SILENT NIGHT, DEADLY NIGHT 4: THE INITIATION (1990)

 

(Director: Brian Yuzna. Screenwriters: Zeph E. Daniel, Richard N. Gladstein, and Arthur Gorson)

Review

After a woman’s building-leap, spontaneous combustion death, an aspiring reporter/classified ads editor Kim Levitt (played by Neith Hunter) investigates the story despite her dismissive male boss, Eli (Reggie Bannister, PHANTASM, 1979) and equally dismissive male colleagues at the LA Eye—one of these colleagues is her easy-going boyfriend, Hank (Tom Hinkley, WATCHERS II, 1990).

Kim’s investigation drives her to seek out a book on spontaneous combustion. She looks for it at a feminist bookstore (Bring Down the Moon) in the building from which the flaming woman leapt. While purchasing a book on the subject, she meets Fima (Maud Adams, THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN, 1974), owner of the establishment, who gives Kim a book, Initiation of the Virgin Goddess by J.B. Beattie, and invites Kim to a feminist-group picnic the following day.

Bizarre stuff happens to, and around, Kim. A filthy, oddly shy, and seemingly simple street guy (Ricky) follows her up to the roof and tries to hand her a hand-plus sized squirming larva. Cockroaches, in large numbers, appear in her apartment. She sees disturbing faces in everyday places (simulacrum). Her dreams and perceptions become life-threatening. All the while, she’s being stalked by Fima and her fellow female cultists who somehow are linked to Lilith, Adam’s rebellious ex-wife who is linked to “things that crawl.” It’s clear that Kim is changing somehow, and the cult has a lot to do with it.

While SILENT 4’s set-up isn’t hard to figure out, it’s a well-made (especially for a low budget direct-to-video film). The actors range from solid to excellent (especially Neith Hunter and Clint Howard, who plays the deranged but somehow tender Ricky), Richard Band’s mood-effective score is perfect, and Peter Teschner’s editing keeps SILENT 4 sharp and tight. Screaming Mad George (and FX company)’s disturbing and icky FX suit the visual-highlight moments of SILENT 4’s already unsettling milieu, all centered around Kim’s evolution, and maybe more—if she can break free of those counting on her sacrificing herself for them.

SILENT 4, a standalone film in the SILENT franchise, is worth watching if you don’t require a big budget to be entertained, and can appreciate an excellent, theme-ambitious cast and crew making the most of out of what little they have to work with, including often icky effects.

 Followed by the standalone SILENT NIGHT, DEADLY NIGHT 5: THE TOY MAKER (1991).

Deep(er) filmic dive

Brian Yuzna, one of the story sources for SILENT 4, has said that he was “not interested” in focusing on Christmas in SILENT 4, hence its few scenes highlighting the holiday season. Yuzna co-produced its sequel a year later and tried to make up for it by mandating that Christmas should be central to SILENT 5’s storyline.

 

According to IMDb, SILENT 4’s premise was going to be used for the third entry in the SILENT franchise but was rejected by the third entry’s filmmakers.

 

In one scene, scenes from SILENT NIGHT, DEADLY NIGHT 3: BETTER WATCH OUT! (1989) are broadcast on an onscreen television.

 

Neith Hunter (who played Kim Levitt in SILENT 4) played a character named Kim in SILENT NIGHT, DEADLY NIGHT 5: THE TOY MAKER, 1991). Clint Howard, who played Ricky in SILENT 4, played a character named Ricky in SILENT 5. Conan Yuzna, real-life son of Brian Yuzna, played Lonnie (Hank’s younger brother) in SILENT 4—he also played a character named Lonnie in SILENT 5.

According to Brian Yuzna, in a commentary track for a Blu-Ray version of SILENT 4, Yuzna said these recurring-name characters may or may not be the same characters, that he and fellow SILENT 4 and 5 filmmakers were “playing around” with names between the two films. . . He didn’t mention if Howard’s character (Ricky) is a call-back name to Ricky Chapman, younger brother of killer-Santa Billy in the original SILENT NIGHT, DEADLY NIGHT (1984) and the killer in the first two sequels that followed.

 

According to IMDb, the call letters on a television news reporter’s microphone is UZNA, a reference to the film’s director, Brian Yuzna.

 

The giant cockroach seen in Kim’s apartment is a reference to Franz Kafka’s The Metamorphosis. The long nose that Ricky wears during Kim’s ritual scene is a reference to Stanley Kubrick’s A CLOCKWORK ORANGE (1971).

 

According to Brian Yuzna, his son (Conan), who appears in the film as Lonnie, isn’t fond of mentioning/promoting his appearances in this film and SILENT 5. Yuzna mentioned this in his commentary track for a Blu-Ray version of SILENT 4.