30th Anniversary Silent Night, Deadly Night Retrospective: Part 1
John Squires
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Looking back, now 30 years later, the consensus from everyone involved in the creation of this twisted little Christmas tale is more or less the same: though they all say they probably should’ve expected the controversy, none of them ever in a million years dreamed that the movie would become what it became, and what it continues to be all these years later.
“We were taken aback by the reactions of parental groups and the media,” says Scott Schneid. “It became quite the circus and all we could do is sit back and watch. Needless to say, it was a heckuva ‘welcoming,’ given that this was Dennis, Michael and my first movie. What a way to lose your filmic virginity!”
“However,” Schneid continued, “Silent Night, Deadly Night came in the middle of an avalanche of teen slasher films that many parents found reprehensible, so it’s not surprising that a Santa-slasher was the straw the broke the proverbial camel’s back… sent them all over the edge!”
Writer Michael Hickey echoes Schneid’s sentiments, though he admits he’s still a little confused as to why his movie caused such an uproar, while the other horror films coming out at the time got away scot-free.
“Personally, I never thought the protestors had a valid point,” he told us. “The film was rated “R,” requiring anyone under 17 to be accompanied by a parent. Most people 17 and older don’t regard Santa Claus as anything but a commercial spokesperson, which is what he is — hardly a sacred figure. I thought at the time that if people were going to get seriously upset about anything in the movie, it would have been the fairly unflattering depiction of a Catholic orphanage. But of course the protesters hadn’t seen the movie, so they didn’t know about that.”
In Silent Night, Deadly Night, it was a twisted grandpa, a killer dressed as Santa, a traumatic upbringing in an orphanage and a fateful holiday gig in a toy store that turned an ordinary child into a full-grown monster. Behind the scenes, it was a perfect storm of proper timing, a unique concept and an alluring string of controversy that itself resulted in the creation of a monster – a simple B-movie slasher flick unexpectedly growing up to become something so much more.
“It still has a following after all these years,” says Michael Hickey, “so I guess that’s the last word.”
Indeed it is.
Check back tomorrow for Part 2 of our 30th anniversary Silent Night, Deadly Night retrospective, where we talk all things Garbage Day – including an exclusive interview with none other than Eric Freeman!
Categorized:News Retrospectives
