SILENT NIGHT, DEADLY NIGHT (1984)

Director: Charles E. Sellier, Jr.

Writers: Michael Hickey from a story by Paul Caimi

Producer: Ira Richard Barmak

Cast: Robert Brian Wilson, Lilyan Chauvin, Tara Buckman, Britt Leach, Danny Wagner, Jonathan Best, Will Hare, Charles Dierkop, Gilmer McCormick, Nancy Borgenicht, Jeff Hansen, Toni Nero, Randy Stumpf, Linnea Quigley, Leo Geter, Max Robinson, Amy Stuyvesant, A. Madeline Smith, H.E.D. Redford, Eric Hart, Vince Massa, Michael Alvarez, John Bishop, Richard Terry, Spenser Alston, Alex Burton, Max Broadhead, Oscar Rowland, Melissa Best, Spenser Ashby, Angela Montoya, Don Shanks (uncredited)

After witnessing the Christmas Eve murder of his parents (Tara Buckman and Jeff Hansen) by a killer (Charles Dierkop) dressed as Santa Claus, five-year-old Billy Chapman (Jonathan Best) is sent to an orphanage. As he grows, Billy (Danny Wagner) continues to be tormented by the memories of his yuletide tragedy and is subjected to strict punishments from Mother Superior (Lilyan Chauvin), the head nun at the orphanage. Many years later, the teenage Billy (Robert Brian Wilson) gets a job at a toy store. On Christmas Eve, the store’s owner (Britt Leach) coerces Billy into being the substitute Santa Claus for the store’s young customers. Donning the costume of his childhood horror deranges Billy, who becomes a murderous St. Nick punishing those he deems naughty.

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Despite what Andy Williams’ seasonal crooning would have us believe, the most wonderful time of the year is always complicated with Christmas controversies:

• Get a real or artificial tree? 
• Buy gifts or give money? 
• Open presents on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day?
• Turkey, goose, or ham for Christmas dinner? 
• Who the hell does the dishes?

So, in the yuletide spirit of peace on Earth and goodwill to men, allow me to settle some Christmas controversies: 

• If you do the trimming, buy any damn tree you want. 
• Giving money is always the right size. 
• Opening gifts Christmas Eve must not interfere with my drinking time and opening them on Christmas Day must be done after I sleep off my drunk. 
• Anything that makes a good base for booze can end up on my Christmas dinner plate. 
• Serve the dinner on paper plates and I’ll do the dishes. 

However, back in 1984, even my yuletide pragmatism could not quell the controversy caused by the holiday horror of Silent Night, Deadly Night. This film was released as the slasher film craze had begun to wane and so had the self-righteous indignation of self-appointed moral guardians. But the television ads for this movie about a killer dressed as Santa Claus were traumatizing tots all over the United States. That resulted not only in renewed lambasting by the slasher film-hating movie critics, but also protests from parents that prompted the immediately profitable film to be pulled from theaters. The violation of children’s joyful image of Santa Claus for an R-rated horror film was treated as child abuse. I find it rather ironic that, prior to this film’s ads, probably half of the panicked parents’ kids would already scream bloody murder or be petrified with fear when they were made to sit on a department store Santa’s lap, anyway.

Despite all the outrage directed at Silent Night, Deadly Night, it was certainly not the first time the movies made maniacal, murderous merriment with a sinister St. Nick. Both 1972’s Tales from the Crypt and 1980’s Christmas Evil featured dangerous Santa Claus imposters. Apparently, the 1984 film’s ad campaign was all too effective in an era when the horror sub-genre of the slasher film had become yet another scapegoat for misbehaving youth and poor parenting. The fact that these R-rated films were unable to be seen at the theaters by lone youngsters under 17 years of age did not matter. Yeah, yeah, I understand it was the TV ads creeping into families’ homes during prime time that was causing the shit storm. However, I also understand that the outrage was not directed at the marketing, but at the very existence of the film itself. My response to such censorship sentiment is a hearty “Bah! Humbug!”

