Silent Night, Deadly Night: Collector's Edition - 4K Blu-ray Review

Movie
Horror movies, slashers in particular, seem to have a niche for just about every holiday out there. While a lot of the “big” ones center around the Halloween season, a few others branch out into other holidays, but there are generally VERY few that focus on the Christmas time of year. Last year’s Krampus focused on that time of year (and was a great film by the way), but most people shy away from horror films around the day of ’s birth due to the desire to not sully the joy and holiday spirit associated with the holiday. Silent Night, Deadly Night tried to break that mold back in 1984 (and 4 subsequent sequels as well), but got REAMED by parents and critics alike as they accused Charles E. Sellier Jr’s films of trying to appropriate the holiday season with a murderous Santa. There were even protests formed in the theatrical run boycotting the film after the copious marketing run plastered the blood soaked Santa project just weeks before the classic holiday. Even the critics tore it to shreds, claiming a lack of tact for the holiday as its major fault.

Much like everything that gets boo’d and beaten up in public, Silent Night, Deadly Night gained a cult following on home video, and has been highly sought after ever since. I used to own the old DVD from back in the day, and while I loved the tar out of the film, it never really looked that good, and the Starz/Anchor Bay Blu-ray release from about 3 years back was so bad that I literally through it in the trash because my DVD was BETTER in some ways. I felt that we were never going to get a quality release of Silent Night, Deadly Night, but lo and behold. Scream Factory steps up to the plate and decks out a fantastic collector’s edition, complete with a 4K remaster for the video, the original theatrical cut, AND a whole slew of special features! Right before the very holiday in question.

Young Billy (Jonathon Best) has the worst Christmas of his life when he visits his mentally ill grandfather at his parents bequest. Not only does the crazy old man warn him about how Santa Clause punishes the naughty children, but a murderer dressed in a Santa costume hijacks his family car, murdering his mother and father while the young boy escapes. Years later, Billy is being raised in a cloistered convent run by a harsh mother Superior (Lilyan Chauvin) and a kindly nun named Sister Margaret (Gilmer McCormick). Unfortunately for him, the trauma of his youth combined with the harshness of the Mother Superior has left Billy with an unhealthy fear of Christmas, and a dark streak that the “good” Mother can’t seem to whip out of him.

Shoot forward another few years and Billy (now played by Robert Brian Wilson) is a strapping 18 year old in need of a job. A job which is given to him thanks to the pull of Sister Margaret working as a stock boy at the local toy shop. However, a dark turn of events occurs when the shop owner forces Billy to dress up as Santa Clause for the little children, triggering years of repressed memories and a harsh sense of punishment thanks to the over aggressive Nuns at the convent. Suddenly the terrified boy is terrified no longer. In his place is a murderous monster who will stop at nothing to “punish” the over sexed teenagers of the city, as well as anyone who gets in his way.

Silent Night, Deadly Night got horribly maligned in the early 80s due to the rabid parents protesting the sacrilege of ruining Christmas, but even with the rabid cult following it has achieved I can objectively say that the movie wasn’t that great either. In fact I would have to say that it doesn’t deserve the rabid hatred it got originally, nor the cult following it garnered as a rebound result of the criticism years later. It’s a middle of the road slasher that is so gloriously excessive (just like the 80s in general) that it works on a silly primal level, but lacks any true intelligence to make it great. I loved the film as a young burgeoning teenager (most likely due to the scantily clad nubile teenagers that Billy went around hacking up), and to this day the 82 minute film holds a special place in my heart as I sing Christmas songs in my head.

The film rarely goes above and beyond the simple premise of fear, and is never really exploitive enough to be truly disturbing. There’s plenty of topless girls running around shrieking before getting heads chopped off, or stuck onto deer antlers, but past there Silent Night, Deadly Night is fairly simplistic and straight forward in its approach to slashers. Even the ending is a bit derivative and typical of the genre. Acting is what you would expect from an 80s film, and the low budget nature of the flick is VERY obvious in this day and age. Still, it’s a gloriously campy film that has its reasons for being a cult favorite and Scream Factory went all out on this special edition.




