Silent Night, Deadly Night (1984)

User Rating:

5.4/10   

Director:

Charles E. Sellier Jr.

Writers:

Paul Caimi (story)
Michael Hickey (writer)

Release Date:

9 November 1984 (USA)

Genre:

Horror | Thriller

Tagline:

You've made it through Halloween, now try and survive Christmas

Plot:

After his parents are murdered, a young tormented teenager goes on a murderous rampage dressed as Santa, due to his stay at an orphanage where he was abused by the Mother Superior.

Plot Keywords:

Orphanage | Sex | Killing | Mother | Young Boy

Cast

Lilyan Chauvin	...	Mother Superior
Gilmer McCormick	...	Sister Margaret
Toni Nero	...	Pamela
Robert Brian Wilson	...	Billy Chapman (age 18)
Britt Leach	...	Ira Sims
Nancy Borgenicht	...	Mrs. Randall
H.E.D. Redford	...	Captain Richards
Danny Wagner	...	Billy Chapman (age 8)
Linnea Quigley	...	Denise
Leo Geter	...	Tommy
Randy Stumpf	...	Andy
Will Hare	...	Grandpa Chapman
Tara Buckman	...	Ellie Chapman
Geoff Hansen	...	Jim Chapman (as Jeff Hansen)
Charles Dierkop	...	Killer Santa

Also Known As:

Slayride (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

79 min | USA:85 min (uncut version) | Belgium:96 min (video version)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Finland:(Banned) (1989) | Iceland:16 | Netherlands:16 | Canada:R (Manitoba/Nova Scotia/Ontario) | New Zealand:R18 | Finland:K-18 (2007) | Canada:16+ (Quebec) | Italy:T (DVD rating) | Italy:VM18 (video rating, cut) | Australia:R | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Heber City, Utah, USA

Company:

TriStar Pictures

Trivia:

The title "Slay Ride" actually ended up as a subplot in another film, the Disney holiday movie Ernest Saves Christmas (1988). In the Ernest film, the prospective Santa that Ernest was looking for was appearing in a horror film as a killer Santa in a film entitled "Slay Ride".

Quotes:

Officer Miller: Can you believe this? It's Christmas Eve and we got orders to bring in Santa Claus.

Movie Connections:

References Peter Pan (1953)

Soundtrack:

Christmas Flu

This film rules!

I love this film.

At the end of my copy after the freaky nun looks at the camera it pauses and a voice says "Stay tuned for more previews" and then the little boy says "naughty" - a weird interruption that adds so much class.

A fun game also to play during this film is counting the unnecessary boob shots - there are many. One of my favourites is the girl who puts her cat right outside the front door wearing nothing but tiny shorts (the girl not the cat who is wearing a fabulous fur ensemble). A must see for all cheesy horror film fans. The rest of the series don't really have much to do with Christmas and SNDN2 seems to be made up mostly with flashbacks from this, the far superior film.