Silent Night
In the town of Cryer a truly brutal maniac dressed as Santa Claus is dispatching of it‘s citizens in especially disturbing and creative ways. A young deputy (Jamie King) and her sheriff (Malcolm McDowall) are on the case.
A genre send-up that ticks in all the right boxes and that‘s no mean feat. „Silent Night“ is an excessively brutal and mean spirited slasher that manages to have a compelling protagonist in Jamie King and McDowall brings in just the right amount of sarcasm and wit without ever becoming a caricature. The flick borrows from the earlier „Silent Night, Deadly Night“ the elements of an axe wielding Santa Claus who‘s punishing the naughty except here our disturbed crazy is on a moral crusade intent on cleaning up the town in this time of holy festivities. The deer mantle kill scene also gets a tribute here.
There are large chunks of the film devoted to the exposure of dread, depression, angst and perversion in the midst of the holiday cheer spread throughout. Couple that with some extremely brutal and disgusting images of the crazy Santa on his murderous rampage and it‘s clear that „Silent Night“ will go down as one of the meaner holiday flicks.
But King is so good as a deputy who‘s spending her first Christmas after the loss of her husband and her growth as a character on this one Christmas Eve is terrifically realized. There‘s real drama here that‘s handled with care.
This one hasn‘t got much exposure and I heartily recommend it.
