For a Christmas slasher, SILENT NIGHT isn't up to scratch. I've not seen the original SILENT NIGHT, DEADLY NIGHT, but I have seen the likes of DON'T OPEN TILL Christmas and that memorable segment from TALES FROM THE CRYPT and both were much, much better. Director Steven C. Miller seems to vary broadly when it comes to the films he makes, for every trashy flick like UNDER THE BED he makes something superior like THE AGGRESSION SCALE. However, this is one of his worst.
The story is about a killer Santa Claus who goes around bumping off various victims while a local sheriff department attempt to track him down. There's little more plot to it than that, although attempts to raise the whole 'whodunit' aspect of the film fall flat because you never care who's responsible. The deaths are gory but somehow feel fake and overblown; it may be that the victims are all random and rather despicable in themselves, so it all goes over your head a bit.
Jaime King gives a tired performance as the protagonist of the piece and you get the sense that her heart wasn't really in it, and you can't really blame her for it. Malcolm McDowell is better, but is given little to work with other than play it gruff. The ending is as cheesy and over the top as you'd expect.
The story is about a killer Santa Claus who goes around bumping off various victims while a local sheriff department attempt to track him down. There's little more plot to it than that, although attempts to raise the whole 'whodunit' aspect of the film fall flat because you never care who's responsible. The deaths are gory but somehow feel fake and overblown; it may be that the victims are all random and rather despicable in themselves, so it all goes over your head a bit.
Jaime King gives a tired performance as the protagonist of the piece and you get the sense that her heart wasn't really in it, and you can't really blame her for it. Malcolm McDowell is better, but is given little to work with other than play it gruff. The ending is as cheesy and over the top as you'd expect.