Review: Silent Night, Deadly Night.

I was at the import DVD store in the centre of London and I noticed an oddity. Silent Night, Deadly Night. I once saw this movie on youtube because of the related "Garbage Day" meme from its sequel. What surprised me was the 18 mark wasn't a sticker like on the other imports so it was an R2. Surprising since this movie was banned during the Video Nasty craze of the 80s.

So why was this particular movie banned? Because it involves a killer in a Santa costume. Apparently this premise caused protests in America from parents because a childhood icon is apparently a slasher villain.

OK, lets get this film into perspective. The movie starts with a family with a young boy and a baby on their way to visit their grampa. Problem is the grampa is in a mental defunct state. When alone, the grampa warns the young boy Billy that Santa punishes kids who've been naughty even once a year. As if this wasn't enough to give the kid a negative image of St Nick, the kid's parents are brutally murdered by a robber in a Santa costume, Billy and his baby brother Ricky are then raised in a catholic orphanage where the Mother Superior is an uncaring disciplinarian. Eventually Billy grows up and is given a job in a toy store. Things go OK until the run up to Christmas. Billy is made to fill in for the store Santa. Now wearing the costume, with a combination of his childhood trauma and mother Superior's punish happy raising, Billy sets up into the night slaying all those in his path he believes are "naughty". He is eventually killed by the police before he can turn his wrath on the mother superior. However Billy's brother witnesses the event and also declares mother superior naughty.

Now I'm not excusing Billy's rampage, but you can definitely see where it came from. You can't help but sympathize with Billy. Has the kid been giving counciling instead of lashing, maybe he could have turned out ok. Credit to the filmmakers for touching on the taboo of christmas horror films. While steriotypically a time of happiness and such this movie has balls. For a couple of moments, I cheered Billy on as he kills his first victim, a rapest and hoped he would gain his revenge on the Mother Superior. the movie doesn't have a big budget, but it does a well enough job in telling its story. Those who are after something different this christmas or just a collector of films previously banned by the BBFC this one's worth looking into.