The father (Christmas) of all slasher Santa films is back, over forty years after it once outraged audiences into a 1984 cinema ban.
The second remake in the franchise, director Mike P. Nelson’s Silent Night, Deadly Night returns the series to its gritty roots of violent axe murders and unsettled young men working dead-end retail jobs. A young boy, following a traumatic visit to his grandfather, witnesses his parents’ murder in a seemingly random attack on Christmas Eve. The man responsible? A lone weirdo, dressed as Santa Claus.
Years later, and an all-growed up Billy Chapman (Rohan Campbell) relieves his trauma by dressing up as jolly Saint Nick and delivering bloody punishment. Shorn of the Catholic guilt of his ’80s counterpart, Campbell’s Chapman is an entirely different beast – taking more inspiration from Dexter’s dark design than Santa’s naughty list. He even has a killer’s code! The film’s departures from the lore may upset Silent Night, Deadly Night purists, but it’s still a more faithful approach than the 2012 version (you don’t put avocado on the burger!) – and at least it never gets as silly as the one with Mickey Rooney.
A quietly intense Campbell is well-prepared for the material, having followed a similar path in Halloween Ends. Elsewhere, Ruby Modine injects some energy as fearsome shopkeeper’s heiress Pam, while Mark Acheson serves as another Christmassy Easter egg, following up his turn in Elf, as Billy’s dark passenger, Charlie.
Taking an approach which both modernises the source material and pays tribute to the grit of its ’80s predecessor, Silent Night, Deadly Night is a joyfully subversive take on the horror remake. While it never loses sight of what made the original tick (including a Garbage Day gag, in reference to its 1987 sequel), it’s not afraid to take some big swings either – specifically where Billy’s axe is concerned. This culminates in a sequence involving modern-day Nazis, a Christmas party, and multiple people in Santa costumes.
As remakes go, it’s up there with The Hills Have Eyes 2006 and Evil Dead 2013 as one of the best that the genre has to offer. A very naughty horror remake, executed with a devious glimmer of the eye.
SILENT NIGHT, DEADLY NIGHT is out in UK cinemas now.
