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| "Naughty this!" |
Directed by: Lee Harry
Produced by: Lawrence Applebaum
Written by: Le Harry, Joseph H. Earle, Dennis Patterson, Lawrence Applebaum (story), Lee Harry, Joseph H. Earle (screenplay)
Budget: $100,000
Starring: Jean Miller, Eric Freeman, Elizabeth Kaitan, James L. Newman
This movie was first revealed to me through the internet fossil website YTMND, more specifically through the above clip of the infamous "Garbage day!" scene. I have not seen the first one, and otherwise had no idea what this movie was about before I started it.
Several years after Ricky's brother Billy committed a series of grisly Christmas murders, Ricky is being held in a mental hospital until he can be tried for his part in the first movie's killings. But when Ricky escapes, it's his duty to find out who's nice, and who's naughty...and murder the naughty ones.
This is one of those slasher movies that likes to take the exploitative route, with cheap effects, over-the-top violence, and tawdry nudity and sex scenes. The characters all have plenty of one-liners, though Ricky takes the cake by delivering one every other line or so. The characters are all fairly unlikable or undeveloped, and the murders are fairly mundane, rather than elaborate Christmas-themed events.
The So Bad It's Good
There's a number of lines with hilarious delivery. Any time Ricky talks to his shrink he sounds like he's forcing the words out through his teeth, and the words are often met by an equally stilted one-liner from the shrink. It's a really funny case of movie-therapy, because I can't imagine this therapist made that type of remark when he earned his license.
The performances are hilarious. Freeman does his best in coming across as a cold, arrogant psychopath but the way he raises his eyebrows after pretty much every "I'm evil" line is really goofy. Newman as the shrink feels like a combination of Blackadder-era Hugh Laurie and John Cleese, and all that that entails. In the last forty minutes the movie starts to come into its own with the performances and writing, particularly after Freeman is given free reign to go all killer.
The So Bad It's Bad
The movie starts with a series of flashbacks, which aren't so much flashbacks as reused footage from the first Silent Night, Deadly Night with an occasional voice-over. Because I haven't seen the first one this didn't bother me too much, but if all of the flashback stuff is reused footage than I can only imagine how much filler this is for...fans of the first one, if there are any. For real, there's enough reused footage that I would have probably asked for my money back.
No, really, the entire first movie is retold through flashback over the first 45 minutes, with reused footage from all the important plot points played in sequence. It's probably the most filler-full movie I've seen in a while.
This movie has a following as a cult slasher movie, and I partially understand why. Unfortunately, the parts that make it entertaining are separated by long stretches of exposition and information dumping which really make the movie drag when it's not being funny. Other than the humorous stuff, not a lot happens. The biggest issue is that it doesn't feel like a slasher movie as much as it does a movie about a murderer. I realize that's kind of a minor difference, but when you're watching them it matters.
There's a lot of rape in this movie. It's a delicate topic, and I'm not going to go too far into it here, but I counted at least three different attempted rapes within the first hour, with varying outcomes. Just so you know.
The Rest
The final Silent Night, Deadly Night is number 5: The Toy Maker, released in 1991. I wonder when we're going to get the tongue-in-cheek, reference-filled remake. We got a remake of the first one in 2012, which was pretty well received for what it was. Considering Hollywood is looking for anything to remake maybe holiday season 2016 will be deadly.
Should You Watch It?
You might get something out of this if you're a fan of campy holiday slasher movies, but be prepared to deal with some really sufferingly slow parts in-between the laughs. If you really want to see the best parts, skip to the 40 minute mark, as that's when it becomes something memorable.
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