30th Anniversary Silent Night, Deadly Night Retrospective: Part 1
John Squires
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Aside from undergoing a title change during post-production – Slayride becoming Silent Night, Deadly Night after a movie with the same title sprung up around the same time (…and never ended up getting made) – the movie that Sellier and Spence shot remained incredibly faithful to Hickey’s Slayride screenplay, with only one minor addition that Hickey feels the movie would’ve been better off without.
Towards the climactic finale of the film, a cop explores an underground room near the orphanage, hunting for Billy Claus, a scene that Hickey says was improvised on location – and which was, in fact, filmed by Michael Spence.
“The fact that no such scene was written is the reason nothing happens in it,” says Hickey, “and I think it slows down the proceedings when they should be accelerating. I wish I could cut it. But overall, of course, I was grateful that the director followed my script so faithfully.”
One of the most iconic scenes in the movie is of course Scream Queen Linnea Quigley’s topless swan song, wherein Billy hangs her up on a set of deer antlers. Though Sellier had in the years prior to his death in 2011 claimed that the scene was not in the shooting script, at one time saying that he himself had come up with the idea and at another giving credit to a young special effects artist on set, Hickey says that the memorable death scene was never written any other way.
“Mr. Sellier simply made up the idea that he came up with the antler killing,” he told me. “The scene was in the script, exactly as it appears on-screen, long before Mr. Sellier came to be involved with the project.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RK4N-63HYBw
Regardless of whose idea it was, it was gruesome scenes like that one that made Silent Night, Deadly Night the target of such vitriol and criticism, and it wasn’t just protective parents who found the film to be a particularly evil entry in the slasher movement. Critics and Hollywood stars alike hopped on their soap boxes and spoke out about the film, Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert famously tearing into the movie and everyone involved in its creation.
Their coverage of the film during a 1984 segment of “At The Movies” (above) was less of a review and more of an attack, Siskel calling it “sick, sleazy and mean-spirited,” and then going on to publicly call out Michael Hickey, Charles Sellier and Ira Barmak, their names followed by a stern “shame on you.” He continued, “Your profits truly are blood money.”
Much like the parental outrage over promotional TV ads, before the film even hit theaters, the extremely negative critical reception did nothing but help the cause, proving that all press is indeed good press. “Roger Ebert really ensured the film’s success by creating such a stir,” notes star Linnea Quigley, hitting the nail right on the head. “Had they left it alone it probably would’ve faded into simple cult status. So thanks Roger and Gene!”
Though keeping Silent Night, Deadly Night in theaters amidst all the controversy probably would’ve been the wisest movie, from a monetary standpoint, TriStar couldn’t stand the heat and so they got the hell out of the kitchen. They cited poor box office numbers as the reason for pulling the film, though such an explanation makes little sense given the fact that it only took a couple days for audiences to spend more money on tickets than the entire movie cost to make. According to the late Sellier, the real reason was that TriStar was at the time getting ready to make a new public offering of stock, and they simply didn’t want the negative publicity to impact their business dealings.
Nearly a year after TriStar pulled the film, producer Ira Barmak took it to independent distributor Aquarius Releasing, who gave Silent Night, Deadly Night a brief theatrical revival, beginning in the spring of 1985. The company smartly took advantage of the controversy, replacing the iconic original poster with one that played up all the negative publicity (above). The following year, the film hit VHS courtesy of LIVE Entertainment, a company that went on to play an integral part in the future of the Silent Night, Deadly Night franchise.
But more on that in parts 2 and 3 of the retrospective.
THE RETROSPECTIVE CONTINUES ON THE NEXT PAGE!
Categorized:News Retrospectives
