Silent Night (2012) Review

THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS OF THE DISCUSSED FILM. READERS DISCRETION IS ADVISED.

Everyone has their own opinion with the holidays and if there is anything we can agree on, it ain’t the perfect day we want it to be. 


PLOT


2012’s Silent Night is loosely remade from 1984’s Silent Night Deadly Night with a much different story. In a small city of Wisconsin, a masked man is murdering people under the guise of Santa Claus, starting with deputy sheriff Kevin Jordan (Brendan Fehr). He electrocutes him with Christmas lights over the fact he slept with a married woman, Alana Roach (Ali Tataryn). Deputy Aubrey Bradimore is called in by Sheriff James Cooper to find Jordan since he didn’t come in. Aubrey is hesitant to come in since she just lost her husband, but chooses to go through with it after her parents insist it. She finds the deputy’s body mangled, as well as the dismemberment of Roach's body. The Kringle killer continues his killing spree when targeting the naughty. He goes on by electrocuting a preteen brat of a girl with a cattle prod and stabbing her with a fireplace poker before moving on to kill multiple adults participating in soft-core porn. He stabs a lady named Goldie (Kelly Wolfman) with a scythe, another guy named Frank (Aaron Hughes) with the same weapon and throws another lady named Maria (Cortney Palm) into a wood-chipper. Aubrey finds a camera left behind at the motel and reviews the footage at the station and suspects drug dealer Stein Karsson to be responsible. The St Nick killer keeps it going by night when killing a perverted Reverend Madeley (Curtis Moore), sparing an elderly woman that swears not to report him. When confronting Karsson, Aubrey learns from the origin of Ronald Jones who took an affair so personal that he killed his wife with a flamethrower. She chases him when tracking his phone number that was called at the crime scene. He almost kills her until Cooper chases him away. Because of this, she suspects the killer to be another Santa portrayer to be a crude individual, Jim Epstein. The real killer however continues his spree when invading the home of Mayor Revie (Tom Anniko), targeting him, his daughter Tiffany (Courtney-Jane White) who evaded the porn massacre & bought drugs from Karsson, and her boyfriend Dennis (Erik J Berg) who was warned by his catatonic grandpa that Christmas is a dangerous holiday after stealing money from him. During an annual Christmas parade, Aubrey captures Epstein but she doesn't believe in him to be responsible when he starts ranting of how the holidays can be miserable. When she tracks down Karsson, he draws a gun on her and she shoots him down in self defense. When she sees a gift box on his kitchen counter containing coal, she recalls there have been similar gifts spotted throughout the day including her parents' home. She rushes back only to find her dad Hank dead and her mom hiding in the closet. When she checks on the station, the killer had already invaded, pummeling Epstein with brass knuckles, axing Deputty Giles in the face and burning Cooper alive with a flamethrower. Aubrey defends the station and herself when using said flamethrower against him, giving her time to save the secretary Brenda. By morning, the killer escaped and the film ends with flashbacks to confirm it was actually Ronald Jr. who became psychotically broken after seeing his dad getting killed by Hank. 


THOUGHTS


At the time of this film’s original release, I had no idea of it being a loose remake until I get older. It definitely would’ve been hard to see a connection at the time because despite having its beats to connect to the past, it stands out on its own. I mean it is still pretty scary that a man would kill people dressed as Kris Kringle, this time wearing a mask to look creepier. I even respect the idea to reuse familiar kills like the deer antlers and the lights, but it was a big change of scenery having a cattle prod/pitchfork combo on a child. This is still a solid whodunnit because it leaves you guessing on who the hell is tearing up shop until figuring out it’s a guy who had big baggage to difficult to mentally recover from. We don’t get a look at Ronald Jr’s face until the very end and one look at actor Rick Skene being so full of disdain who also played his dad Ronald Sr in the flashback gets the point across that trauma will be impossible to be taken care of if not dealt with sooner. No one seemed to have given any notice on Ronald Jr to the point that they forgot he existed and didn’t expect him to be the perpetrator. And in all honesty, Donald Logue and Mike O’Brien leave us guessing when they play Epstein and Karsson since they both came off so self centered when present. I can go and on how Ronald Jr master planned being a serial killer with specific targets knowing who would be where in a day, more than the fact the Reverend didn’t question him with the mask, but that is part of the point on how deranged he became that his intelligence was used for the worst reasons. As it being said Ronald is what happens when becoming an inner demons, Aubrey was the embodiment of overcoming them. Jaime King is a believable protagonist as Aubrey because she just doesn’t want to let down rightfully so because being a cop ain’t easy, and she builds her confidence as the day progresses. And when you have a cranky and chauvinistic boss the way Malcolm McDowell portrays Cooper, then you know you got big shoes to fill apart from the fact you’re a second generation officer. She may have not slain Ronald Jr, which would definitely stop him from killing more but what mattered most was that she held her own rather than gave up, which makes her different from the antagonist. And if that don’t inspire you in the holidays as cheesy as it sounds? I don’t know what else could. In short, 2012’s Silent Night is an underrated slasher thriller for its B-movie vibe that knows its audience and remains simple enough to be compelling in its own way. If holiday horror is your jam, check this out.