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| Images courtesy of Cineverse |
The classic Silent Night Deadly Night hit theaters in 1984 and instantly sparked moral outrage. The film presented Santa as a blood thirsty killer taking vengeance after his parents were murdered when he was a small child. It spawned several exploitative sequels, each serving up dwindling creative returns. The original was a low budget slasher flick that pushed the envelope with a notorious rape scene and a grumpy Grandpa scaring the daylights out of young Billy. While the film wasn’t an artistic masterpiece by any means it spawned an entire subgenre of Santa slasher films and a remake in 2012, which was ultimately the sixth in the low budget franchise.
This Christmas sees the release of the latest incarnation of the series. Silent Night Deadly Night (2025) is produced by the people that successfully delivered the grimy, gore infused Terrifier 2 and 3 to theaters. For all intents and purposes, this revisit tries to update the brand with a reboot that doesn’t fall too far from the Christmas tree. This newest rehash manages to squeeze out an updated Santa slasher that fits right at home with modern terror tales. Director Mike P. Nelson in cahoots with Cineverse and Bloody Disgusting brings the bearded gift bringer back into theaters with a familiar and somewhat tired spin on the horror classic. Not every killer needs an expansive backstory. In fact, the scariest movies of all time rely on what exists in the shadows. The unknown is a terrifying playscape.
Nelson revitalizes the story while removing some the nastiest and most egregious moments from the 1984 entry. The sexual assault has been removed entirely and some of the grit has been trimmed back to appease potential naysayers. The misogyny has been fully decapitated. Disappointingly, they decided to take a political spin on some of the killings. It doesn’t work in the framework of a movie that’s meant to be about Santa with an ax to grind. Fortunately, actor Rohan Campbell (Halloween Ends) carries the role of Billy, giving the character more depth and a better representation of his intentions. The storytelling here is much more tightly wound and moves at a great pace. This version of Billy actually emotes, bringing more realism and humanity to the part. He’s no longer just a soulless killing machine. He has a yearly plan that revolves around an Advent calendar that requires him to perform daily kills leading up to the holiday. Again, there's too much character development and it takes away from the fear factor.
Some might be disappointed that they’ve really trimmed the fat here. Sure, there’s some gore and mayhem but it’s not nearly as overboard as the aforementioned Terrifier movies. The practical effects work is top notch but there is very little of it. Going into this with the expectation that it's going to reinvent the wheel will leave most audiences disappointed. This is a modern reboot that gives Billy some defined ambitions that explore his personality disorders and the reasoning behind the murders. This is a much more complex story. However, its narrative begs, borrows and steals from other franchise films and series. At times, it plays like Dexter in a Santa suit with a supernatural underpinning.
In the ever-expanding catalog of Christmas horror, there are far greater movies that don’t rely as heavily on their influences. For instance, Joe Begos’ Christmas Bloody Christmas did something fun with this brand of slasher film. Silent Night Deadly Night (2025) is worthy enough of its namesake even if it struggles to land a satisfying kill count. Surprisingly enough, this is getting a wide release this weekend with no promotion whatsoever. The biggest flaws in this movie lie in the fact that it attempts to fully remove all the exploitation elements and doesn’t do much to increase the body count. If you’re going to reboot, you one hundred percent must dedicate and make every effort to outdo the original. The removal of the complexities and unneeded supernatural elements they added to the plot would have made for a much better experience.
Punish!
-CG