Silent Night, Deadly Night
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| Silent Night, Deadly Night | |
|---|---|
 Original Theatrical poster |
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| Directed by | Charles E. Sellier Jr. |
| Produced by | Ira Richard Barmak |
| Written by | Paul Caimi Michael Hickey |
| Starring | Lilyan Chauvin Britt Leach Gilmer McCormick Robert Brian Wilson |
| Music by | Perry Botkin Jr. |
| Cinematography | Henning Schellerup |
| Distributed by | TriStar Pictures Slayride Inc. |
| Release date(s) | November 9th, 1984 |
| Running time | 79 minutes 85 minutes (uncut version) |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $750,000 (estimated) |
| Followed by | Silent Night, Deadly Night Part 2 |
| IMDb profile | |
Silent Night, Deadly Night is a slasher film that was released in 1984 and starred Robert Brian Wilson, Lilyan Chauvin, Gilmer McCormick, Toni Nero, Britt Leach and Leo Geter. The movie was directed by Charles E. Sellier Jr.. The film was one of the most controversial films of the 1980s because the killer dressed as Santa Claus. The PTA fought to have this film removed from the theaters due to its subject matter and the fact that it was shown around Christmas. The film spawned four sequels. Anchor Bay Entertainment has released this film, along with its sequel as a double feature DVD in 2003.
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[edit] Taglines
- "You've made it through Halloween, now try and survive Christmas"
- "Santa's Here!"
- "He knows when you've been naughty"
- "Shocking... disturbing... the movie they tried to ban"
- "If 'A Nightmare On Elm Street' gave you sleepless nights, or if 'Halloween' made you jump in every shadow, or if 'Friday the 13th' was more frightening than others... THEN BEWARE!"
[edit] Summary
The movie begins in December, 1972. Billy Chapman, a little boy, goes with his parents and little brother Ricky to see their grandfather at a mental hospital. Billy's grandpa (played by Will Hare), is sitting there in a catatonic state, when the parents go off to review Grandpa's records with the doctor, leaving him alone with Billy. Grandpa starts talking to Billy, and tells him the frightening truth about Santa Claus: Santa Claus only gives presents to the good boys and girls, but punishes the naughty ones. As soon as the parents return, grandpa goes back into his catatonic state.
After leaving the mental hospital, Billy asked his mother if Santa ever had to punish her. He is scared to see Santa Claus. Billy's mother assures him there is nothing to be scared of, and that grandpa is a crazy old fool. Billy then says, "It's naughty to say bad things about old people; Santa Claus will punish you".
Not far away, a man in a Santa Claus suit (played by Charles Dierkop) goes to a convenience store and robs the place at gun point. He kills the clerk and runs out of the store, only to find that he stole a grand total of $31. "31 bucks? Merry Fucking Christmas!" The man then drives off into the dark. Later that night, the Chapman family are on their way home and they see a man in a Santa suit pulled over at the side of the road. They ask him if he needs help, but he pulls out a gun. Billy's dad puts the car in reverse and tries to get away, but the man still manages to shoot him. Billy gets out of the car and hides, when he sees the killer rape his mother and slit her throat. The killer starts looking for Billy, saying, "Where are you you little bastard?" When Billy looks up, the killer is gone, and Billy is left to take care of his little brother.
Three years pass, and Billy and his little brother Ricky are living at St. Mary's Orphanage. Billy is in class, and the kids have been assigned to draw Christmas pictures. When Billy shows his drawing of a bloody Santa Claus and a decapitated reindeer, the teacher sends Billy to Mother Superior (the headmistress, played by Lilyan Chauvin). She sees the drawing and sends Billy to his room as punishment. Sister Margaret (played by Gilmer McCormick), a sympathetic nun, can see that Billy still is haunted by his parents' deaths. Mother Superior does not care what Sister Margaret thinks, and tells Margaret that she will take care of Billy personally. Later on, Sister Margaret lets Billy come outside to play. As Billy leaves his room, he hears the noise of a couple making love. Mother Superior sees it and beats them with a belt. She comes out and is mad at Billy for leaving his room. She tells Billy that "Punishment is necessary, punishment is good," then sends Billy to his room and beats him with a belt. Later on that night, Billy has nightmares and runs out of his room, only to be caught by Mother Superior, who then ties him to his bed. In the morning, when the kids line up to sit on Santa Claus's lap, Billy is forced to join in, but he wiggles away and punches the fake Santa and runs to his room, scared.
