Silent Night, Deadly Night

Screened at Regal Cinemas, Rancho Mirage, California

It would be absolutely valid for someone to throw some criticism at me, who repeatedly says that reboots, remakes, sequels and re-imaginings are ushering in the death of cinema, to then keep checking out, and essentially supporting those very films. In my defense though, I'd like to mention that I don't give them ALL a chance. I absolutely put my foot down on many of them, and originally, when I first heard the announcement for this, I did once again. I think most would agree it was pretty reasonable to expect this to be a disaster. I mean, did you see the other remake, from 2012, titled simply Silent Night? I rest my case. Then, to add to the fear, who was helming this? Mike P. Nelson, who remade the 2003 travesty Wrong Turn (I know some people love that film and that series, but I am not one of those). He also recently did a remake of sorts of Jason-era Friday the 13th with a short film/commercial for Angry Orchard Cider called Sweet Revenge. I'd link to it for you, but the entire campaign was removed from YouTube recently, which is a shame, as I actually thought it was quite good for what it was.

Fast forward to a few weeks ago, and I was quite surprised, even though the trailers felt rather promising, this was getting good buzz within the horror community, which as we know is who matters when it comes to horror - not the professional critics who are eager to bad mouth the genre at every chance. Suddenly, I was really looking forward to see this, albeit as cautiously as possible. I'm now happy to say I quite enjoyed it, and would place it right behind the 1984 original in this now 7-film franchise. Granted three of the sequels basically have little to do with the original film and story, and are so crazy in concept that one of them starring legendary Mickey Rooney is not the craziest thing about them. And nevermind the second film, where half of its running time is nothing but scenes from the original. Although it does contain one of the series' most infamous lines, which pretty much makes the film. IYKYK.

For me, this would definitely be more of a re-imagining. There are plenty of similarities and homages to the original throughout, but also there are enough new elements brought to the table that makes this equally fresh. Overall it strikes the right balance, which is really key to its success. Let's just say if you're not a big fan of Nazis, you're going to have some darn good fun here. Add some supernatural elements here and there and you'll realize quite quickly that although this is not going to win any Oscars by any means, it is darn good fun, and it delivers so that old and new fans of the original and its characters are going to have a fucking blast with this.

The lead role was especially well-cast, with Rohan Campbell (Corey Cunningham in Halloween Ends) shining here big time, who was a truly pleasant surprise from beginning to end. He shares the screen with Ruby Modine, daughter of Matthew Modine, who is the perfect match to the lead character, Billy, haunted by seeing the death of his parents at a very young age and leading him to a life of righteous murder, as he sees it. They both work together to make him so sympathetic that it's almost hard to disagree with his view on his murderous rampage.

This is just a FUN movie, even compared to the original which although I love, definitely has grim vibes at times which I'm not particularly fond of. Plenty of gore is afoot here, and plenty of kills to satisfy the average viewer for sure (although for some horror fans, its apparently too tame coming from the producers of the recent Terrifier films), but it feels more in the vein of how Friday the 13th films are viewed today - relatively harmless, campy fun, As such, Silent Night, Deadly Night definitely has its faults, the "worst" of which is the actor who does the voice for Billy's "inner voice." It's not bad per se, I could stomach it just fine, but I think there was likely a better choice out there. But it's mostly in non-sensical choices here and there which were tame enough that I could consider it part of the fun. I actually can't think of them right now, but I can use one good example to summarize. Like most films, I stay through the credits. I've always had this thing where I feel if I don't, it's disrespectful to ignore all the names of the people who busted their asses to get the thing on screen. This was no exception, and as my work colleagues would say, my "eagle eye" noticed a pretty glaring typo at the very last credit where they mention disclaimers ("any similarities is purely coincidental," etc.) and local laws the film abides by. Well, they had the ultimate sin here, in calling this a production made in the "United State of America." Not all states, just one. Clearly, very small and non-consequential, but it felt like the best example to share of some of the small "hiccups" if you will, scattered throughout. Luckily they don't detract, and just made this all the more fun. While I'm not giving this four stars, I still highly recommend it, and seeing it in the theater if you have the chance. It appears to be opening in 11th place this opening weekend, so your time is already running out. But horror fans, don't pass this up altogether. It's far better than any of us were expecting, and is just a great old-and-new school popcorn slasher. Recommended.