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Friday, December 11, 2015

Silent Night, Deadly Night Part 2 (1987)

Director: Lee Harry
Writer(s): Harry and Joseph H. Earle. Based on a story by Harry, Earle, Dennis Patterson, and Lawrence Applebaum. From characters by Michael Hickey and Paul Caimi.
Starring: Eric Freeman, James Newman, and Elizabeth Kaitan


What can you say about a film like Silent Night, Deadly Night Part 2?  Actually, there’s a lot you can say about it: this is a movie so terribly amateurish, that I am not at all exaggerating when I say it makes the first one look like a horror classic.  Everything good about the original (and there were some positives, until it all completely falls apart in the second half) is completely squandered by this misguided sequel, which would technically be considered a short film if all the footage from the first was removed.

If you have already seen the first one, you can literally skip to somewhere around the 40 minute mark here...and I’m not kidding.  The entire intro is made up of Ricky, the brother of the murderer in the first one, explaining to a psychiatrist everything leading up to the fate of his beloved brother.  Then, he goes on to discuss how watching his brother die turned him into a murderer.  After this, he proceeds to randomly kill a bunch of people in the least imaginative ways possible.

I’m not going to waste a lot of time on this one, because it’s obvious the filmmakers didn’t, either.  This movie would have completely (and rightfully) fallen into obscurity, if it weren’t for Ricky exclaiming “Garbage Day!” as he shoots a man shielding himself with a garbage can, a scene that somehow went viral.  It might have been humorous, if all of Ricky’s lines weren’t declared in that same hamhanded, over-the-top style; and wait until he gets his hands on a gun, when we’re treated to roughly five minutes worth of him smiling and giggling with unrestrained glee.

The only good thing in this entire movie is Elizabeth Kaitan, who plays Ricky’s kind-of girlfriend Jennifer, who he also ends up murdering, when she takes offense to him flying off the handle and electrocuting her ex-boyfriend.  Kaitan has a certain innocent look to her that really makes her endearing, and while her acting chops aren’t grade A, they don’t even have to be close to stand out in a film like this.  It also helps that she’s incredibly beautiful…how the filmmakers managed to lure her into a pile of junk like this defies all logic.

There’s probably plenty that I’m missing, but all you need to know is, unless you’re a fan of epically bad horror movies, then don’t even bother.  Thank goodness for libraries, so I didn’t even have to waste a penny on this junk.

RECAP: Remove all footage from the first movie, and this would technically be a 45 minute short film.  Remove everything else the original had going for it, and you’d be left with Silent Night, Deadly Night Part 2.  The only plus is Elizabeth Kaitan as Jennifer, who isn’t in it very long before meeting her demise, just like everyone else. Mostly unimaginative deaths, little gore, and no imagination make this one a yuletide flop that should be avoided by just about everyone, except for bad movie buffs.


RATING: 1.5/10

"GARBAGE DAY!"

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