Silent Night Bloody Night (1972)
Merry Christmas Eve, everybody! Last year, on this very day, I published a review of Christmas Bloody Christmas, an underrated and gory slasher from 2022. This year, we’re traveling fifty years further into the past to an era where the modern American slasher film was in its embryonic stage.
Silent Night Bloody Night is one of the earliest Christmas horror films. I mentioned this movie in my Black Christmas horror movies post, but it deserves a full review.
It’s an interesting piece for anyone interested in slasher and horror history. There are no killer Santas, evil elves, or rampaging Krampuses to be found here, but there is an eerie New England mansion, plenty of blood, and a creepy masked villain.
John Carter (Patrick O’ Neal), a lawyer, is hired to sell a mansion owned by Jeffrey (James Patterson), the grandson of the original homeowner, who died in a fire in 1950.
He arrives in town with his smokin’ hot girlfriend/assistant Ingrid (Astrid Heeren) and meets the local dignitaries, including the mayor, the sheriff, and the… switchboard operator?! Yes, you read that right. I guess switchboard operators were pretty important back in the ’70s.
After a rather strange meeting in which the local officials offer to purchase the mansion at a low price, John and Ingrid journey to the (now empty) estate for some rest, relaxation, and hot sex. Read no further if you don’t want a major spoiler.
Unfortunately for them, this is one of the earliest “bait and switch” horror movies. Twelve years after Psycho, but long before Scream and many others, this movie slaughters its supposed protagonists during the first act.
The killer attacks them while they are in bed together (in one of the earliest examples of what became a well known slasher trope) and then phones the police to report his crimes. That’s just the first strike in a killing spree that terrorizes the town.
Cue the intro of the movie’s true protagonist, proto-final girl Diane Adams (Mary Woronov). Diane, the mayor’s daughter, receives creepy phone calls from the killer (another now common slasher trope) and teams up with the eccentric mansion owner (and obvious red herring) Jeffrey to investigate the killings.
This is a straightforward, no frills indie movie. Don’t think too much about the plot. It doesn’t make much sense and becomes especially convoluted toward the end.
Silent Night Bloody Night is not as creepy as Black Christmas, or as darkly funny as the Silent Night Deadly Night series, but it’s a fun watch all the same. The acting is good enough for the material. Woronov gives the film’s best performance.
Rating
Silent Night Bloody Night won’t blow your mind, but it’s a fun history piece that’s suitable for anyone looking for some Christmas fear.
Rating from 1 (avoid at all costs) to 10 (masterpiece): 7
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