Rating:

Rated R by the MPAA




Video:

As is the habit with Shout/Scream Factory, they’ve gone back to the OCN and done a new 4K re-scan for this set, giving said new remaster not only to the 4K UHD disc, but both Blu-ray discs as well (although there’s not a TON of improvement in the Blu-ray department. This was a grungy looking low budget film and there’s only so much a spiffy remaster on the 1080p format can do to make it look different). Needless to say it handily outclasses the old 2018 disc (and tears apart the Starz/Anchor Bay 2014 disc by a HUGE margin) in subtle ways. Let me make a disclaimer up front that the 4.5/5 rating I’m giving it is not simply because it looks all minty new, but that it closely replicates the dirty, grimy look of the 1984 film perfectly. Colors are warm and vivid with over saturation that makes the already garish colors look even better. Film grain is till thick and heavy, and while MOST of the print debris and imperfections of the old master are mostly still there, things look cleaner, clearer in the background objects, and doesn’t have any banding that sort of mildly frustrated me in the 2018 release. 80s softness remains present as always, but the new upgrades in colors and fine detailing fine tunes the excellent 2018 release and simply makes it that much better. Is it “night and day different?”, of course not. There’s only so much you can do with a film shot on less than ¾ of a million bucks, but this beautifully fine tunes and subtly enhances an already near picture perfect presentation into a a great looking replication on 2160p.





Audio:

The audio track on the 2014 disc was notoriously as abysmal as the video quality is, and Scream seems to have gotten new elements for the 2.0 DTS-HD MA track on the disc for the 2018 Collector's edition, which has been ported over for the 4K release here (and I'm rather glad they didn't try and make an Atmos track out of a grungy C- level horror track. It's just "wrong"). It’s not a wildly nuanced track, but the 2.0 mix is perfectly acceptable to hear Billy stomping around screaming “punish!” as he hacks and slashes his way through the holiday night. Effects are bright and allow plenty of pop, and the minimal LFE in the track is acceptable for an 80s hack n slash. Vocals carry a goodly punch to them, and I can detect no signs of major hissing or other auditory crackling. An all around good track for a great collector’s edition.







Extras:

Disc One: Theatrical Cut - 4K UHD
• NEW Audio Commentary With Author Amanda Reyes And The Hysteria Continues Podcast

Disc Two: Theatrical Cut - Blu-ray
• NEW Audio Commentary With Author Amanda Reyes And The Hysteria Continues Podcast
• NEW "The Night He Came Home… For Christmas: Creating Silent Night, Deadly Night" – An Interview With Producer Scott Schneid
• NEW "In Search of Charles Sellier Jr: Remembering the Director" – An Interview With Editor Michael Spence
• NEW "Naughty or Nice: 40 Years Of Silent Night, Deadly Night" – An Interview The Producers Scott Schneid And Dennis Whitehead About The Longevity Of The Film

Disc Three: Unrated Extended Cut - Blu-ray
• Audio: English DTS-HD Master Audio Mono
• Audio Commentary With Actor Robert Brian Wilson And Co-Executive Producer Scott J. Schneid
• Audio Commentary With Writer Michael Hickey, Composer Perry Boykin, Producer Scott J. Schneid, and Unit Director Michael Spence
• "Slay Bells Ring: The Story Of Silent Night, Deadly Night" – Featuring Interviews With Writer Michael Hickey, Co-Executive Producers Scott J. Schneid And Dennis Whitehead, Editor/Second Unit Director Michael Spence, Composer Perry Botkin, And Actor Robert Brian Wilson
• "Oh Deer!" – An Interview With Actor Linnea Quigley
• Christmas In July – Silent Night, Deadly Night Locations – Then And Now
• Audio Interview With Director Charles E. Sellier, Jr. From Deadpit Radio (Extended Version)
• "Santa's Stocking Of Outrage"
• Poster And Still Gallery
• R-Rated Theatrical Trailer & Japanese VHS Trailer
• TV Spots
• Radio Spot




Silent Night, Deadly Night is a unique slasher midst a sea of clones that really was made famous due to the initial controversy surrounding its theatrical release. The movie has stuck around over various formats over the years, and I was REALLY turned off by the abysmal audio and video quality of the Starz/Anchor Bay release and VERY happy with the 2018 Blu-ray from Scream Factory. Fans of the C- rated horror movie will be happy to see a brand new transfer for both the Blu-ray and the 4K discs, but sadly we have the same habit of ONLY putting one of the cuts on 4K, while putting both cuts on the Blu-rays. Not something I'm very wild about, but it's not the end of the world. On the flip side, I gave the 2018 disc 5/5 stars for the great extras, and Scream Factory has kept those and piled on a metric TON of new ones as well, forcing me to give it the same 5/5 rating simply because I can't rate it 7/5.




Technical Specifications:

Starring: Lilyan Chauvin, Gilmer McCormick, Toni Nero
Directed by: Charles E. Seller Jr.
Written by: Paul Caimi (Story), Michael Hickey
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 HEVC
Audio: English: DTS-HD MA 2.0
Subtitles: English SDH
Studio: Scream Factory
Rated: R
Runtime: 82 Minutes (Theatrical, Blu-ray and 4K UHD) / 85 Minutes (Extended, Blu-ray)
Blu-ray Release Date: December 10th, 2024