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.

MRS. CLAUS (2018)

 

(aka STIRRING. Director/screenwriter: Troy Escamilla)

 

Review

A Delta Sigma Sigma pledge sister, Angela Werner (Mel Heflin), is cruelly hazed by a sorority president, Amber (Kaylee Williams), and her clique. Shortly after that, the humiliated pledge kills the cruel sorority President and hangs herself.

A decade later, Amber’s sweet-natured sister (Danielle, played by Hailey Strader) is joining the same sorority, when the sorority sisters receive threatening Xmas-themed poems about “sluts.” People get systemically killed (garroted, stabbed, a large candy cane shoved down a guy’s throat, etc.) by someone dressed up like Mrs. Claus, complete with a mask.

It all comes down to a battle between Danielle (with some help) and the vicious Mrs. Claus. There’s a character-based twist (not entirely shocking but worthwhile). Its almost-solid finish is ruined by spot-it-from-a-mile-away sequel-friendly ending.

The good: Scream Queen Brinke Stevens (THE SLUMBER PARTY MASSACRE, 1982) is fun as Officer Julie Cornell, as is Helene Uddy (MY BLOODY VALENTINE, 1981; and THE DEAD ZONE, 1983) as Mrs. Werner. Kaylee Williams is also convincing as cruel Delta Sigma Sigma president Amber. The kill scenes are varied, effective (considering its micro-budget), gory and creative—credit their convincing bloodiness to makeup/special effects artist Heather Benson, who’s gone on to work on A-list films like KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON (2023). Mark D’Errico’s soundtrack is effective in many of its key scenes (e.g., a slow piano song with eerie female vocals).

Ultimately, CLAUS is a typical low budget slasher film with too much lag time between plot points, some seriously bad acting, and a too-strict adherence to horror clichés─despite its drawbacks, it’s not the worst Xmas body count film I’ve seen, though I’ll likely not watch it again.

 

Deep(er) filmic dive

Kaylee Williams also appeared with Brinke Stevens in BENEATH THE OLD DARK HOUSE (2022; director/screenwriter: Matt Cloude).

ATTACHMENT (2022)

 

(Shudder Original/streaming film. Director/screenwriter: Gabril Bier Gislason)

 

Review

Danish actress, Maja (Josephine Park), meets Jewish academic (Leah, played by Ellie Kendrick) in a bookstore, and they quickly fall in love. When Leah, who has strange seizures, returns to her mother’s home, Maja goes with her. Chana, Leah’s mother, is a strict practitioner of Jewish black magick. Furthermore, the serious older woman doesn’t seem to like Maja, driving her to figure out the changes in Leah’s personality, her relationship with her rigid mother, and the Kabbalah-related objects hidden around Chana’s house.

If you view director Gislason’s feature debut for what it comes off as—a barely R-rated made-for-television, initially fun and romantic drama with occasional PG-13 horror moments—it might be a good viewing choice for you. If you’re one of those sensitive souls who sincerely use the phrase “elevated horror” and doesn’t get the joke (all horror work has inherent subtext, it’s not meant to be worn as a fan-badge of arrogance and/or ignorance), ATTACHMENT could easily be your vaguely, occasionally horrific check-it-out flick as well.

If you’re an Old School/traditional horror fan looking for a well-edited film that effectively, continually builds up to a satisfying, suspenseful horror-flick ending, you might want to skip it. ATTACHMENT‘s first twenty or thirty minutes are promising, relatively fast-paced, a steady-build work. Then it hits a drawn-out, glacial-paced thirty or so minutes, where Maja, initially smart, becomes so love-dumb and gormless that she strains believability. By the time all is spoon-fed, er, revealed to her, it’s a moot point—experienced horror viewers will likely have sussed out the film’s lacking-in-suspense storyline and upcoming shots early on and, like me, just wanted the movie over with already.

