Sam Panico Merry Christmas, everyone, it's time to descend into the absolute nadir of scummy movies and watch something that parents were right to worry about their kids watching.Christmas 1971. Billy Chapman and his family go to see his grandfather in a nursing home. The silent, senile old man just sits there, but when Billy's parents walk away, he tells him that he should be afraid when Santa comes, because he knows that Billy hasn't been a good boy. On the way back, Billy's parents slow down so he can see Santa walk along the road. Billy is already freaked out, but then Santa shoots Billy's dad before raping and killing his mother - all while Billy and his infant brother Ricky watch.Christmas 1974. Billy and Ricky celebrate in an orphanage. Well, there's not much to celebrate. There's non-stop punishment from Mother Superior and only Sister Margaret and Ricky are there to help Billy. Every holiday, our hero goes insane, drawing pictures of Santa killing his family and punching people dressed like Santa.Christmas 1984. Sister Margaret gets Billy a job at a toy store, where things seem to be looking up. Billy even gets a love interest, Pamela, who he has wet dreams about that are interrupted by visions of Santa killing his family. Alright, I lied. Nothing is looking up, because Billy's boss has a new job for him: he has to be Santa for Christmas Eve.There's a scene where Billy tells a young girl on his lap that he's going to punish her - while two moms look on approvingly - that is total insanity. Sister Margaret calls while this is happening to see how Billy is doing, only to learn that he's doing the one job he never should be doing. There's a party in the store and Billy leaves on the Santa suit. The owner tells Billy to keep on drinking and he'll think he really is Santa Claus. Pamela leaves with Andy, the employee that always gives Andy a hard time. As Billy follows, he sees them making out, but soon Andy starts to rape his love interest. Billy responds in the way that any rational human being would: he hangs Andy with Christmas lights and stabs Pamela while describing how punishment is good.Billy has followed his boss' advice: time to do what Santa does on Christmas Eve. Billy's version of Santa? His job is to kill. Billy lives up to that job description by killing his boss with a hammer and the store manager with a bow and arrow. Seriously, this movie has gone off the rails. Even scenes where people sing carols take on menace and dread.Billy can't stop his rampage now. He kills a young couple just for having sex, impaling the girl on a deer's antlers and throwing the guy out the window. Talk about reindeer games! He then wakes up a little girl in the house and keeps asking her if she was naughty or nice. When she answers nice, he gives her a knife!Don't be a bully harassing sled riders in Billy's neighborhood either, because he'll chop your head right off.Sister Margaret turns to the police, who rush to the orphanage. One of the cops screws up on arrival and kills a cop dressed as Santa right in front of a kid. Santa lives matter! He pays for his naughtiness by getting axed by Billy, who makes his way into the building to confront Mother Superior. She taunts Billy, telling him she doesn't believe in Santa. Billy goes to kill her and is shot by a cop. Sister Margaret is sad that Billy is dead and tenderly touches his face. Yep, a nun is sad that a serial killing Santa Claus has been stopped from killing another nun. Such is this movie.Billy dies, but not before telling the kids "You're safe now, Santa Claus is gone." Ricky, his brother, looks at Mother Superior and says one word: naughty.Needless to say, I loved this movie. It's a gutter crawling piece of pure garbage, perfect for my holiday season. I savored it by literally screaming my throat raw whilst dancing around my living room in pure holiday celebration!

melvelvit-1 A kid who sees his parents get butchered by a maniac in a Santa suit grows up to be a killer Claus himself in another '80s gorefest with a sense of humor and Linnea Quigley.After HALLOWEEN, Friday THE 13th, MOTHER'S DAY, and MY BLOODY VALENTINE, it was only a matter of time til Christmas rolled around and when it finally did in November 1984, the film even out-grossed A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET, which opened the same week. I actually remember the tidal wave of backlash which soon followed, making SNDN one of the more controversial films of the decade, along with William Friedkin's CRUISING. Outraged by TV & print ads showing Santa with a bloody ax, "the PTA fought to have this film removed from theaters" and "large crowds (mostly angry families) formed at theaters and malls around the nation to protest the film". Siskel & Ebert read off the filmmakers' names on their TV show, saying "shame, shame" and the film was soon withdrawn from theaters for awhile. (The free-wheeling '70s were a lot more chill - when I saw BLACK Christmas at the drive-in back in December 1974, there wasn't an uproar in the press or anywhere else.)SILENT NIGHT DEADLY NIGHT was eventually re-released with cuts and without the offensive ads that scared so many kids and the DVD I have is "the most complete version" spliced together from two different film elements -one crisp and the other dark- so it was interesting to see just what had been cut (mostly lingering or explicit shots of the more gory murders). No better or worse than most '80s slasher films, the low budget didn't hamper the decent kills and Linnea Quigley as a randy babysitter helped make this something of a cult film over the years.

