Stille Nacht – Horror Nacht (1984)

Stille Nacht – Horror Nacht: Directed by Charles E. Sellier Jr.. With Lilyan Chauvin, Gilmer McCormick, Toni Nero, Robert Brian Wilson. Little Billy witness his parents getting killed by Santa after being warned by his senile grandpa that Santa punishes those who are naughty. Now Billy is 18, and out of the orphanage, and he has just become Santa, himself.

“After visiting his grandfather in a mental institution, the five year-old Billy Chapman is told by him that Santa punish bad kids. On their way home they stop the car for a man dressed up in a Santa costume, but the guy shoots his father and rapes and kills his mother, while Billy watches. Years later he lives in a Catholic orphanage and still this horrific incident haunts him, but the firm mother superior wants him to overcome it with harsh results. Now Billy is an older teen working at a toy store, but when the original Santa Claus comes down ill. Billy replaces him and slowly he cracks with him wandering around the town on Christmas Eve punishing those who have been bad.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eDeck the halls with bloody slaughtering, Fa la la la la, la la la la. Tis the season to be horrified, Fa la la la la, la la la la. Now this slasher knows how to spread the Christmas joy! u0026quot;Silent Night, Deadly Nightu0026quot; is more renown for the controversy (u0026quot;The movie that went to far!…u0026quot;) it really stirred up and if it wasnu0026#39;t for that aspect. Probably wouldnu0026#39;t have made too much of a dent in the rehashed holiday cycle featured in many slashers at the time. u0026quot;Black Christmasu0026quot; still remains the best of the festive season features. What kinda makes this rough item above ordinary is that itu0026#39;s a perverse little shocker thatu0026#39;s grimy and mean-spirited. Obviously the makers have something against the sentiment of Christmas and the sneeringly dark humour can get wickedly uneasy. The lumbering opening half of the film really does try to development the characteru0026#39;s fatigue state of mind, just before he goes psychotically insane. Sure, that established staple is nothing new, especially in slashers. But these moments werenu0026#39;t bad and are terribly exploited, but while the old practical material is given a revamp of the wonderfully jolly and family-friendly Saint Nick turning into a relentlessly whack-out killer would be every parentu0026#39;s nightmare. When the traumatised Santa hitu0026#39;s the streets for some punishing is when it falls into the conventional methods (despite it using Christmas symbols to murder his victims) and predictable hysteria. The deadpan shocks and suspense is telegraphed without much trouble and it can get laughably tacky in its senseless mayhem with a vapidly rushed conclusion. The shattering death scenes are very callous and thereu0026#39;s an extremely seedy touch lining it. The music score is a wayward, racket of cues that only add even more to the unsettling nature. Performances range from very static (Robert Brian Wilson as the old Billy turned Santa killer), dominating (the Mother Superior played by Lilyan Chauvan) and to livingly short (the gratuitously topless Linnea Quigley chips in as a bubbly victim and a memorable Will Hare as the very scornfully nutty grandfather).u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eA drab, lowbrow holiday feature thatu0026#39;s has Santa Claus coming to town in nothing more than your amusing cut and dried horror slasher with a somewhat baffling reputation.”