On paper, I see where ATTACHMENT might’ve worked as an hourlong television/streaming horror show episode. It builds like an unedited novella (one can almost see which scenes would be dramatic chapter endings), but as a feature. . . Gabril Bier Gislason, his cast and crew are clearly able to put out part of a good movie. It’s a shame that its snail-crawl middle-to-end section relies on its lead (Maja) being excessively dumb, even for someone newly in love, and scenes recycling (without building on) previously established plot points.

 

Standout actors include:

Sofie Gråbøl (THE HOUSE THAT JACK BUILT, 2018) as Chana, Leah’s intense, black magick-practicing mother;

David Dencik (DEPARTMENT Q: THE ABSENT ONE, 2014) as Lev, a bookstore owner and Ellie’s uncle.

 

If you don’t like gore, suspense, violence, good editing, or anything darker than weak milk chocolate in your movies, ATTACHMENT could easily be your cinematic kick for an hour and forty-five minutes. If you’re not, feel free to skip it.

SWEET SIXTEEN (1983)

(Director: Dmitri Sotirakis, billed as Jim Sotos. Screenwriter: Erwin Goldman.)

Review

In a small Texas town, the recently arrived fifteen-year-old Melissa Morgan (Aleisa Shirley, her cinematic debut) is flirty, lonely, and lusted after by many of her male peers and a few of the older men. This isn’t much of a problem until that the last guy she went out with (Johnny Franklin) is found stabbed to death the next morning. The most likely suspect is a local Native American bad ass, Jason Longshadow (Don Shanks, HALLOWEEN 5: THE REVENGE OF MICHAEL MYERS, 1989), who’d almost gotten into a bar fight with aggressively racist Johnny, his older brother Billy, and one of Johnny’s friends the same night Johnny was murdered.

Easy-going Sheriff Dan Burke (Bo Hopkins, FROM DUSK TILL DAWN 2: TEXAS BLOOD MONEY, 1999) begins investigating the crime even as the violent Billy Franklin, riling up local ire, looks for Jason Longshadow. More murders happen, all of them centered around Melissa, culminating in a bloody, deadly showdown that’ll likely be talked about in that town for decades.

More a well-written drama with an almost Seventies feel than a slasher film, SWEET is a solid, if sometimes oddball work. Slash-and-stab scenes occasionally punctuate the steady-build drama, with full-frontal female nudity (Aleisha Shirley), mostly solid acting, effective foreshadowing, a shoehorned and character-unlikely shock ending, and scenes that recall better movies (FRIDAY THE 13^th, 1980, and HALLOWEEN, 1978, e.g., the shot where Tommy Doyle, holding a pumpkin and being bullied, is watched by Michael Myers). And if you’re a fan of cheesy Eighties ballads, Joel Wertman and Mark Wertman’s “Melissa’s Theme” (which plays during certain Melissa-focused shots. . . foreshadowing?) might be your briefly heard favorite new tune.

 

Other actors (beside Bo Hopkins and Don Shanks) who stand out:

Dana Kimmell (FRIDAY THE 13^th PART 3, 1982) as Marci Burke, Sheriff Dan Burke’s murder mystery-reading teenage daughter;

Steve Antin (THE LAST AMERICAN VIRGIN, 1982) as Hank Burke, Sheriff Dan Burke’s teenage son;

Patrick Macnee (THE HOWLING, 1981) as Dr. John Morgan, Melissa’s protective, archeologist father;

Susan Strasberg (BLOODY BIRTHDAY, 1981) as Joanne Morgan (née Platt), Melissa’s protective mother;

Don Stroud (THE AMITYVILLE HORROR, 1979) as Billy Franklin;

Logan Clark (NIGHT OF THE COBRA WOMAN, 1972) as Jimmy;

and

Michael Pataki (GRADUATION DAY, 1981) as George Martin, a shady politician.

You might enjoy SWEET if you’re looking for a solid (sort of) murder mystery with occasional, slasherific kill scenes. Anyone wanting an edgy thriller should seek something else.

 

Deep(er) filmic dive

According to IMDb: Leslie Nielsen (PROM NIGHT, 1980) was originally set to play Dr. John Morgan, Melissa’s father, but bowed out because of scheduling conflicts.

