Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		1.0
Audio		1.5
Extras		2.0
Overall		1.5

Silent Night, Deadly Night Blu-ray Movie Review

Silent night, unholy night. All is not calm, picture quality is not bright, gather round yon review with torches and pitchforks.

Reviewed by Martin Liebman September 27, 2014

What happens when people are told not to look at something? They look. They can't help it. One rule of thumb seems to be that, if there's something someone doesn't want people to know about, don't call attention to it. Protests and angry mobs surrounded the release of Silent Night, Deadly Night, and good for people for standing up for what they believe in, agree with them or otherwise. But the protests and hate-filled comments and negative reviews only seemed to energize a growing fan base and turn this Santa Slasher into a cult sensation (that would ultimately become better known for its sequel; more on that below) that, even thirty years later, is still a favorite among genre aficionados. And the movie just can't escape scrutiny. Now, three decades removed from the initial outcry, it's not parents and educators decrying the film but rather the film's fans themselves who are angry, angry at a shoddy Blu-ray presentation that offers no real discernible upgrade over its standard definition counterpart on DVD. Do those claims have merit? Read on.

Bad move.

Young Billy (Jonathon Best) visits his vegetative grandfather who, when the two are alone, gives his grandson a dire warning: Santa is coming, and he's not bringing gifts and good cheer. Billy is spooked, and his worst fears are confirmed when the family stops to rescue a Santa broken down on the side of the road. Rather than reward the family's generosity, Santa murders Billy's father and rapes and murders his mother. A few years later, Billy (now played by Danny Wagner) is living at the Saint Mary's Home for Orphaned Children where his "scared of Santa" act and general misbehavior don't sit well with the nuns, particularly Mother Superior (Lilyan Chauvin) who beats a "punishment is good" message into the troubled boy. Years later still, the home provides Billy (now played by Robert Brian Wilson) with a job at a toy store where he cannot escape the Christmas cheer. He reaches his murderous breaking point when the store demands he dress up as and play the part of Santa Claus.

For all the whining and moaning about the movie, its negative influences on children, ruining the spirit of Christmas, and so on and so forth, it's really little more than a simple, and not particularly noteworthy, hack-and-slash Horror movie that simply takes a basic motive -- fear -- and transposes it onto something that small children hold dear. It's really not all that dissimilar, in that regard, from movies like Killer Klowns from Outer Space or Jack Frost in which childhood icons -- clowns and snowmen -- become instruments of terror. In this film, an irrational fear, born of the ramblings of a supposedly vegetive relative, foment into a bad combination of fear and a need to punish other people because, as he was taught at the orphanage, "punishment is good." It never makes a whole lot of sense. It works better just looking at it as a man whose traumatic life ultimately led to a snap that resulted in a rampage. The Santa suit is little more than a gimmick, a selling point, something to remember the movie by. Take that away, and this is really no more than a standard Slasher with a character propelled to acts of violence by a generic motive.

The film is no technical marvel, either, representing a fairly standard low-budget Horror outing from the 1980s. Production values only satisfy requirements, no more and no less. Kills are straightforward and, again, rely more on the image of the killer rather than the results of his work to scare audiences and give the movie a more memorable vibe over standard "man in mask" and "dress up" movies like, say, The Prowler and Maniac Cop (which, coincidentally, are other movies in which an icon of something that's supposed to be "good" or "keep people safe" -- in this case military and police servicemen -- is used as a vessel for murder and mayhem). Silent Night, Deadly Night never enjoys acting that's above "reasonable." The performances generally fall flat, again as if the entire production is reliant on a single element to help it stand out, all else being secondary to the image of Santa wielding a bloody ax.

Silent Night, Deadly Night Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Silent Night, Deadly Night's Blu-ray presentation opens with the following CYA (cover your @$$) disclaimer: "This presentation of Silent Night, Deadly Night is the most complete and uncut version ever released. In order to achieve this, it was necessary for us to utilize two different film elements of varying quality. We have elected to preserve the uncut nature of this film and hope that any resulting inconsistencies in the picture are more than compensated for by your enjoyment of the presentation in its entirety."

Indeed, there are a handful of shots that are of very dubious quality, chiming in at something an old VHS tape might look like, recorded over the air and then sourced from a copy that had already been duplicated to death. False colors, nearly zero detail, and all variety of visual eyesores abound, but these are the "elements of varying quality" the disclaimer discusses. So at least there is that (and it would have been nice to have a cut without the added scenes available via seamless branching). But the rest of the presentation is where the ire is seemingly, and rightly, directed. The second "film element" looks better by default but that's not really giving it any real praise. While the image sports a bit more clarity and definition thanks to the 1080p encode over the DVD presentation, it's basically a flat, lifeless, textureless image that's processed and never resembles film. Edge halos, scattered softness, no grain structure, pasty facial features, color bleeding, poorly defined primaries, bad black levels, and uneven skin tones all contribute to a miserable viewing experience. There's nothing much left to say. Reports are accurate and this is an epic failure of a Blu-ray and easily one of the top handful of disappointments the format has ever seen.

Silent Night, Deadly Night Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Sadly, Silent Night, Deadly Night's audio presentation doesn't fare appreciably better than its video counterpart. Anchor Bay's Dolby TrueHD 5.1 lossless track struggles to find good definition to most every element. Music is frequently shrill and muddy, scratchy and poorly defined. There's a decent sense of musical envelopment -- the fronts are engaged and the surrounds pick up a bit of material -- but it's a very raw, cumbersome, not at all natural presentation. Bigger Horror strings are unruly and unenjoyable. Heavier sound effects and screams are likewise dull and unclear. Dialogue is at least passably average, flowing from the center channel with solid clarity and ease of intelligibility.

Silent Night, Deadly Night Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Silent Night, Deadly Night contains a few supplements, including a new audio commentary track.

• Audio Commentary: Writer Michael Hickey, Composer Perry Botkin, Editor/2nd Unit Director Michael Spence, and Co-Executive Producer Scott J. Schneid open with a discussion of the score and move on to story and film origins, shooting locations, public and critic objections to the film, cast and performances, anecdotes from the set, and more.
• Audio Interview with Director Charles E. Sellier, Jr. (1080p, 35:42): Rather than participate in a full-blown audio commentary track, the director fields a number of questions, including film origins, the challenges of the shoot, the process of constructing various scenes, the storyline as it is versus public perception, and much more. The interview plays over a static nighttime image of the orphanage.
• Poster and Still Gallery (1080p): A collection of promotional materials, including posters, videocassette covers, and action figures.
• Santa's Stocking of Outrage (1080p): Quotes from a number of people decrying the film.

Silent Night, Deadly Night Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Silent Night, Deadly Night never really stands apart beyond a one-trick gimmick (that got the movie in a lot of trouble, but also got it noticed by a larger community and ultimately helped transform it into a cult sensation). Yet perhaps even more of a cult sensation is its successor, Silent Night, Deadly Night 2, a movie known for repurposing almost the entirety of this movie and mixing in a handful of new scenes and sequences that are themselves known only for the infamous "garbage day!" quote (YouTube it; it's great). It might have made more sense to just release the sequel with seamless branching, then, and maybe it would have turned out better because this Silent Night, Deadly Night will go down as one of the worst Blu-ray releases of a cult favorite film in the format's history. Miserable picture quality, an audio presentation that's not much better, and a few supplements make this a release to avoid. Fans should save their money for something else and hold onto their well-loved DVDs.