SILENT NIGHT, DEADLY NIGHT PART 2 (1987)

 

(Director/screenwriter/editor: Lee Harry. Other story sources: Joseph H. Earle, Dennis Patterson and Lawrence Applebaum.)

Review

Christmas Eve. Four years after the events of SILENT NIGHT, DEADLY NIGHT (1984), eighteen-year-old Ricky Caldwell (Eric Freeman), a murderer like his brother Billy (from the first film), is interviewed by a brave psychiatrist, Dr. Henry Bloom (James Newman, THE X-FILES: “TWO FATHERS”, 1999 episode) in a psych ward cell.

Ricky, prompted by Bloom’s questions, recounts the seen-in-flashback events that led up to his current incarceration. For SILENT 2’s filmmakers, who were given little money to make this sequel, this meant having to use thirty minutes of stock footage from the first film—something that led to SILENT 2 being often and justifiably criticized (as far as the producers’ intentions were concerned).

Ricky, in the present, is sarcastic and dangerous, menacing in his manner toward those around him. Like Billy, Ricky is obsessed with punishment toward the wicked, his initial kill-snap inspired by what could almost be termed heroic. Ricky’s vigilantism and temper-snaps quickly turn darker, less heroic.

As Ricky’s tale progresses—SILENT 2 solidly, intuitively cuts between the present and flashbacks, some of them shot for the second film—Ricky’s menacing attitude ratchets up, unnerving Dr. Bloom. Is the increasingly aggressive Billy planning to escape and (possibly) kill again? And if so, will he succeed?

This underrated movie, which began as the producer’s excuse to recut the first film’s footage into a so-called sequel—credit director Lee Harry for insisting on shooting new material—is a fun, fast-forward-through-first-film-footage dark comedy with effective symbology and offscreen violence, mostly creative slayings, sly storytelling and genre commentary, solid to B-movie great acting (the latter attributable to Freeman) and great editing. Not only that, SILENT 2 has some meme-worthy, situationally hilarious dialogue (“Garbage day!”).

Supporting actors worth noting: J. Aubrey Island whose brief, flint-gazed presence is memorable and effective (especially when cross-cut with extreme close-ups of Billy’s mocking joy); Elizabeth Kaitan, billed as Elizabeth Cayton (FRIDAY THE 13^th PART VII: THE NEW BLOOD, 1988), as the over-the-top Jennifer—given her character’s exaggerated emotions and body language, Cayton might’ve made a great silent film actress; Jean Miller replaced Lilyan Chauvin (from the first film) as Mother Superior; Nadya Wynd replaced Gilmer McCormick as Sister Mary, called Sister Margaret in the first film.

If you can forgive SILENT 2’s overuse of previous-flick footage, this second film, best viewed as a dark, occasionally bloody comedy, might be your B- or C-movie jam. Viewed as anything else, you might want to avoid it and its three sequels, starting with SILENT NIGHT, DEADLY NIGHT 3: BETTER WATCH OUT! (1989).

 

Deep(er) filmic dive

The film that Billy, Jennifer and others watch in the theater is SILENT NIGHT, DEADLY NIGHT (1984).