Saw Silent Night, Deadly Night, a ridiculous slasher movie about a boy who is terrified of Santa due to a Santa-costumed guy killing his parents in front of him. The boy grows up to complete the cycle by going on a Santa-themed rampage as an adult. The film is fairly sleazy, features many tits, and generated enough controversy that it got pulled from theaters and Phil Donahue devoted an hour-long show to it.
The film is a bit tedious. The premise is pure camp, but the film doesn't play this up very much. The central story of this orphaned boy succumbing to his demons is much more tragic and hokey than it is funny or imaginative. I have a really hard especially believing that the main character could go from a quaking little boy cowering in corners begging Santa to spare him to a cold-blooded killer shouting "Naughty! Naughty!" I just don't buy it. I call bullshit on this unrealistic depiction of Santa-psychosis!
Anyway, the film has a lot of breasts bared, so don't see it with your parents. It's fairly tasteless and tacky but that's sort of fitting for a film about a killer Santa, I guess. Indeed, a lot of good imagery is gotten out of manically smiling Christmas ornaments and blinking lights. The Christmas traditions are very bizarre when you get down to it. Imagine explaining to an alien why nutcracker soldiers are involved, for instance.
So, bottom line, I think this film is sort of a curiosity. It's not really worth seeing unless "Santa-themed slasher film" tickles you for some reason. I found my attention wandering often to the Utah winter, and how cold and nasty and dry it looked. That was sort of nice to think about, but then this Santa guy kept getting in the way.
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