According to director Charles E. Sellier, Jr., the aim of the film was for the financing distributor, Tri-Star Pictures, to hit the low-budget/low-risk tier of film production with just the sort of product that had been profitable in recent years. Horror film aficionados will notice that the filmmakers behind Silent Night, Deadly Night were making a list of slasher flick tropes and checking it twice:

holiday-themed mayhem ✔✔

prologue of past trauma ✔✔

traumatized maniac menace ✔✔

distinctive outfit for the killer ✔✔

gory kills via a variety of techniques ✔✔

sex and nudity ✔✔

There are also a few variations from the slasher film norm that make Silent Night, Deadly Night distinctive. The identity of the traumatized maniac is not a mystery; we know who he is and see how he becomes a menace. While there is nothing very deep and profound being expressed in this film, we spend a lot of time seeing how an ongoing series of tragedies and abuse contribute to the maladjustment of the boy who will grow up to become the film’s murderous main protagonist. There is an odd mix of decency and brutality. While not only the nasty people get offed in the traditional slasher film, there seems to be a few instances here where not only are nice people killed, but their deaths seem even more undignified than usual. I think the impact this film has is an ongoing sense of injustice. Both people and fate can be indiscriminate doling out punishment.

Billy Chapman is the kid whose Christmas karma is consistently crapped on. Five-year-old Billy and his family are visiting his catatonic grandpa (Will Hare) at a mental facility on Christmas Eve. As soon as Billy’s parents leave him alone for a moment with his unresponsive grandpa, the old codger gets a wicked gleam in his eye and tells Billy that Christmas Eve is the scariest night of the year. Grandpa gets Billy to admit he wasn’t always a good boy that year, so Grandpa says that Santa will arrive that night to punish him. As soon as the parents return, the sadistic, old geezer plays catatonic again. No reason is ever given for Grandpa’s behavior, and this is the last we see of him, but the movie is already establishing an unsavory vibe for the yuletide season. This is my favorite scene in the film, as it just seems so strange and inappropriate. Will Hare should have nabbed an Oscar that year.

From this point on, Billy’s Christmas and all his Christmases to come are cursed. On the Chapman family’s drive home from the mental facility, they are flagged down by an armed robber in a Santa suit, who kills the parents. Billy and his baby brother are raised in an orphanage that is run by the strict nun Mother Superior, who preaches that no one ever gets away with being naughty and punishment is good. Unfortunately, as poor Billy ages, his past Christmas trauma makes him act out during the yuletide season and he keeps getting punished.

Once Billy is old enough to hold a job, the kindly Sister Margaret (Gilmer McCormick) finds him a position stocking shelves at Ira’s Toys. The young man seems to be an exemplary employee until the store’s Santa Claus for the kids can’t perform and Billy is pushed into the role. Despite his horrific Santa memories, Billy somehow manages to endure playing Santa until things get out of hand at the store’s after-hours Christmas Eve party. Then Billy snaps, becomes the Santa of his grandpa’s malicious taunts, and sets out to punish the naughty and just about anyone else who gets in his way.

In his very first role as the full-grown Billy Chapman, Robert Brian Wilson has a likable and naïve demeanor. When suited up as Santa, his smiles seem both childlike and demented. His best scene is during his Christmas Eve killing spree when he offers a young child (Amy Stuyvesant) a gift. This is suspenseful, peculiar, and funny.

The stunning Tara Buckman appeared in a lot of television roles, but the only other thing I recall seeing her in is the action-comedy The Cannonball Run (1981), where she played the blonde bombshell race driver partnered with brunette bombshell Adrienne Barbeau. As little Billy Chapman’s mother, Buckman’s murder is Silent Night, Deadly Night’s nastiest moment and sets the tone for the rest of the film.

The 1980s scream queen and B-movie favorite, Linnea Quigley, is featured in a small role. Her character’s reluctant involvement with deer antlers is probably the film’s most famous scene.

Silent Night, Deadly Night defied its critics and protesters by spawning four sequels. Paradoxically, the veteran Hollywood actor who had objected to the original film, Mickey Rooney, starred in Silent Night, Deadly Night 5: The Toy Maker (1991). The original film was remade as Silent Night in 2012. A brand-new version of Silent Night, Deadly Night (2025) is currently playing in theaters this holiday season.

