Silent Night, Deadly Night (1984)

On it’s release, Silent Night Deadly Night’s promotional advertising was pulled from distribution, with several parental groups complaining that it was scaring children and making them afraid of Santa Claus. The film itself was soon pulled from theatres to heap more misery on the studio, which is a real shame because there’s plenty to admire about it, even if it’s not on the same level as something like Black Christmas. Little Billy witnesses the murder of his parents by a criminal dressed as Santa Claus in the films’ opening, and grows up with terrible PTSD from the event, meaning every Christmas is an ordeal for him with constant reminders of his parents murder. To compound his situation, he is brought up in an extremely strict orphanage run by nuns, who try to battle his issues head on (hiring a Santa and forcing Billy to sit on his lap) rather than indulging in some therapy for the young lad. This is a more comic affair, with plenty of bloodiness to boot; the adult Billy is working in a toy store and is forced to dress up as Santa to fill in for the man who calls in sick, and mayhem ensues. A man running around with an axe dressed as Santa doesn’t seem particularly novel, but it does work to a certain extent; Silent Night, Deadly Night is an enjoyable affair without ever turning into the cult video nasty it could have become. But that’s perhaps for the best, the film shows the dangerous effects of PTSD albeit in an unintentionally amusing fashion, making for a passable if ultimately insubstantial horror flick. 6.4/10