Then, a movie called Silent Night Deadly Night, in the year of 1984 unveiled itself and stirred up an insane amount of controversy to the point where the beloved American film critics Siskel and Ebert 'name and shamed' the film on their movie review show At The Movies, but this would only add to the overall buzz of the film, which at the end of the day equals money, and lots of it.
Silent Night Deadly Night was directed by Charles Sellier, a director who was known for his predominantly religious films. The plot concerns a teenager, Billy, who when he was 4 years old, survived an attack by a man who donned a Santa outfit. Billy's father and brother were murdered, with his mother raped before being murdered. Billy soon after, is raised in a foster home overseen by the disturbingly harsh Mother Superior, a nun who is unforgiving in her punishments. Years later, Billy is a seemingly normal 18 year old teenager who gets a job at a supermarket. As Christmas is approaching, he's asked to wear a Santa outfit around the store as an attraction for the local kids, but this clicks in his head and then the shit hits the fan.
Overall, the film plays out like your typical slasher film, but in a contradicting way, there is a craft at it's core. The scenes which act as flashbacks for the character of Billy are done rather well and you will feel disgusted for what the little boy has witnessed and been through. The killings, which you expect are present, are gruesome, but not jaw dropping gory. I've a soft spot for this film and it has grown on me as one of the better slasher films of the '80s with a coherent plot, convincing portrayals of it's characters and direction that is typical of a low budget horror.
The film, although a cult classic, would probably be not as well remembered if not for it's controversy that it received following the airing of the trailer for the movie on the television, which showed Billy wearing a Santa outfit and holding an axe. Understandably, during day time television, this would have turned some heads, with mothers going absolutely berserk demanding the film was taken out of theatres and the people involved put out of business. People picketed, the news covered it, and the money rolled in for the film with an estimated grossing of 2,500,000 with it's 750,000 dollar budget, even outgrossing Wes Craven's classic A Nightmare on Elm Street on it's opening weekend.
There were 3 more films made in what would be made a franchise, with the second entry being the most infamous due to it's outrageous nature, almost overshadowing it's precursor.
As a horror movie fan I would definitely recommend it. Consider it taboo if you will, but at the heart of it all is a solid holiday slasher flick. "Punishment is absolute".
