FILM REVIEW: HARK, THE HERLAD ANGELS SING, GLORY TO THE NEW SILENT NIGHT, DEADLY NIGHT FILM!
Christmas, as they say, is a time for a cheer. A time where even on the darkest night the skyline is bejewelled by colours. It is a season of giving, a season alight with love and reason. A time, historically, of truces and amends. Yet an element of Christmas, so intrinsic, so colloquial, is dark, gritty, and leaves a stain in the hands of its beholder.
Coal. A lump of coal specifically. The antithesis to Christmas. A weight at the bottom of a scoundrels stocking; a threatened present from a parent scorned. A dark, sooty lump that reminds us that Christmas is not always a time for cheer. Not for those who don’t deserve it.
Billy, a drifter haunted by the happenstances of Christmas past, moonlights as a Santa Claus costume-clad serial killer, crossing names off his naughty-list each night.
Silent Night, Deadly Night is a reimagining of the 1984 B-Movie of the same name - infamous for its sequels infamous ‘Garbage Day!’ quote, and little else.
Not haunted by the ‘ghost’ of its predecessor whatsoever, Silent Night, Deadly Night (2025) takes its concept and runs: what presents as a middling slasher soon evolves into a shockingly competent supernatural buddy film. Though Silent Night, Deadly Night never quite reaches the potential that it exudes, it damn well tries and it has fun with it too! What the film lacks in ingenuity it makes up for in earnestness.
Screenwriter/director Mike P. Nelson evidently has a lot of fun ideas, and on paper this film absolutely rocks, but the technical and artistic bravado don’t do the film any favours. The gore is minimal, the action unrehearsed, and the lighting is flat and lifeless – this I was nearly willing to forgive until I recalled how cheap and accessible Christmas lights are – to which there is no excuse during the most colourful time of the year.
Silent Night, Deadly Night is not a bad film, but it is not a good one either. Rohan Campbell does a commendable job in his role as Billy, and the film has enough unique twists and turns to keep an audience entertained – but one can’t help and wonder if the eventual ‘ghost-of-Christmas future’ Silent Night, Deadly Night 2066 remake will learn from its predecessors’ mistakes and truly be constituted as a good film.
Whilst Silent Night, Deadly Night ultimately falls short of the potential of its concept, one can’t help but admire it’s attempts. Silent Night, Deadly Night remains a subversive, bizarre and fun holiday feat for those who like their candy-canes as sharp as ice-picks.
Two ho-ho-ho’s out of five