So, if you want to wallow in nostalgia for an era when a cinematic Christmas cash grab could cause a commotion and gain cult status, see Silent Night, Deadly Night. It always puts me in the holiday spirit. Seeing a serial-killing St. Nick brutally punish others who are naughty helps me appreciate those lumps of coal I keep getting in my stocking every year.

NIGHTMARE (1981), aka NIGHTMARES IN A DAMAGED BRAIN

Director: Romano Scavolini

Writer: Romano Scavolini

Producers: John L. Watkins, William Milling

Cast: Baird Stafford, Sharon Smith, Mik Cribben, C.J. Cooke, Danny Ronan, John Watkins, William Milling, Tammy Patterson, Kim Patterson, Kathleen Ferguson, Scott Praetorius, Christina Keefe, William S. Kirksey, Tommy Bouvier, William Paul, Geoffrey Marchese, Candese Marchese, Michael Sweney, George Kruger, Lonnie Griffis, Tara Alexander, Danielle Galiana, Ray Baker, David Massar, Carl Gifford

Psychiatric patient George Tatum (Baird Stafford) is tormented by a recurrent nightmare involving a young boy (Scott Praetorius), a couple indulging in sadomasochistic sex games (Christine Keefe and William S. Kirksey), and a woman’s severed head. Tatum had been committed to a psychiatric hospital for the killing of a Brooklyn, New York family. Tatum’s treatment involved experimental drug therapy sanctioned by the U.S. government. It seemed that the behavior-altering drug had rehabilitated Tatum and he was released. However, as an outpatient, George Tatum continues to have nightmares and seizures. A visit to a New York City peepshow prompts a psychosexual fit in Tatum. He goes on a southbound road trip and commits murder. Now that Tatum has gone missing and begun to kill, his handlers are trying to track him down before more killings occur and they are exposed.

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According to Italian director and writer Romano Scavolini, Nightmare was based on some articles detailing the CIA using psychiatric patients and prison inmates to experiment on with behavior-altering drugs. In the course of this film’s story, these experiments do not seem to be the reason George Tatum becomes a dangerous schizophrenic. He has already been implicated in violence that has rendered him suitable as a subject for experimentation by the U.S. government. It is the negligence and ambitions of Tatum’s doctor (William Milling) and government project supervisor (John L. Watkins) that allows Tatum to be considered “rebuilt” and safe to enter society again. We never find out the endgame for this project as it applies to Tatum, only that the military may have some further use for him. Once Tatum gets out of control, all that the people involved in his case are concerned with is finding him and covering their asses.

Although Scavolini states that he did not conceive of Nightmare as a genre piece, it surely must have gotten green-lit to become yet another bloody reveler in the slasher film craze of the early 1980s. It is one of the most simplistic and nasty of the lot. We are provided with protagonist George Tatum who we know from the very first scene is deranged. As we follow Tatum’s journey, we see him commit murder. There will be no whodunit intrigue in this film. Perhaps this movie should be considered a “whydunit.” There are only a handful of continuing characters to follow in the story, yet we know very little about them. We simply see them going about their routines for the six days that this film’s story unfolds. Along the way, there are moments of sexual titillation and bloody murder. If ever a movie seemed designed for the early ’80s grindhouses, it was Nightmare. Fittingly, an early scene shows George Tatum wandering around New York City’s once infamous Times Square sex shops, peepshows, and movie theaters that probably exhibited this film.

Baird Stafford stars as the murderous George Tatum. His nightmares seem linked to a psychosexual hangup that can induce epileptic fits and homicidal acts. He is not romanticized, stylized, or glorified in anyway. Tatum is not a mythic menace in the Michael Myers or Jason Voorhees manner. George Tatum is just one very pathetic, anguished, and dangerous person. We learn very little about him, and it is perhaps that remote aspect of this character that lends his presence a bit of extra power. His anonymity also provides a payoff in the end.

Sharon Smith plays single mother Susan Temper whose Florida household becomes the focus of Tatum’s attention. She displays the frazzled emotions of parenthood very honestly. The focus of her life seems to be the relationship she is having with mellow and supportive Bob Rosen (Mik Cribben). Like all the characters in this film, we only learn anything about her from the way she behaves. There are no backstories or character arcs provided. This may not qualify as great drama, but there is a humdrum intimacy here that may make the horrific events feel more disturbing.

