I usually watch the obvious festive films every year, and occasionally I try to find the ones I have missed out on, especially the alternative ones, this was far from any of the usual cuddly and feel-good Christmas movies I have seen. Basically on Christmas Eve 1971, five-year-old Billy (Jonathon Best) and his family visit catatonic Grandpa (Will Hare) at the nursing home where he stays. Billy is left alone with the grandfather for a few minutes, suddenly he awakens and tells Billy he should be afraid of Santa Claus, saying he only gives presents to good children, but punishes those who have been naughty. A criminal dressed in a Santa outfit (Charles Dierkop) has just robbed a liquor store and killed the store clerk, while driving home, Billy's family see him seemingly having car trouble. As Billy's parents, mother Ellie (Tara Buckman) and father Jim (Geoff Hansen), pull over to help, the criminal shoots the father in the head, then pulls out the mother, attempts to rape her, and slits her throat with a switchblade, Billy runs away, leaving his baby brother Ricky (Melissa Best) in the car. Three years in 1974, eight-year-old Billy (Danny Wagner) and four-year-old Ricky (Max Broadhead) are celebrating Christmas in an orphanage, run by strict disciplinarian Mother Superior (Lilyan Chauvin ), who persistently strikes children who misbehave, she considers punishment for their wicked actions a good thing. Sister Margaret (Gilmer McCormick ), the only one who sympathises with the children, tries to help Billy interact with the other children, but he is constantly scrutinised and punished by Mother Superior. Billy does a drawing of Santa and a reindeer being slaughtered, he is beaten, then on Christmas morning, a man invited to the orphanage dressed as Santa Claus gets attacked by Billy, who is still haunted by the deaths of his parents, he is dragged away by Mother Superior. Ten years later, in spring 1984, eighteen-year-old Billy (Robert Brian Wilson) has left the orphanage for a normal life, he finds a job working at the local toy store with the help of Sister Margaret. Billy develops a crush on co-worker Pamela (Toni Nero), he has sexual thoughts of her, but he continues to suffer morbid visions of his parent's murder. On Christmas Eve, the employee who usually dresses up as Santa Claus has been injured the night before, so the boss Mr. Sims (Britt Leach) makes Billy take his place. The store closes, and staff attend the Christmas party, Billy (still dressed in the Santa Claus suit) tries to enjoy himself, he the memory of the death of his parents continue to haunt him and make him feel depressed. At one point, he sees co-worker Andy (Randy Stumpf) making out with Pamela, then he sees him trying to rape her in the back room, this psychologically triggers his insanity; he hangs Andy with a set of Christmas lights, and stabs Pamela with a utility knife, uttering darkly that punishment is good. A highly intoxicated Mr. Sims hears noises and goes to investigate, he is shocked to find the corpses, Billy murders him with a hammer before he can leave. Billy then turns the store lights off, his manager Mrs. Randall (Nancy Borgenicht) goes to see what is going on, she screams seeing Mr. Sims dead, Billy cuts the phone line before she can call the police, after a chase around the store, Billy kills Mrs. Randall, shooting her with a bow and arrow. As Sister Margaret discovers the carnage and returns to the orphanage to call for help, Billy breaks into a nearby house, he finds a young couple named Denise (Linnea Quigley) and Tommy (Leo Geter) having sex; Billy impales Denise on the antlers of a deer on the wall, and throws tommy through the window, he is impaled by broken glass. This wakes up the little girl named Cindy (Amy Styvesant), either a younger sibling or daughter of the couple, Billy confronts her and asks if she has been naughty or nice; she says nice and Billy gives her a utility knife as a present. When he leaves the house, Billy witnesses bullies picking on two teenage boys sledding, they steal their toboggans, he decapitates one of the bullies with an axe, the other screams in horror seeing his headless body. The next morning, the orphanage has been secured by Officer Barnes (Max Robinson) and Captain Richards (H.E.D. Redford), aided by Sister Margaret, who knows Billy has been committing the murders. Deaf pastor Father O'Brien, dressed in a Santa Claus suit, is mistakenly shot by Barnes approaching the orphanage, then when distracted Barnes is axed by Billy. Due to his Santa outfit, Billy gains access to the orphanage, he confronts Mother Superior who is in a wheelchair, she taunts Billy due to her disbelief in Santa Claus, he prepares to kill her with his axe. Richards appears and shoots Billy in the back, to the disapproval of Sister Margaret, dying Billy lays and utters to the children "You're safe now, Santa Claus is gone.", then succumbs to his wounds, the children gather around him, including Billy's fourteen-year-old brother Ricky (Alex Burton), he stares coldly at Mother Superior and utters "naughty". Also starring Eric Hart as Mr. Levitt (Storekeeper) and A. Madeline Smith as Sister Ellen. This movie caused a lot of controversy at the time of its release, with American parents protesting about the effect that portraying Father Christmas as a mad murderer would have on children, other than that it is a routine slasher style scary movie. It's a simple story of a troubled boy who had a horrible childhood trauma at Christmas, then goes mental and ends up on going on a killing spree as a demented Santa to punish "naughty" people, the deaths are certainly gory, so you get what you expect, it's cheesy and a bit laughable, but at the same time it's kind of a fun, and it spawned a franchise, a reasonable seasonal horror. Okay!

