The killer here has an axe to grind – and an axe to swing. However, Silent Night, Bloody Night is decidedly not a stalk-and-slash.
Rather, this 1972 production combines elements of the Gothic, mystery, Giallo, and hell, the supernatural too, and the different elements delight, for what is more than meets the jaundiced eye of a typical horror hound.
We are in a small New England town, East Willard, which harbors a dark secret: a sprawling stately home with bad mojo. It’s owned by the Butler family, whose scion, Jeffrey, has entrusted his lawyer to go over matters regarding his grandpa’s estate. Apparently, developers want to bulldoze it and young Californian Jeff wants to immediate turn the family homestead into equity for reasons unexplained.
His legal counsel and paramour have a Bizarro Fellini-esque meet-and-greet with the town’s bigwigs, all of whom from the mayor, his communications advisory, and the chief of police, seem to be consumed by something and are acting all kinds of weird.
Soon, a mysterious black gloved killer objects to the lawyer and his mistress, hacking the twosome to bits while they sleep in the sordid mansion. With his lawyer no longer answering the phone, Jeffrey drives into East Willard to check into what’s going on.
He then meets the mayor’s daughter, Diane (the wonderful Warhol starlet, Mary Woronov, of Eating Raoul and Hellhole fame) and they wander around a town which is becoming increasingly emptied of its few inhabitants.
With voiceover/exposition dumps a plenty, we learn about the home and its occupants with a very creepy and downbeat 70s-style backstory. Bonus: the viewer is also get introduced to the legendary Cecille B DeMille player, John Carradine, as a mute media magnate who communicates with an annoying tap-tappy bell a la Hector from Breaking Bad/Better Call Saul.
All of this makes for a very good time indeed, and the performances in Silent Night, Bloody Night, are fun, even if the flick has all the pacing of small town life.
*** (out of 5)
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