When I first saw Silent Night, Deadly Night years ago I probably saw it cut. I found it to be an interesting movie, but quiet dry and not that much fun. I guess the quality wasn't that good either, which always makes a movie crappier than it actually is. Thank Satan for good-looking DVDs! Finally I've seen it uncut and in widescreen, the only way you should see a hunky serial killer slash his way through this awful jolly fucking good season! Silent Night, Deadly Night was a brave movie. It caused controversy directly from idiots - parents, celebrities, politicans and of course the worst of them all, movie critics. It even made Mickey Rooney, that fucking fat dwarf, to write a public letter condemning the movie:
Young Billy witness his parents getting brutally murdered by a man dressed as Santa Claus. He ends up at an orphanage where he's abused by the nuns, who practices violence and threat to raise the kids. So of course he grows up to be a mentally sick, muscular jock with massive biceps and a cute blow-job friendly mouth. But he never uses it that way, so fuck it. After being forced to dress like Santa in the store he works in, and drinking a few too many drinks, he suddenly believes he is the bearded, jolly angel of death himself and starts chopping his way through the cast!
What surprises me the most is how good and twisted Silent Night, Deadly Night is. It clearly, and deliberatly, steps over a few borders (who only can provoke Americans anyway...), lashing out to everything between Christmas itself, religion, fascist cops and child abuse. It has a lot of cheese, but still... it's a damn witty movie also. There's some very funny choices of editing, the cast is ranges from totally mega-sexy and talentless to butt-ugly and with great performances. The kills are all sadistic and quite bloody. I guess I'm not the only one noticing the wonderfully mean-spirited glee packed into the screenplay, which makes it a unique and darkly fun addition to the slasher-genre.
Another fine thing is the set-up. Rob Zombie copied most of it in his remake of Halloween, with a slow build-up, showing Billy's childhood, the murders that sets everything in motion, the abuse from grown-ups - both physical and emotional - until Billy is read to kill and kill some more. It's a smart move and I think that made the backlash even stronger from the moral majority-parents and the not-so-smart movie critics out there. Even if Robert Brian Wilson is a bit stiff as Billy you care about him. I actually felt angry at the end when he didn't get a chance to fulfill his revenge fantasy to 100 %! That means something I guess.
I love Silent Night, Deadly Night. It's not a fantastic movie, but it's an awesome movie. Fun, gory, tasteless and never boring.
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