Silent Night, Deadly Night Part 2 (1987)

Silent Night, Deadly Night Part 2 is a hard film to classify, because over a half of its run time is comprised of footage from the original film. I do quite enjoy the original film, so this isn't a huge issue. In fact, this film might work best for people who haven't seen the original film. At least they won't be bored or find themselves fast forwarding through the myriad flashbacks that litter the first half of the film.

In terms of new material, this film really gives us the goods. If you're not laughing at the overwrought line readings of Eric Freeman (who plays the original villain's younger brother all grown up), you'll be cackling at a ridiculous piece of dialogue or a death by umbrella. The entire thing seems calculated to make the audience pee their pants from laughter.

Silent Night, Deadly Night Part 2 is one of those perfect storms. The script, acting, and filmmaking are just inept enough to send it over the edge into pure camp territory. I'm not surprised to hear that this has become a bit of a minor cult film in the past few years. It certainly has all the makings of one.

Fmovies: Silent Night, Deadly Night Part 2 (1987) is basically a re-cap of the original with a few improvements. Firstly it continues the story through the eyes of the other (and younger) brother, Ricky. As an even more homicidal and insane killer he narrates the story that was part one until he breaks free from jail and goes after "Mother Superior" and finally manages to behead the control-freak. Secondly, if you watch closely you'll notice several story changes and unused footage from the original Silent Night, Deadly Night. Finally, Ricky makes his older brother, Billy look very tame with such eye-candy as a killing spree taking up several urban city blocks. Such familiar yells like "Naughty" are met with new shouts like "Garbage Day!" This 88 minute video tape is out of print and a necessary addition to any horror freaks collection.

I watch this one every Christmas. It features a pretty atypical psychopath for the 80's canon in Eric Freeman. He's an intense-looking and mask-free short fuse who at first glance could be either a ski instructor or a paroled sex offender. His animated eyebrows are hypnotic. This feels at once like a slapstick parody and a demented sitcom (" Hey Mom! I'm Dating A Strangler!"). It even has the built-in 'Naughty!' and 'Garbarge Day!'catch phrases. The newer footage with the killer's eye-bulging fits of rage toward any sort of social disruption are more cartoonish and less focused on the childhood Santa trauma than the scenes used from the previous entry. It's actually a shame that more new footage featuring the emotionally-crippled Child-Hulk couldn't be used in their place because their zaniness is so weirdly compelling. The shooting spree through suburbia is broad daylight is priceless. There isn't a single scene in the movie where he doesn't seem alien and out of place. He's so completely ill-equipped to deal with life that his reactions to both the public and the police make him almost zen-like in his fearlessness.

Silent Night, Deadly Night Part 2 fmovies. Silent Night, Deadly Night is hailed as a bit of a cult classic in the slasher genre. It told the story of a young man who snapped and went on a killing spree while wearing a santa costume.

Part 2 tells the story of his brother who is basically doing the same thing but is a tad brighter.

Sadly the first third of the film is heavily flashbacks so it feels like you're watching the first film all over again. When the new material kicks in it's essentially more of the same.

The original film despite it's fame remains to me as a distinctly average feature and this sequel is about on par.

A couple of fairly original deaths, a competent lead playing the manic Ricky Caldwell and the usual tropes and cliches of the sub-genre.

It's astounding that this managed 5 movies total, hopefully they haven't peaked already with this one as I'm part 3 bound shortly.

The Good:

Eric Freeman

Follows on from the first film well enough

The Bad:

FAR too much footage from the first film

Things I Learnt From This Movie:

A nun would have no problem moving into house no.666

Nuns are trained in the art of wheelchair ninjutsu

The church provides a spare wheelchair in case of acts of god

Silent Night Deadly Night 2 is the film version of those terrible recap specials that come every couple seasons or so on a popular television show. Comprised of recycled clips from previous episodes, these specials usually are close to un-viewable. They take the best clips from the series that most people have already seen and place them one after another out of context, thus stripping them of any of the original comedic value or suspense. Likewise, Silent Night Deadly Night 2 is mostly comprised of footage from its predecessor. In fact, over forty-five minutes of the footage has been cribbed from the original. This has never really been done in any movie before, and there's a good reason for this, even beyond that these clips have to be viewed in their original context to retain the same power. Most people watching the sequel have already seen the first entry. No one wants to sit through the same stuff over again. Sequels are supposed to continue the story, not rehash it. This is why while the original Silent Night Deadly Night is a personal favorite of mine, this film is possibly one of the worst sequels of all time.

Silent Night Deadly Night 2 focuses on Ricky, the younger brother of Billy who was the original "Santa Claus" killer from the original. Ricky has followed in the path of his brother and become a serial killer as well. Now detained, he recounts his story to a psychiatrist. Cue footage from the first film, used in the form of flashbacks. Not only is this boring, but it makes absolutely no sense at all. Ricky's flashbacks date back to when he was less than a year old in some cases, where it would be almost impossible to have any memory. In other instances it is certainly impossible for him to remember several of the flashbacks as many don't even involve him. The fact that Ricky has memories of things that he was never a part of and would never have a way of finding out, is just one of the many enormous plot-holes.

After about forty five minutes, Ricky begins recounting his personal story of growing up. Thankfully the recycled footage ceases and the audience is presented with something new. Unfortunately, it is insanely stupid, venturing into so-bad-it's-good area half the time and just bad area the other half. Despite not being old enough to have been emotionally scarred by the same events that sent his older brother over the edge, Ricky has also become a psychopath. The difference here is that while his brother was set off by the sight of Santa Claus, Ricky gets murderous tendencies whenever he sees the color red. When he sees a red truck he subsequently murders the owner with it. When he sees a red umbrella, he uses it to impale a gangster in what is possibly the lamest death sequence ever. When he sees a red blanket, he nearly has a heart attack. The problem with this is that it's virtually impossible to avoid the color red on a daily basis, meaning young Ricky would have heart attacks every time he got a test back graded with red marker. Not to mention that this makes for a fairly pathetic serial killer. All you have to do is put on a red t-shirt and he will probably wet himself (although by the end he has inexplicably gotten over this fear and dons a Santa suit).

In one mind-boggling sequence, Ricky takes his girlfriend to the movie theatre to watch the original Silent Night Deadly Night. Keep in mind this is a sequel to Silent Night Deadly Night that continues the exact story from where it left off. Even Ricky has a "huh" moment as the film starts and

The first thing anyone will admit when mentioning this movie is that it is terrible. It is even admitted in the Anchor Bay DVD release that it was mostly edited from the original to extend the video shelf-life of the first film, which was also less than Citizen Kane. The new material is acted with less talent than a grade school play, and those same grade school children could have written the script were it not for the not so child-like subject. The movie is merely an attempt to capitalize on gore, nudity, and controversy. As such, if you haven't seen the original in a while, this is a decent horror film. The slasher genre makes no claims to being Oscar worthy, so don't expect it to be and you'll be fine.If you go into this movie wanting to watch a badly made gore-fest you won't be disappointed. I find the delivery of the line "Garbage Day" makes this film one of my horror favorites despite the fact I rate it 4/10.