LogFAQs > #984533798

17. Silent Night, Deadly Night Part 2 (1987)
Directed by: Lee Harry
Score: 143

Red: 5
Inviso: 9
Johnbobb: 12
Forty: 13
Suprak: 17
Evillord: 18
Karo: 18
Bitto: 22
Seginus: 29

Red:
Why work hard on a sequel to a movie when you can just fill most of your new movie with scenes from the old one? I definitely had to look up why we were watching a second part of a movie without context of the first and it very, very quickly made sense. This is honestly hilarious on its own, but it ends up a pretty standard slasher fic where we watch a guy go crazy and lean into being a crazy murderer.

Inviso:
A little backstory on this one: the original Silent Night, Deadly Night was a low-budget, Christmas-themed slasher movie that I have never personally seen. And in order to cash in on the moderate success (horror films tend to be the best return on investment you can make with movies), producers wanted to just take the original film and reedit it to create a new movie. The director was not okay with this, but production didnt exactly give him a large budget to shoot anything new, so he kinda had his hand forced. You can really see it, because the first thirty minutes of the film are just our killer retelling the story of the first film second hand (in a way that really doesnt make sense when you realize Billy never had a chance to tell Ricky all the murders he did).

But I will say, the new stuff is pretty damn good. Eric Freeman as Ricky is a goddamn STAR, and he single-handedly carries this movie to so bad its good levels. Every line he delivers just has this bizarre affect to it, where hes screaming while under and emphasizing words, seemingly at random. When the film switches over to new content, where his psychoses start to come out in violent fits of rageits cheesy, but fun. In a way a lot of the slasher films from the 80s horror list failed to be. Seriously, the first few kills are fun and innovative, but then he gets a gun and the campy acting goes over-the-top, including the famous GARBAGE DAY! line. And because the budget is so limited, the whole plot is basically told in a series of vignettes that allow for them to get right to the kills, without needing to bothering with setting a scene or pacing, or anything like that.

But I have to highlight the end as well, because we get the whole movie told from the perspective of Ricky talking to a psychiatrist, but as he tells his final story, we cut back to the mental hospital to see that hes murdered the doctor and escapes custody, all leading to the grand climax. Yes, both Billy and Ricky have a singular goal in mind: killing Mother Superiorthe ancient nun who warped their senses of morality. But by the time Ricky gets to her at the end of the second movie, shes crippled and in a wheelchair, which makes for a killer stalks his victim sequence that is WAY more unintentionally hilarious than it has any right to be. Somehow, a wheelchair-bound, elderly nun manages to hold her own against a super-strong murderer, complete with getting up after getting flung down a set of stairs. Its just goofyESPECIALLY since Ricky DOES get the kill, but takes the time to set Mother Superiors decapitated head back on her body, just to fuck with whoever comes looking for her.

Ultimately, this is very much a standard slasher film. Its nothing THAT special. But the EXCEPTIONALLY low budget, I think, makes it so they really spend the money in the right places. Solid kills, and a weird, campy actor make this film memorable, and even during the forty-minute flashback sequence, I found myself rivetted by the action on-screen. Its a solid film and its ALMOST in general good territorywhich would honestly make it less enjoyable, if that makes sense. As it stands, Rickys acting really elevates the whole to a whole new level of bad, and I appreciate that wholeheartedly.

Good, Bad Movie Grade: B+
Best Bad Aspect: Eric Freeman in general. Not only are his line reads hilarious, but its just fun to see a psycho killer whos weirdly jovial about the whole thing, even though hes clearly capable of the standard stoic mindset thats more of a horror mainstay.

Johnbobb:
"I tried to watch this movie, but accidentally watched the first instead, and was surprised that despite being very bizarre and pretty bad at times, it was pretty fun! And then this was legitimately just 50% replaying the first with terrible commentary? Once we finally got into the movie proper it was so more of the fun and sexual trauma I came to expect from the first film, although GARBAGE DAAAAAY aside, it never quite hit those same heights.

Favorite 5 star Letterboxd review:
shut up Ricky you were not even there"

Forty:
If theres one way to remind people of the fact that your sequel is way worse than the original, just make the first forty minutes of the movie a recap of the first one. Its so ridiculous that they did that, but hey at least you get 40 minutes of SNDN which is a passable cheesy 80s slasher film. SNDN2, not so much. I wish they would have leaned more into the killer Santa thing and had Ricky don the suit from the start. Instead, they have him as some sort of lame vigilante killing people in a very disappointing non-St. Nick manner. At least he finally puts on the suit towards the end in order to take out the mother superior and make Santaphobes out of a whole new generation of orphans. Way to go Ricky, and you are also the very definition of melodramatic acting. I will also admit that Garbage Day! gives this movie a boost of like three spots on my list. Its so iconic.