It is now 1984. Billy (played by Robert Brian Wilson), is now 18 years old and Sister Margeret is trying to help him get a job at Ira's Toy Store. He meets Mr. Simms, the store owner (played by Britt Leach), and hires Billy. Things go well until Christmas comes around. Billy's co-worker named Andy (played by Randy Stumpf), starts yelling at him for no apparent reason. Billy has a crush on his female co-worker named Pamela (played by Toni Nero), and has a dream about making love to her, but being stabbed for his acts. The next day, Billy is asked to play Santa Claus because one of his fellow employees was injured. Later that night, when the employees are celebrating, Andy takes Pamela back to the stock room. When Billy goes back to the room a few minutes later and sees Andy attempt to rape Pamela, he has flashbacks of his parents. Billy snaps, realizes that he has the power to punish, since he is now Santa Claus, then says "Naughty!" and hangs Andy by the Christmas lights. Pamela becomes upset and starts yelling at Billy, who gets the box cutter on the shelf and stabs Pamela saying "Punishment is nessesary Pamela, it is Good." Mr Simms hears the noise in back and checks it out, thinking he is hallucinating in his intoxication. When he turns around, he is hit in the head with a hammer. The assistant manager, Mrs. Randall (played by Nancy Borgenicht), sees the lights turned off and goes to look for Mr. Simms in the stock room. When she sees his corpse, she becomes hysterical and tries to call the police, but someone cuts the phone line. She sees Billy with an ax in his hand and tries to hide. When Billy comes closer, she knocks him down and tries to escape by breaking the window glass with the ax. Billy picks up a bow and arrow and kills her. Having killed everyone in the store, Billy leaves to go punish the "naughty people". When Sister Margaret comes to pick up Billy, she sees Mrs. Randall's corpse and screams.
Later, Billy sees two teenagers making love. The girl, Denise (played by Linnea Quigley), hears something upstairs. Thinking the cat wants to come in, she opens the door. The cat comes in, but she sees that Billy is there as well. He shouts, "Punish!" then impales her on the antlers of an antelope head hanging on the wall. Denise's boyfriend, Tommy (played by Leo Geter), goes to look for her and sees her hanging on the wall, bleeding. Tommy tries to call the police, but Billy stops him and throws him out the window. Cindy, a little girl, sees Billy on the street in his Santa Claus outfit. He asks Cindy if she has been naughty or nice. When Cindy says that she has been good, Billy gives her the box cutter he used to kill Pamela with, then leaves.
Later on, two kids going sledding are attacked by bullies. The first bully slides down the hill, telling the other to join him, when Billy chops the second bully's head off. The first bully watches as his friend's head and body roll down the hill separately, he screams when he sees his body and head.
On Christmas morning, Sister Margaret is at the police station. Captain Richards (played by H.E.D. Redford), tells her there have been 3 more murders. Margaret tells the captain that there is an order to the killings, then realizes that Billy is the killer. She quickly deduces that his next move will be at the orphanage.
At the orphanage, the children are waiting to see Santa Claus. A man in a Santa suit walks up to the orphanage. Officer Barnes (played by Max Robinson) arrives just in time to tell the man to stop. He ignores Barnes and keeps walking toward the orphanage, when the cop shoots him, the kids panic and Ricky becomes shocked when Father O'Brien's blood spatters over his face. The Captain and Sister Margaret think it is over till the dispatcher tells them the report is all wrong. Sister Margaret realizes too late that the police shot Father O'Brien. He didn't hear because he was deaf, not because he was the killer. Officer Barnes, who shot the priest, unsuccessfully attempts to explain what happened to Mother Superior. She becomes angry at what happened and stomps away, fuming, and Barnes walks off to search the grounds. When he sees an open door that leads to the basement, he goes down to look and finds nothing. However, when he gets back to the door, he hears "Punish!" Billy comes up out of the dark and slams his ax into Barnes' stomach. Billy starts walking toward the orphanage, and one of the kids sees him and lets him in. Billy is about to kill Mother Superior, when she tells him "There is no Santa Claus." Billy frowns, says "Naughty!", and begins to swing his ax, but Captain Richards shoots him just in time. Although he killed many people, Sister Margaret is sad to see Billy die. Before he passes, Billy says, "You're safe now... Santa Claus... is gone." Billy's little brother, who watched Billy die, looks down at his dead brother's body, then slowly looks up with a cold stare and says, "Naughty!"
[edit] See also
- Silent Night, Deadly Night Part 2
- Silent Night, Deadly Night 3: Better Watch Out!
- Initiation: Silent Night, Deadly Night 4
- Silent Night, Deadly Night 5: The Toy Maker
