Movie Review: Silent Night (2012, Anchor Bay)

The Silent Night, Deadly Night series has been a pretty formidable franchise since the first movie debuted in 1984. The series has never been quite near the Halloween or the Friday the 13th series in box office receipts as most sequels went straight to video - but the killer Santa flicks accumulated a fan base worldwide. Naturally a remake was going to happen. Sure there are some good remakes but many of us horror geeks (especially over 30) hold our noses at the thought our movie’s legacies being tarnished. Director Steven C. Miller ( The Aggression Scale) and writer Jayson Rothwell take the challenge with their re-imagining Silent Night.

It's Christmas Eve and bodies seem to be piling up all over for a small town in Wisconsin. This maniac has certain targets in mind - fornicators, snotty kids, pornographers and lecherous priests are at the top of his list. Finding out just who is behind these brutal killings is up to a young officer named Audrey Bradimore (Jaime King, My Bloody Valentine and Mother's Day remakes). With the help of Sheriff Cooper (played by the incomparable, Malcolm McDowell) the duo scope out the town so the killer Santa Claus doesn't slaughter anymore victims.

Book Review: Christmas is Cancelled (2013, Splatterpunk)

I am a huge fan of twisted, irreverent holiday tales. Take institutions that have been around, sometimes for hundreds of years, and twist them until those institutions are absolutely unrecognizable. That, my friends, is true subversion. The fact that one would be willing to pervert the iconic ideas and imagery that many people hold dear is a testament to that artist’s desire to be a discordant voice, challenging the singsong of the majority who follow one another blindly, sheepishly, in a three part harmony of tradition. Christmas is Cancelled by Dan Henk, the first in a series of extreme horror chapbooks released by Splatterpunk in the UK, shoots straight for the heart of our highly-stylized Christmas traditions with a kill shot and, by all accounts, is mostly successful.

Buy Christmas is Cancelled HERE.

Movie Review: Bloody Christmas (2012)

Directed by Michael Shershenovich
Starring Steve Montague, Robert Youngren and Robert Arensen
Run Time: 91 minutes
Rated: Unrated

In a small town, police are on the hunt for a child murderer. Meanwhile, has-been 80‘s action star Rich Tague plays Santa Claus on a local public access TV show and secretly fantasizes about killing anyone and everyone who pisses him off. After losing his job and his motor-home in the same day, Rich (Santa Claus), decides its time to drown his sorrows in a bottle of bourbon which he buys with a bag full of pennies and contemplates his bleak future and the fact that the true spirit of Christmas has been lost to commercialism.

Movie Review: Silent Night, Deadly Night Part 1 & 2 (Christmas Survival Double Feature)

Reviewed by: Rob Sibley

With the remake “Silent Night” being released onto DVD/Blu, the fine folks over at Anchor Bay entertainment have decided to re-release the double feature of the original two films. Tis the season for some bloody Christmas fun. Axe wielding Santa's, deranged nuns, candy canes and sugar plum fairies.

First things first, it should be noted that when “Silent Night” was first released it was greeted not with open arms but with public outcry. Siskel & Ebert gave the film a scathing review and boycotted the film. They weren't alone, community leaders and P.T.A.'s were also not to keen on TV spots showing the lovable big man in a red suit carrying an axe!

All that aside, how is the actual film and does it hold up today? Well it's certainly not what I'd call a classic but it's above average more so then your typical slasher fare from the 80's. The story concerns a fella by the name of Billy Chapman, who as a child witnessed his parents being slaughtered by a man dressed as... you guessed it Santa.