A man dressed up as a Santa is slaughtering people on Christmas Eve in a Midwestern town. It's up to officer Aubrey Bradlemore (Jamie King) & Sheriff Cooper (Malcolm McDowell) to stop him. I would consider this movie to be a very loose remake of Silent Night, Deadly Night. It does borrow some things from it, but it does its own thing for the most part. Unfortunately, this is a real stinker of a film. It tries way too hard to be explicit and offensive that it becomes easily noticeable. The original was an entertaining slasher with some genuine controversy. But unlike that movie, this movie lacks the psychological edge that Silent Night Deadly Night had. The plot is nowhere near as strong. We don't know what makes the killer tick. We get an idea during the ending, but I felt that was a stupid thing to do. In the original, Billy is mentally damaged, this guy seems like a complete psychopath for the sake of it. Sometimes that can be good, but not in this case. Gore hounds will most likely be pleased, others may abhor at the nasty stuff in this movie. I won't spoil all the goodies, but here is a few examples. We get a chopped off leg, a ridiculously bloody bullet to the head, sliced off fingers, stabbings, and lots more. Those that liked the original like I did will get a kick out of the deer antler impaling. I did feel shocking a 14-year-old to death was crossing the line, though. The acting is merely average. Jaime King is better than this film deserves. She had every reason to phone it in, but she didn't. Her character is way too thin to care about, sadly. Malcolm McDowell is pretty poor in this movie. He has a couple of good lines. "Don't put avocado on the burger" "Big mistake, bringing a flamethrower to a gunfight" . Brendan Fehr is reduced to a cameo in the beginning. The rest of the cast are strictly amateur hour.
The ending paves way for a possible sequel. All I have to say to that notion, is please, no. This is a mean-spirited affair that bored me to tears. Stick with Silent Night, Deadly Night.
3/10
The ending paves way for a possible sequel. All I have to say to that notion, is please, no. This is a mean-spirited affair that bored me to tears. Stick with Silent Night, Deadly Night.
3/10