In 1974, Bob Clark released Black Christmas. At the time it was probably great, but to me, it's kinda tame in today's time. In 1980, we got Christmas Evil, aka You Better Watch Out. I'll admit that it has grown on me over the years, but there's one Christmas horror film that beats 'em all; Silent Night, Deadly Night. It was extremely controversial when it was released in 1984. Tons of angry mothers petitioned to have the film removed from theaters, and they were all crazy! I was about 10 when I first saw this, and I've loved it ever since. It's a must watch if you're a horror fan that loves Christmas. The movie has a great sleazy tone, and it has a pretty depressing storyline. At a young age, Billy witnesses the murder of his parents by a guy in a Santa Claus suit. Billy believes he's the real Santa and that he was punished for being naughty. He and his brother Ricky (Who takes over in the later sequels) are sent to an orphanage where the brutal Mother Superior tries to discipline him. Years later, Billy gets a job at a toy store, but it soon takes a turn for the worse when his boss asks him to play Santa for the kids. All the repressed memories come out, and Billy goes on a mission to punish the naughty by killing them. With an axe, a crossbow, deer antlers, Christmas lights and other deadly gadgets. This is the perfect film to watch and get cozy with as you celebrate the bloody Christmas season. I highly recommend SILENT NIGHT, DEADLY NIGHT!!!

Traumatised after witnessing a man in a Santa suit brutally murder his parents, a teenager goes on a killing spree after his employer forces him to dress as Santa in this controversial horror thriller. With a plot that mostly follows slasher clichés, 'Silent Night, Deadly Night' is easy to forget amid the surplus of 1980s horror flicks, but it is a highly competent production that stands up well to revision. The film actually does a better job than John Carpenter's far more iconic 'Halloween' in establishing the psychology and mindset of its serial killer protagonist. Eighteen minutes of exposition may sound like a lot, but it works magnificently for getting us to understand how the character ticks and actually pity him, heinous though his actions may be. The film takes a potent swipe at church-run orphanages too in which children have religion forced upon them with the protagonist a victim of this system in addition the aforementioned childhood trauma. The film does not do itself any favours by painting the nuns as stereotypes and lead actor Robert Brian Wilson is never really convincing, but everything else falls into place so well here that it is hard not to like it. The filmmakers approach the project with the perfect dose of dark humour too; "he sure knows how to handle kids!" comments one mother after Wilson quietly threatens a girl sitting on his Santa's lap! The Yuletide themed deaths also come with streak of black comedy and there is an awesome 'Battleship Potemkin' lions style sequence in which several toy soldiers appear to react to a toy store death.

"Silent Night, Deadly Night", would never be up there with "Halloween", or "Nightmare on Elm Street", as far as absolute suspense or sheer terror goes however as a tale of the mind being totally taken over by the trauma of an early horrific experience it does hold some interest. Within the limitations of the role Robert Brian Wilson does reasonably well as the young man who is suddenly set off on a killing spree by having to be a store Santa Claus. His innocent good looks actually serve the part very well and he is definitely a scary individual once his mind is affected by the traumatic flash backs to the murder of his parents. None of the supporting characters have much to build on in their characters as is generally the case in these types of films however Gilmer McCormick as the kindly Sister Margaret does a good job in her efforts to protect Billy from himself. Having a lot of the action set in a Catholic Orphanage is quite interesting and the two nuns are quite distinct characters that show interesting good and bad elements. Even though these things don't hold much importance in these types of films, "Silent Night, Deadly Night", does have the benefit of some beautiful on location photography in snowbound Utah which does give the film a better look than most of its kind.I'm going to be honest about this film. It didn't really scare me a whole lot, but it was kind of creepy. You have to admit, some of the violent scenes were hilarious, and the scene with the bullies was very original. That's what makes this a good film. There are lots of twists and surprises too. It's hard to know which Santa Claus is the killer when you see many of them walking around on the streets. Although it gets kind of cheesy and aside from the gratuitous nudity, some of the death scenes are classic like the sledding decapitation scene. Oh, and another thing, don't miss out Linnea Quigley in one of her first roles. She gets naked and is then killed and impaled by dear antlers in one of the films best and most memorable scenes. Check it out if your a fan of 80's slasher films.Overall rating: 7 out of 10.