Silent Night, Deadly Night
| Silent Night, Deadly Night | |
|---|---|
Theatrical release poster
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| Directed by | Charles E. Sellier Jr. |
| Produced by | Ira Richard Barmak Scott J. Schneid Dennis Whitehead |
| Screenplay by | Michael Hickey |
| Story by | Paul Caimi |
| Starring |
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| Music by | Perry Botkin |
| Cinematography | Henning Schellerup |
| Edited by | Michael Spence |
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Production
company |
Slayride
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| Distributed by | TriStar Pictures |
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Release date
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Running time
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79 minutes 85 minutes (Unrated cut) |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $1,065,000 (estimated) |
| Box office | $2,491,460 |
Silent Night, Deadly Night is a 1984 American slasher film directed by Charles E. Sellier, Jr., and starring Robert Brian Wilson, Lilyan Chauvin, Gilmer McCormick, Toni Nero, Linnea Quigley, Britt Leach and Leo Geter. Set during Christmas, the story concerns a young man, Billy, who suffers from posttraumatic stress over witnessing his parents' Christmas Eve murder and his subsequent upbringing in an abusive Catholic orphanage. In adulthood, the Christmas holiday leads him into a psychological breakdown, and he emerges as a spree killer donning a Santa suit.
Released by TriStar Pictures on November 9, 1984, it is the first film in the Silent Night, Deadly Night franchise, and gained substantial controversy over its promotional material and content, which featured a killer Santa Claus. As a result, the film received negative reviews and was pulled out of theaters a week after its release. While successful during its opening week, the film was a moderate success with $2.5 million made overall. Since its release, the film has developed a cult following and was followed by four sequels (with the fourth and fifth installment having no connection to the film) and a loose remake released about 28 years later. This was the only film in the series to be distributed by Tristar Pictures.
In 1971, 5-year-old Billy Chapman and his family go to visit a nursing home where his catatonic grandfather stays; he tells Billy about how Santa Claus punishes the naughty. While driving back, a criminal dressed in a Santa outfit, who robbed a liquor store and killed the store clerk, seemingly has car trouble and gets Billy's family's attention to pull over and help. As they pull over, the Santa-clad criminal shoots the father with a pistol and slits the mother's throat with a switchblade in front of Billy and his younger brother Ricky. Billy then runs off to hide with Ricky left in the car, as the criminal leaves them.
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Wikipedia