Silent Night, Deadly Night certainly has its moments especially the creepy scene between young Billy and his grandfather telling the boy Santa Claus was going to kill him, but some decent moments and kills, although it doesn’t quite stack up with other horror films from that era.
Silent Night, Deadly Night
** 30th Anniversary Edition **
(1984)
Genre(s): Horror
Anchor Bay | Unrated – 85 min. – $19.99 | September 16, 2014
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MOVIE INFO: Directed by: Charles E. Sellier Jr. Writer(s): Paul Caimi (story), Michael Hickey (written by) Cast: Lilyan Chauvin, Gilmer McCormick, Toni Nero, Robert Brian Wilson DISC INFO: Audio: English (DTS-HD MA 5.1) |
PLOT SYNOPSIS
Silent Night, Deadly Night is the heartwarming story of little Billy Chapman who was traumatized by his parents’ Christmas Eve rape and murder, then brutalized by sadistic orphanage nuns, led by Mother Superior (LILYAN CHAUVIN). But when a grown-up Billy (ROBERT BRIAN WILSON) is forced to dress as jolly St. Nick, he goes on a yuletide rampage to ‘punish the naughty.’ Santa Claus is coming to town… and this time he’s got an axe!
SPECIAL FEATURES – 2.5/5
Audio Commentary – Writer Michael Hickey, Composer Perry Botkin, Editor/2nd Unit Director Michael Spence and Co-Executive Producer Scott J. Schneid sit down for this new track made for this 30th Anniversary release. The commentary isn’t bad and provides a wide range of topics and thankfully they seemed to be recorded together so they can bounce stories off one another.
Audio Interview with Director Charles E. Sellier, Jr. – In this audio interview, conducted over the phone, Sellier answers a variety of questions. Not sure when this was recorded but it’s relatively insightful.
Poster and Still Gallery
Santa’s Stocking of Outrage is a compilation of quotes, both parental and critics, surrounding the controversy around the film’s release including one from Mickey Rooney.
VIDEO – 2.75/5
Culled together from various film elements, Silent Night, Deadly Night makes its debut on Blu-ray given a 1080p high-definition transfer and presented in its original 1.85 widescreen aspect ratio. Ok, so because different sources were used to give us this unrated version, it’s of course not only inconsistent but also of varying degrees of quality ranging from average to downright ugly. I’m not going to knock this transfer too much, it’s nice Anchor Bay was able to give us even this, but it does not make for a pretty looking transfer on the whole.
AUDIO – 3.0/5
The Dolby TrueHD 5.1 track fairs a bit better providing decent dialogue levels, though it does tend to top out at times, but especially Perry Botkin’s electronic score comes through quite well. It’s a basic track and considering its 30 years old, with a limited budget, it leads to a track that is also limited.
OVERALL – 3.25/5
Overall, Silent Night, Deadly Night certainly has its moments especially the creepy scene between young Billy and his grandfather telling the boy Santa Claus was going to kill him, but some decent moments and kills, although it doesn’t quite stack up with other horror films from that era. The Blu-ray released by Anchor Bay offers up so-so video and OK audio transfers and a decent, if not limited, set of bonus material.
Published: 09/20/2014