ann hale doesn’t like any noise on these christmas nights..
Since I loved Silent Night, Deadly Night so much, I decided that tonight I would watch the remake simply entitled Silent Night. Starring Malcolm McDowell, this movie is easy to be attracted to. He is in some of my favorite horror films including, but not limited to, A Clockwork Orange and Rob Zombie’s Halloween films. He has yet to disappoint me, so I look forward to being entertained.
Deputy Aubrey Bradimore (Jamie King) is called in on Christmas Eve as Deputy Jordon (Brendon Fehr) has gone missing. It seems like an awful day to be called in since there is a killer Santa Clause going around killing the naughty. The problem is that this small town is filled with Santa Clause’s and naughty people. The town’s small police force of only the sheriff and two remaining deputies must find the evil Santa amongst the hoard or find the next naughty victim before they are slaughtered.
The story is very different from the original. First off, this Santa wears a mask, making him anonymous. Second, they kept the forewarning catatonic grandfather but his warning didn’t foreshadow the death of a young boy’s parents by Santa, thereby creating an orphan who would eventually become his parents’ killer, himself. This grandfather just warned a college aged boy who was a thief. The only foreshadowing was the boy’s death.
The story behind this Santa seems to be that a man’s wife was cheating on him with another man. So, on Christmas, he built his own flamethrower and headed to a party that the two were at. He then proceeded to kill the naughty people, burning them to death. Legend has it that he travels to a different town each Christmas, punishing the bad. Punishing is probably too nice of a word. This guy has no mercy.
Santa is really brutal in this version. The guy uses a knife, a scythe, a double ended axe, and there is a special appearance by a wood chipper. The wood chipper scene, while making me laugh hysterically, made me a little queasy. I think it was the chunks. I am very happy to say that they didn’t do away with the deer antler impalement scene. That one was just iconic and this film could not call itself a remake without it.
Jaime King is an excellent leading lady. She’s tough without knowing it, innocent and highly intelligent. She has everything it takes for a leading lady to survive.
As for McDowell, he does a great job. He plays his type casted role as the arrogant man of power fantastically as usual. He’s determined that he is always right and will be the one to save the day. It’s not hard to figure out what his future holds.
I absolutely loved this movie. It was scary, bloody and disturbing and I will absolutely be adding this to the list for next year.