Susan Temper’s homelife had its share of stress long before the psychotic George Tatum started making creepy phone calls. Her son, C.J. (C.J. Cooke), is a morbid, little brat who delights in pranks that scare the shit out of his family and babysitter (Danny Ronan). As a result, he becomes a classic case of the boy who cried wolf when he tries to tell anyone about seeing creepy George lurking about.

The interplay between George Tatum’s nightmares and reality is well done. His nightmares drive him to acts of violence, and many things can trigger his sporadic nightmare visions. Neither Tatum nor his doctor was able to understand the significance of the nightmares that might reveal the root of Tatum’s psychosis. This provides some intrigue as a replacement for the usual mystery killer element in many other slasher horror films. Once Tatum’s nightmare fully plays out, it completes the film’s most notorious scene. It is also used to suggest an unsettling “passing of the torch” for further potential maniacal mischief.

Director Scavolini refused to make cuts to his naughty and nihilistic flick for any major film distributor to release it in the U.S. Nightmare received an X rating for its New York release, which kept it grinding away for 24 hours in the New York City grindhouses before getting some regional releases in other states. At the height of the “video nasties” hysteria in the United Kingdom, Nightmare had the distinction of being the one film that resulted in criminal prosecutions for those distributing it on video cassette.

Among horror buffs, Nightmare achieved a controversial status due to the film’s promotional credit of “Special Effects Director” given to makeup artist Tom Savini, the ’80s king of splatter. Savini denies involvement with the film and resents the movie trying to cash-in on his name and reputation. Others involved in the production say that Savini was involved in an advisory role for some of the film’s gore effects. There is one famous photo of Savini on the set seeming to demonstrate just how an axe should be handled in a scene. To judge from the bloody results, I would say it appears that the splatter maestro’s coaching paid off.

Nightmare is a very minimalist horror film that keeps things simple, sleazy, and gory. Its directness contributes to the grittiness that helps to distinguish it from the rest of the slasher pack, and Tara Alexander’s peepshow penetration demonstration is an unexpected horror film highlight making the bloody Nightmare a wet dream in more ways than one. George Tatum ain’t the only one drooling.

NIGHT SCHOOL (1981)

Director: Kenneth Hughes

Writer: Ruth Avergon

Producers: Ruth Avergon, Larry Babb

Cast: Leonard Mann, Rachel Ward, Drew Snyder, Joseph R. Sicari, Karen MacDonald, Annette Miller, Nicholas Cairis, Bill McCann, Margo Skinner, Holly Hardman, Elizabeth Barnitz, Leonard Corman, Belle McDonald, Meb Boden, John Blood, Ed Chalmers, Ed Higgins, William McDonald, Kevin Fennessy, Lisa Allee, Patricia Pellows, Elizabeth Alice, Ted Duncan, J.J. Wright, Patricia Pellows, Patricia Rust, Jane-Leah Bedrick, Wally Hooper, Jr., Kevin King, Nancy Rothman 

In Boston, Massachusetts, women are being decapitated. Homicide Lieutenant Judd Austin (Leonard Mann) notices the killer’s strange habit of depositing the victims’ severed heads in water. Since some of the victims were attending night classes at Wendell College, Lt. Austin concentrates most of his inquiries on the school’s faculty and students. 

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Unlike most slasher films of this era, Night School’s narrative focus is not on a teenage or young adult cast. While the killer’s targets are often young women, we are usually dealing with the investigation of the homicide detective and the concerns of Wendell College faculty members. This film does not use the typical youth-centric social dynamic many slasher films had with a young cast indulging in partying and sex until a killer picks them off. 

Leonard Mann stars as our hero, Lt. Judd Austin. Initially, this character seems rather bland, yet I have come to appreciate that he is not an attention-getting badass or world-weary cynic. He is never trying to be an intimidating, macho showoff, but he can be intrusive and direct with those he needs answers from. Apparently, Austin is idealistic in using his education for public service and is dedicated to solving this macabre case. He is Harvard-educated and approaches his job with more intellectual insight than his Armenian partner Taj (Joseph R. Sicari), who believes a good cop just needs a good pair of shoes. Yet Austin is not dazzling us with Sherlockian deductions; he is just following hunches. 

