Rating summary

Movie		2.0
Video		3.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		3.5
Overall		2.0

Silent Night, Deadly Night 3: Better Watch Out! Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman December 10, 2022

Note: This film is available on Blu-ray as part of Lionsgate's Silent Night, Deadly Night Collection.

There's been a lot of bandwidth utilized lately to deride so-called "cancel culture", but if anyone thinks this is somehow a new phenomenon, look no further than what happened after the first Silent Night, Deadly Night was released back in 1984. As some of the commentaries in this new aggregation featuring the third, fourth and fifth films in the series get into, the backlash was so extreme that the film had to be pulled from theaters, and it found its most significant presence in the exciting "new" technology of VHS. In that regard, all three of these "films" were straight to video releases, and as such they often are less than fulsomely budgeted and might not have the tippy tippy top of marquee value stars in their casts.

Silent Night, Deadly Night 3 bears the sobriquet Better Watch Out! which is perhaps doubly cheeky in that it obviously refers to a famous song about Santa Clause keeping track of possibly errant children, it may also be seen (sorry) to refer to this film's protagonist, who is a blind woman named Laura Anderson (Samantha Scully). Laura has unfortunately been a participant in a "mind link" experiment being helmed by the possibly sinister Doctor Newbury (Richard Beymer), who hopes to develop a telepathic link with supposedly comatose Ricky Caldwell (Bill Moseley).

Suffice it to say that Ricky isn't quite as comatose as he initially appears, and despite having the top half of his skull missing and his brain exposed under a transparent helmet that makes him kind of come off as a half finished Frankenstein's Monster, he of course escapes the confines of Newbury's lab, and due to that aforementioned telepathic link, takes off after Laura, who has literally gone to Grandmother's house for the holidays.

As even commentator Jarrett Gahan admits, Silent Night, Deadly Night 3 isn't especially scary, but I'd argue it's actually kind of good, goofy fun because of the completely gonzo character of Ricky. Robert Culp is also on hand as a policeman investigating the accruing number of dead bodies.

Silent Night, Deadly Night 3: Better Watch Out! Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Silent Night, Deadly Night 3: Better Watch Out! is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Lionsgate Films' Vestron Video Collector's Series imprint with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.33:1. As is typically the case with these Vestron Video releases, there's next to no technical information imparted about the transfer other than a generic "digitally restored" banner on the back cover. This is a decent if not mind blowing looking presentation, one that seems to have faded a bit in the interim, and with some fairly anemic contrast at times that can make low light scenes in particular have less than optimal detail levels and delineation, but in the more brightly lit moments, things improve at least somewhat. Fine detail on things like the patterns on Culp's suit jacket actually come off better than might be expected. Some passing (minor) damage and a noticeable grain field argue against any overly aggressive digital tweaking.

Silent Night, Deadly Night 3: Better Watch Out! Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Silent Night, Deadly Night 3: Better Watch Out! features a fine DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 track that frankly doesn't have a lot of overly complex sound design, but which does have some nice if brief bursts of activity as in the opening "dream" sequence, and later the shambling of a marauding Ricky. Steven Soles' score also sounds fine throughout. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly with no problems. Optional English and Spanish subtitles are available.

Silent Night, Deadly Night 3: Better Watch Out! Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Audio Commentary with film historian Jarret Gahan


• Outshine the Brain Cap (HD; 16:24) is an interview with actor Bill Moseley.
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• Monte & Me (HD; 20:41) is an interview with Creative Consultant Steven Gaydos.


• For a Live Audience: Silent Night, Deadly Night 3 (HD; 9:22) is an interview with Executive Producer Richard Gladstein.


• Trailer (HD; 1:29)


• Still Gallery (HD: 4:20)

Silent Night, Deadly Night 3: Better Watch Out! Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Silent Night, Deadly Night 3: Better Watch Out! is probably the least effective of the three films in this set, but that may be due to its relative lack of a gonzo sensibility, despite the lunatic sight of Ricky in a glass helmet shuffling around in a hospital gown. Technical merits are decent if improvable (video) to generally fine (audio), and the supplements very enjoyable, for anyone who may be considering making a purchase.