‘Silent Night, Deadly Night’ Movie Review: Solid Santa Slasher Remake Takes A Few Fresh Swings
Photo from Cineverse
From Jeremy Kibler
At the time of its 1984 release, Santa Slasher shocker Silent Night, Deadly Night was controversial, famously hated by parents and Siskel & Ebert. It’s no big surprise that non-horror fans didn’t enjoy seeing an orphaned, nun-raised hunk going on a killing spree in a St. Nick suit. Looking back, it still has its sleazy, gratuitous charms.
Even though there was already an in-name-only reboot in 2012 (and its title was shortened to Silent Night), 2025’s Silent Night, Deadly Night is more of a proper remake, hewing closer to its granddaddy without being just a ho-ho-hum retread. Just as he did with his own 2020 reimagining of Wrong Turn—it only shared the same setup as the 2003 inbred-hillbilly slasher before taking a socio-political swing—writer-director Mike P. Nelson remakes the crass ‘80s cult non-classic, departing into a rather fresh direction and committing to a heightened logic.
Rohan Campbell is knowingly well-cast as Billy Chapman, who might as well be the twin brother to the sensitive, darkly mysterious Corey Cunningham (also played by Campbell in the daring trilogy closer Halloween Ends). As a young boy visiting his catatonic grandfather on Christmas Eve, Billy watched his parents murdered right in front of him by a killer in a Santa suit. Years later, as an adult man, Billy has an inner voice, Eddie and Venom-style, that tells him he must kill someone naughty once a day leading up to Christmas (the victim’s blood gets blotted into an advent calendar to finish the ritual, just for funsies). Moving town to town and trying to keep profile, Billy ends up in the sleepy town of Hackett. There, he has his eyes set on the local girl working the Christmas shop, Pammy (Ruby Modine), a true-crime junkie who’s a bit of a troubled, hot-tempered kindred spirit with Billy. In Christmas Horror Movie tradition, Billy slays through the night, punishing one naughty person at a time (or, sometimes, all at once).
How this Silent Night, Deadly Night deviates from the original movie is notably an improvement. This Billy doesn’t undergo a slow psychotic break. Supernaturally linked, he’s a killer from the jump but still a tortured soul. He also has met his match in Pammy, played by a sweetly offbeat Ruby Modine, who might not be as stable as she looks (a diner waitress calls her a “sugar-coated onion”). The other main difference? Mike P. Nelson’s script makes sure the people on Billy’s naughty list really do deserve it, to the point that this film has a rather misanthropic worldview, but hey, the world can be a horrible place with a lot of evil in plain sight. Speaking of which, the biggest set-piece involves Billy’s slaughterthon at a White Power Christmas party. While it is very satisfying to see this particular set of people getting their just desserts, the spectacle isn’t captured in a particularly stylish way to be more than conceptually memorable.
However a horror movie is able to ride a fine line between icky mean-spiritedness and fun mean-spiritedness, Silent Night, Deadly Night achieves more of the latter with more of a playfully macabre sense of humor. As a respectful remake should, this one certainly recalls images and lines from the first film (as well as a less-campy nod to “garbage day!” from Silent Night, Deadly Night 2). The axe-happy carnage is still high on the list, and you better believe someone gets resourcefully impaled by deer antlers mounted on a wall (even if it’s in a flashback). Silent Night, Deadly Night is solid as Santa slashers go and takes intriguing swings, but in the final moments, its promises an even more enticing follow-up.
Rating: 3/5
Silent Night, Deadly Night is currently in theaters.