English model-turned-actress Rachel Ward makes her feature film-starring debut in Night School as Eleanor Adjai, an exchange student and research assistant for Professor of Anthropology Vincent Millett at Wendell College. Some have criticized her performance in this early role as wooden, but I think she is fine here. Ward displays some moments of emotional turmoil that deserve our sympathy. It could be argued that at one point she could be more agitated or hysterical. However, the more we learn about her character, the more sense it makes that she tries to be a contained person, despite the stresses she is dealing with. 

Her major stressor is her lover, Vincent Millett (Drew Snyder), the womanizing teacher at the women’s college. This scholarly scumbag sure has his pick of the nubile bodies in the student body. Millett has had multiple affairs with his pupils and can’t stop flirting right under Eleanor’s beautiful nose. To Snyder’s credit, sometimes his character doesn’t comes across like a complete asshole, but we can never trust him. Millett really needs a refresher course in impulse control. 

The motorcyclist mystery killer has the distinctive, identity-concealing getup of black leather cycling outfit and helmet. The killer also wields an equally distinctive weapon. That nasty accessory is a kukri, which certainly seems like a suitable blade for beheading. 

While slasher films were often criticized as misogynistic, there were plenty of women involved in their production. In the case of Night School, Ruth Avergon was one of the producers and wrote the script. She brings some female concerns to the film and also contrived a radical set of family values that motivate the killer. 

Another distinction that Night School has is slick and accomplished execution with the filmmaking fundamentals that are often taken for granted, but can really add a bit of polish to a genre film without drawing attention to themselves. In his final film, English director Kenneth Hughes’ long career of experience rises to the challenge of suspenseful teases leading up to the kills and reveals of their aftermath. Cinematographer Mark Irwin worked on a lot of David Cronenberg’s great sci-fi horror movies. Irwin’s shots that open the film, establishing its gloomy Boston setting, combine with the score to raise our anticipation for the upcoming atrocities. Composer Brad Fiedel provides a nice theme that is eerie and melancholy. It is perfect for the subject matter and the killer’s mindset. 

There is a final scene meant to be the you-think-it's-over-but-it's-not gimmick that some of the most notable fright flicks of the era had done. I have read that it is a scene tacked on after the principal photography had wrapped. I think the film would have worked better without it to end on its original somber and unsettling note. 

Released at the height of slasher mania, Night School has a slightly different approach and attitude, while still delivering the mystery killer intrigue and stalk-and-kill situations that define the genre. As usual, the critical reception at the time was as dismissive of it as with all other films in this nasty niche, but it has earned more respect by those reminiscing on the early ’80s heyday of the slasher film.

THE MAJORETTES (1985/released 1987), aka ONE BY ONE

Director: Bill Hinzman

Writer: John Russo adapting his novel

Producer: John Russo

Cast: Kevin Kindlin, Terrie Godfrey, Sueanne Seamens, Denise Huot, Tom E. Desrocher, Carl Hetrick, Mark V. Jevicky, Mary Jo Limpert, Harold K. Keller, Zachary Mott, Tom Madden, M. Therian, Jacqueline Bowman, Colin Martin, Russ Streiner, Tammy Petruska, Dana Maiello, Gina Cotton, Angela Eckerd, Angela Canalungo, Teresa Almendarez, Edna Kleitz, Joy Deco, George Brennan, Joe Blakely, Earl Brandstadter, John Russo, Bill Hinzman, Amy Mathesiuf, Wilbur Roncone, Daryl Darak, Robert Lintner, Abby Roach, Jay Ross, Dave Gordon 

High school majorettes are being stalked and killed. Part of the killer’s deadly ritual involves immersion of his victims’ bodies in water. The murders set off ripples throughout the small town that disrupt the lives of the victims’ classmates and some very unsavory characters. 

