I think I may need to reevaluate my definition of lazy writing…
Silent Night, Deadly Night: Part 2 begins with Ricky, the younger brother of the serial killer Santa from the first film. He's in a mental institution and is awaiting yet another doctor’s evaluation/interview about what makes him so cuckoo for cocoa puffs. An orderly, with THE tightest white pants I’ve ever seen, eyes Ricky warily as the 13th psychiatrist sets up his recording equipment.
Ooooohhhh…number 13…..wwwOOOOOOOOOoooo!
Whatever.
Ricky recounts the events from that fateful night of his parents’ murders, something he couldn’t POSSIBLY remember as he was only 6 months old at the time. Even if Billy told him everything, there’s still NO WAY he could recount the same details. He also couldn't remember events that occurred between characters when Billy wasn’t even around! Or know the crap that went down at Billy’s job because HE NEVER HAD A CHANCE TO TELL RICKY ALL THAT BEFORE HE WAS SHOT AND KILLED.
Whatever. We need filler.
We are finally brought up to speed on Ricky’s history. He was adopted out to a nice Jewish couple (quick thinking on that one). But even though he gets a chance to grow up in a stable environment, he’s pretty much just like Ricky - red sets him off; people being bad need to be punished; just seeing nuns gets him all twitchy. And he comes to one undeniable conclusion - it’s all Mother Superior’s fault.
And so Ricky escapes the institution and tracks her down, meting out some long overdue justice or revenge or whatever. Though the cops shoot him before he can keep killing, he doesn’t…quite…die…….
I can’t even.
I’m not even sure why this film was made. If you’re just going to rehash the first one, and basically tell half of it in flashbacks using original clips from the first movie, then why not make this a short? There’s only about 20 minutes of ‘new’ material here anyway.
The acting is just awful, probably some of the most awkward I’ve seen in a while. And that’s saying something. And because of David Hayes, all I can see of Eric Freeman (Ricky) are his acrobatic eyebrows!! More wiggling doesn’t mean you’re emoting more convincingly, dude.
The dialogue is terrible. Some of it may be nit picky on my part (the man who adopted you is not your step-dad - he’s just your dad; your ‘old lady’ is a girlfriend or wife, NOT a reference to your mom) but even Ricky’s ‘catch phrase’ near the end is just ridiculous.
The laziness of the writing is kind of astounding. Exactly how did Ricky suddenly become a crack marksman, especially with a 6-shooter? Why did he start killing random people near the end - because they were there? How convenient that his girlfriend takes him to a movie about a guy killing people dressed as Santa and there’s MORE footage from the original film.
This was some kind of contractual obligation, wasn’t it fellas? Lost a bet, did ya?
Ridiculous fodder for the horror cannon. You really don’t need to watch this, even if it tries to set up the third film. Just skip ahead, okay?
1 Hatchet (out of 5)
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