Silent Night (2012)
Starring: Jaime King, Malcolm McDowell, Donal Logue
Writer: Jayson Rothwell
Director: Steven C. Miller
The Story:
Some dude with a plastic mask and Santa suit goes on a killing spree in a remote little town. Due to a Christmas parade, the
streets are oozing with many other red jolly bastards, making it fairly difficult for local authorities to capture
their perp.
Review:
I was just talking with some friends
the other day about how I absolutely love a Christmas setting in a
horror film. It's a brilliant accompaniment. The original Silent
Night, Deadly Night is a great example. It's a mean spirited, sleazy
ride of a film that takes an unapologetic blood dump on all things
jolly about the holiday. Sure, some of the joy taken from it lies
within its unintentional hilarity, but for the most part, SNDN is
pretty damn brutal. And the atmosphere is something I don't think can
be replicated in the same setting. Hell, SNDN II couldn't bring the
same spirit even by using a T-Rex sized shit of footage from its
predecessor (though, SNDN II is a completely different level of
awesome). There's other great Christmas horror films, and even
Christmas slashers, but I just kinda think SNDN is its own beast. All
that being said...
I've never been one to shit my britches
over a film getting the remake treatment, not even if it's a remake
of something I adore. I have plenty of other things to bitch about.
More importantly, I surely don't piss upon the announcement of a
remake, or when a trailer for one drops. I'll say whether it peaks my
interest or not, but that's about it. Now, if I see one and end up
thinking it sucks, then surely there will be some spewed hatred. But
even then I try to base my opinions on the film itself, and not how it measures up as a remake. Anyway...
I remember when I first read the news
of Silent Night, Deadly Night being remade. It popped up in my
Facebook news feed, courtesy of Shock Till You Drop. There was
honestly a fairly diverse mix of excitement and nausea in the thread. I decided to
take the funny guy approach by saying “Well, if it sucks, I know
where it's going... come garbage day!” You can bet I felt pretty
damn witty with that remark. Well, who comes along and clicks their
“like” button on that comment? Director, Steven C. Miller,
himself. Afterward, I felt shitty and witty at the same time-
SHWITTY. Either way, I'm pretty sure Miller took it as a joke, and
that's exactly what it was. I was for sure anxious to see how it
would turn out, even more so after seeing The Aggression Scale and
loving it. And once the trailer dropped not too long ago, I was
really on board for it. So, now it's time for me to give my thoughts
on Silent Night, 2012!
This is definitely its own film. Matter
of fact, the only similarities are Christmas time and a dude in a
Santa suit going around slayin' (or sleighin') motherfucks for doing
things he deems naughty. Silent Night is a completely different story
with different characters, but with several nods to the original (and
even a nod to SNDN II!). That to me is a fine way to do a reboot, as
long as it's entertaining. Well, the writing is pretty by the numbers
and the acting ranges from underwhelming to over-the-top. Maybe it's
crazy, but that's exactly what I was hoping for. I just wanted a
bloody fun slasher film with humorous and cheesed out characters. In
those respects, Silent Night worked.
Visually, this movie is great.
That came expected being that Miller wowed the hell out of
me with The Aggression Scale, and the cinematographer (Joseph White)
worked on the Mother's Day reboot, which was fucking gorgeous. Silent
Night is full of great shots; one in particular follows Jaime King's
character from her police vehicle through the main street of town,
then pans around to the front of her all in one shot. I love shit
like that. And the third act makes fantastic use of colored lighting,
which strongly brings in the holiday atmosphere for the film.
As for performances- Malcolm McDowell
serves up a big ol' plate of yuletide ham as the town sheriff, which
I guess that could be a blessing or a curse, depending on what type of fan
you are. I personally love McDowell when he goes off the fucking deep
end, and there's many instances of that in Silent Night. Jaime King
plays it pretty straight as the film's main protagonist, and she
comes off quite slick in the badass department. Plus, she's cute as
a doll. Donal Logue provides some comic relief as one asshole of
a Santa Claus, and Andrew Cecon is a good jokester in the role of
Deputy Giles. Ellen Wong from Scott Pilgrim is looking crazy hot as
the police receptionist. Also, Mike O'Brien (Just Friends), Lisa
Marie (Ed Wood) and Brendan Fehr (Roswell) round out some secondary
roles. As mentioned earlier, some of the acting is over-the-top and
some is just kinda bad, but it's all in good fun.
Silent Night KILLS in the SFX
department. There's some great deaths, and MOST of them appear all practical. Even one kill that is more implied than shown has quite an
impact to it. But as far as bloodletting, the flick starts out strong
and keeps it going for a good bit. I have two favorites- first one
takes place in broad daylight, and when you see the film I imagine
that you'll easily guess the second. ***mild spoiler→As for visual FX, I honestly
didn't notice a whole lot, but there is one shot of a girl dropping
out of a window and it looks BAD. At least she's topless and in
slo-mo.←end spoiler****
Kevin Riepl provides the music score. I
absolutely fell in love with what he did on The Aggression Scale. To
be honest, I was listening to that shit daily for a while. His music
for Silent Night is great, and it captures a good Christmasy feel as
well as intensity. There are a few instances where I think the score almost sounds too full and epic for the scenes it's paralleling, but
I can't hold it at fault for that. It's definitely well written, as far as I'm concerned.
During the third act I feel like the
movie tones down a bit in terms of excitement. It just comes off a little
pedestrian. I was actually pretty sad, because this occurs right at
the time that epic use of colored lighting I mentioned kicks in. Oh
well, sometimes you just can't have your cake and eat it, too.
Final thoughts:
Aside from a few gripes, I was pretty
entertained with Silent Night, and that's all I asked. I'm not
totally sure how well it will hold up on multiple viewings, though. I
watched it three times in the past week, and by the third viewing I feel like
it wore out its welcome. It could be argued that no movie should be
watched multiple times in a week's span, but there are plenty that I
can watch the unholy fuck out of. That being said, it'll more
than likely be viewed again around this time next year. Good party
film.