bowmanblue I've watched numerous 'slasher' films over the years, so I flatter myself I've seen most things when it comes to the genre, but 'Silent Night, Deadly Night' kind of left me speechless. Yes, there's nothing that new about what you get here – killer stalks various people and despatches them in bloodthirsty ways. However, the whole feel of the film just left me unsure of what I was watching.This 'vibe' I'm talking about is either a deliberate attempt to do something a little different with the genre, or just bad film-making. I think there are arguments for and against each of these. I'm not sure whether the structure was supposed to be all over the place, but I was left never really sure where this film was going until about the final third (where it does start to conform to a more generic slasher film structure).You've probably seen the promotional material depicting a 'killer Santa' so I'll just leave it at that and I won't go into too much detail regarding the plot because I'd never seen the film before and I genuinely didn't know what to expect (besides the obvious slasher stuff). There are some bits that are actually quite neat and offer a slightly more refreshing take to a genre which was already pretty old when this film was released in 1984.Then you have bits of the film which suddenly become so damn cheesy and daft that you wonder whether this is a film that's a little more 'self aware' than you gave it credit for. Bits of it are so over the top I could see them being parodied on something like South Park.The gore isn't great, most likely due to budget restraints, so don't expect too much of the red stuff or any death scenes that you haven't already seen before. It may all be a bit tame (and very dated!) by today's standards, but, if you're looking for a classic slasher film with a few weird quirks and things you might not expect, this one may do the job.

metalrage666 This tale of Christmas woe starts with a family taking a trip to see an aged family relative in a retirement home on Christmas eve. While there the old man appears to be in a catatonic state. His son and wife go to speak with one of the doctors, leaving their young son, Billy, with the old man. At this point Billy's grandfather suddenly comes to life and for reasons unknown, warns him about Santa Claus and to stay away from him. Naturally this freaks out Billy, who on the way home in the car exclaims to his parents that he doesn't want Santa to come anymore. While this is going on, a convenience store is undergoing an armed robbery from a guy dressed as Santa. He gets away but seemingly doesn't get too far as he breaks down and he flags down the aforementioned family still trying to get home. Despite the protestations from Billy, they stop to help. As Santa reveals himself as a criminal, he shoots the father as he tries to drive off, running the car off the road. He drags the mother from the car with intentions to rape her but after she hits him, he gets angry and slits her throat. Billy has run off to hide behind a bush leaving his baby brother crying in the car. Fast forward a couple of years, Billy and his brother Ricky are now wards of the state living at an orphanage run by a mother superior who seems to think that she's still living in Victorian era London and the only way to teach anybody anything is by beating it into them. Despite the misgivings from another, more caring nun, Billy's emotional problems over Santa and his nightmares at Christmas time are ignored by mother superior as just a lack of discipline and are treated with more cruelty. Fast forward even more years and Billy is now 18 and is being hired out by the orphanage for volunteer work at a toy store during the holiday season. After the instore appearance by Santa is ruined, Billy is coerced by the store manager to take over the role and from this point in, Billy is on a downward spiral. After seeing a female colleague get attacked and almost raped by another colleage during the after party, Billy kills him with some Christmas lights and then kills the girl as well. Personally I blame her for that as she was just saved from being raped, so yeah it's not a real good idea to yell at your saviour. Anyway, Billy then goes on a murderous rampage through the town after killing the rest of his colleagues, all the while making his way back to the orphanage to get his revenge on mother inferior. Needless to say he ends up killing just about everyone else but manages to get himself killed before he can get his final revenge, in front of his younger brother and all the other kids. And we now queue the hatred that Ricky ends up having for the colour red and everything else. Ignoring the fact that part 2 actually exists as a thing, this isn't too bad for a nonsensical horror movie. Despite nearly everybody in this acting like an idiot and doing things that most sane people wouldn't even think of doing, this isn't too bad and is actually worth a look. It's a "check your brain at the door" kind of movie and just let the ridiculousness unfold as is.