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When Night of the Living Dead (1968) alumni John Russo, Bill Hinzman, and Russ Streiner held a reunion to make The Majorettes, they played the slasher game pretty late in that horror subgenre’s season. Being filmed several years past the slasher film’s peak of popularity and not released for two more years, some may attribute its modest reputation to slasher film burnout at the box office, though home video was probably intended as its main outlet. Others still devoted to that style of horror were probably frustrated that The Majorettes was not just more of the same. 

As it is based on John Russo’s 1979 novel that was published before the slasher film had established a formula, The Majorettes has a more complex narrative and a wider range of character concerns than the typical slasher flick. It is not just a series of nasty kills, but about an assortment of characters that conflict with one another and react in surprising ways. The murderer of the majorettes is the catalyst for those confrontations. That may seem like a film lacking focus, but I see it as a welcome variation for the slasher film. This movie has intrigue beyond waiting for the reveal of the killer’s identity. 

One thing that I appreciate about John Russo’s writing, in both his novels and his films, is that his characters are not idealized. They usually come from mundane circumstances, and many of his characters are both petty and principled. No one is grandstanding as heroic or sympathetic. They are just living their lives as horror intrudes. 

A good example of the messy morality of Russo’s characters is the majorette Nicole (Jacqueline Bowman) that comes on to the nerdy photographer Tommy (Colin Martin). She is doing this out of fear and confusion resulting from a recent, unwanted pregnancy. Nicole thinks that, if she has sex with Tommy, she will have a more responsible person to blame the pregnancy on instead of the local drug pusher Mace Jackson (Tom E. Desrocher). Yet Nicole’s conscience does not allow her to follow through on her seduction. 

Kevin Kindlin plays the closest thing to a hero in The Majorettes. His character is the star high school quarterback Jeff Halloway. He is bickering with his majorette girlfriend Judy Marino (Sueanne Seamens) about their future together if Jeff goes off to college out of town. Both have legitimate motivations for their friction. These disputes are not integral to the plot, but they ground us in the reality of the life and times of these two characters. That is something that many more “focused” films don’t bother to do. When everything seems too deliberate, a film can seem contrived instead of relatable. 

Later, The Majorettes again loses its focus as a pure slasher film when Jeff is repeatedly traumatized by a succession of brutal events and retaliates. At that point the film veers into “Rambo” territory, yet it all plays out in a much less sensational fashion that seems all too likely these days. Jeff is never glorified in that action hero mode. He is just a high school kid that snaps. 

That is not to say that all of writer John Russo’s characters are sympathetic. He is never remiss to include scumbags, perverts, and sociopaths in his stories. There is no shortage of them in The Majorettes. They figure into some subplots that create a bit of complexity I can appreciate as a variation on typical slasher films. However, they also contribute to that loss of focus whined about by slasher purists. 

Even this film’s original title seems contrary to the genre. It does not follow the holiday-titled tradition that provided an almost perverse contrast to the horror in many previous slasher films. Its title is also not designating its bloody intent. While The Majorettes makes its youth-centric concerns apparent, it also sounds like a likely title for a teen-sex comedy. I find it morbidly appropriate to title the film with the innocent triggers and targets of the madman’s atrocities. 

And what of our majorette-mauling madman? He is the catalyst for all sorts of suspicions and repercussions among the cast of characters. Like many horror films, the menace is of interest because his transgressive behavior disrupts society. He is an element of chaos that not only threatens public safety, but also causes complications for other nefarious locals. It is an uneasy reminder of just how flawed and fragile civilization really is. This is reinforced by the killer’s so-called values that many would believe help maintain social stability. 

We are also not comforted by the agents of social order in this film. Few of the adults seem to have meaningful interaction with the teens. The parents are rarely present. Members of the faculty, clergy, and law enforcement are portrayed as suspicious or ineffectual. While there are some well-meaning people around doing their jobs, they can’t always be counted on to save the day. 

For those who have read the original novel, this fairly faithful adaptation still has a different resolution, so all is not spoiled when they watch the film. The Majorettes ends with a lingering sense of dread that is not unusual for horror in the last half century. That should come as no surprise from some talents involved in the classic Night of the Living Dead that helped set that uneasy standard in horror movies.