tonal shifts and a considerable lack of tension. Of course, the premise is a bit absurd to start with, but the dramatic side of it with Billy and Pam’s blossoming relationship is handled almost like a soap opera just before Nelson plonks in a scene of gory madness that feels like something Tarantino would do. It is a great and memorable scene, but somehow it just doesn’t fit with what is going on either side of it. Or you could say that what is going on either side of it doesn’t fit with a tremendous central set piece; either way, the movie jumps about tonally like this and one feels that had it stuck to being either a serious slasher or madcap gorefest it would have been a little more coherent.
Nevertheless, by the end of the movie you do feel like you have seen something a little different than what was expected from a remake of a 1980s slasher, and time will tell whether Mike P. Nelson’s additions will continue on in a new franchise or whether this is it until someone else decides to remake it again in a few years time. Either way, Silent Night, Deadly Night is a fun Christmas horror with a bit of heart and lots of ideas, albeit it way too many to really nail the terror of an axe-wielding Santa like the original did.
Oh yes, there is mention of ‘Garbage Day’ – if you know, you know.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★
Chris Ward
