I have been going through a phase recently where I have been watching a load of crap horror films. Just because I am currently reviewing Christmas films doesn't mean that this has to stop, as in the case of the film I am reviewing, 'Silent Night' (2012). I knew very little about this film before I started watching it, but it had a picture of Father Christmas with a flamethrower and Malcolm McDowell in it. I am fully sold. I still didn't expect it to be good mind and, in many areas, it wasn't. But boy did I have a great time with it. This film is a lot of stupid, silly fun! The film is your standard slasher fare. A masked killer goes on a murderous rampage in small midwestern town and its up to the police force to find and stop them. Its as simple as that.
This film doesn't take itself seriously and that is the perfect way to approach a film like this. If you try and take a film about a serial killer dressed as Santa seriously you're on a hiding to nothing. The film makers clearly understood this and decided the film should be over the top and fun. And boy is this over the top. From some of the performances to the gore it turns everything up to 11. The gore in this film is what I found the most entertaining. I am not a gore hound by any stretch of the imagination, but the level of gore in this film is something I can get on board with. It is creative but ridiculous is how they use the gore and it makes the film a lot of funny. It became a comedy at times with how silly the gore is. The perfect example of this when a girl gets her foot cut off. That in itself isn't funny, but the film decides to show a medium-close up of this severed foot while it flies through the air, and they put it in slow motion for good measure. Whether the filmmakers wanted or expected that moment to be comical I don't know, but it got a big laugh out of me. The film does suffer from an overuse of shaky cam, a common problem in these low budget horror films. The idea with shaky cam is to make a scene for more intense or real, but in the case of this film it just makes it harder to see the action as it occurs. Some people may argue that the film also lacks from a lack of scares. I would agree that this is the case, but I would also argue that this film isn't tying to be scary. Its a slasher film and it has the elements of slashers down pat.
Performance wise you don't have anyone rewriting the book on acting. Everyone plays their roles fine without ever making you think 'wow, what a performance!' Jamie King does a decent job as the heroin, Audrey Bradimore. The character is an unconfident and naive police deputy and King manages to portray this well. You always get the sense that the character is unsure of herself, even towards the end of the film when she is putting herself in uncomfortable positions (i.e. fighting psychopathic santa claus), and that is credit to the performance. The only other performance that is worthy of note is that of Malcolm McDowell as Sheriff Cooper. Again, the performance isn't of the highest quality, but he is bloody Malcolm McDowell. Dripping in charisma is that man. Whenever he is on screen he has an energy where you just can't take your eyes off him. It wouldn't matter if his performance was terrible it would still be very entertaining. In this case it is just fine, but a Malcolm McDowell kind of just fine. As for everyone else in the film there is little point discussing the quality of their performance as they all have very little screen time. Everyone does fine. There are no one who is distractingly bad, but no one is steal the show good either. They are all there to be killed off, that is their role. And they all do it well.
This is the shortest review I've written during these christmas reviews, and the reason for that is that the film is super simple. Its a silly slasher film. It is that simple. It doesn't need a big dissection as there is very little to dissect. The plot is extremely simple and the film doesn't take itself seriously. Effectively this review comes down to the fact I like slasher films so i enjoyed it. If you don't like slasher films you won't like it. If you're looking to get into slasher films don't start here. If you're looking for a film for the Christmas season which matches the feeling of the holiday, this film will definitely not give you that. Its fun, if you're into this kind of thing.