Silent Night, Deadly Night

An atmospherically sophisticated slasher that provides a decent psychological background to the main character/killer. I expected some sort of entertaining silliness, so I was very nicely surprised by the solid brutality and the atmosphere as a whole. Unlike other Holiday-themed cult movies, Black Christmas fully exploits the potential of the killer – that axe-wielding Santa screaming “punish” is far more charismatic than any ordinary howling asshole :-) 8/10 (03/10/2009)

Really Bad Santa. The naughty opening about the roots of trauma sets the bar fairly high and brings two amusing decisions for the direction of the "plot." Letting a five-year-old boy visit an asylum and be left alone with his deranged grandpa is a loving parental act, but it’s easily outdone when, at eighteen, the orphanage gets him a job in a toy store so he can fully enjoy December! And then it's just murders, gore, and nudity galore on a "punish" journey for a merry holiday... A left hook from a child's fist to Santa Claus’s face or the gay scene where young Billy vies for the employee of the month title, at least in my eyes, contradict the claim that Charles E. Sellier Jr. avoided humor, though it’s hard to say if it was intentional. (12/09/2022)