SUBSPECIES (1991)

 

(Director: Ted Nicolaou. Screenwriters: Jackson Barr and David Pabian, based on Charles Band’s idea.)

 

Review

In fictional Prejnar, Romania, Radu Vladislas, monstrous offspring of a twisted sorceress and a briefly ensorcelled King Vladislas, returns home and kills his elderly father for the Bloodstone, a mystical gem that contains the blood of saints—a powerful, addictive elixir.

Radu’s vampiric half-brother (Stefan, played by Michael Watson), arrives and finds his father dead. He, good, kind, and half-human, seeks to avenge his father’s death, and poses as a college student studying local “nocturnal creatures”.

Stefan is not the only new arrival in Prejnar. Three medieval-history-studying college students—Romanian native Mara (Irina Movila), free-spirited Lillian, and bookish and especially resourceful Michelle—show up and stay at a local fort near Castle Vladislas, where Radu lurks.  

When Lillian takes to her bed with “anemia” after secretly being visited by Radu, the blood-fueled sibling conflict between sensitive Stefan and his ruthless, more virile brother (as well as his devilish, pint-sized minions) ratchets into full-blown war, with all around them—including local groundskeeper Karl (Ivan J. Rado, PUPPET MASTER II, 1990)—caught up in their designs.

SUBSPECIES has an authentic Romanian feel, strong writing (a lot of its dialogue comprised of interesting Romanian bloodsucker mythology and real-life history), tight editing (credit Bert Glatstein and William Young), and great cinematography (Vlad Paunescu, whose work adds to the realistic feel of SUBSPECIES) and striking, spooky scenes. The rest of the behind-the-scenes crew nailed it as well. When combined with the strong acting of its cast, particularly Anders Hove’s shadowy, hiss-whispery Radu, all of this makes SUBSPECIES a fun, well-made take on bloodsucker tropes, one worth checking out. 

SUBSPECIES‘s other noteworthy actors include:

Angus Scrimm (PHANTASM, 1979) as the visibly ailing, spirited King Vladislas;

Michelle McBride (THE MASK OF RED DEATH, 1989) as just-do-it Lillian;

Laura Mae Tate (DEAD SPACE, 1991) as the studious Michelle, whose mutual attraction to Stefan might save them.

Followed by four sequels and a spin-off movie, its first sequel BLOODSTONE: SUBSPECIES II (1993).

 

Deep(er) filmic dive

SUBSPECIES is the first American movie to be shot in post-Communist Bucharest, Romania (called Prejnar in the film).

According to IMDb’s Trivia page, Radu’s character was inspired by Radu the Handsome, real-life sibling of Vlad the Impaler.

In Justin Beahm’s article “From TerrorVision to Subspecies: Ted Nicolaou Interviewed (Part One)” (Scream magazine, issue 56, September/October 2019), Nicolaou said that Michael Watson (who played Stefan Vladislas) recommended his GENERAL HOSPITAL co-star Anders Hove to play Radu, and Full Moon head/producer Charles Dance almost immediately cast Hove after meeting him.

Nicolaou also mentioned how Laura Tate (SUBSPECIES’s Michelle) “left the shoot two weeks” before it was completed, after she slept-walked into Nicolaou’s hotel room where she woke and freaked out. Tate’s remaining scenes were shot with a double.

Also noted in Beahm’s article: Nicolaou was a boom operator/sound guy on Tobe Hooper’s THE TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE (1974). Nicolaou owned the van that Sally and her friends traveled in.

NIGHT SCHOOL (1981)

 

(a.k.a. TERROR EYES; director: Ken Hughes. Screenwriter: Ruth Avergon.)

Review

Boston, Massachusetts. A teacher’s aide (Anne Baron, played by Meb Boden) at the Jack ‘n’ Jill Daycare Center, is beheaded by a black-clad, black-helmeted motorcyclist wielding a recurved blade (a kukri, sometimes called a Gurkha blade). The investigators on the scene note that the killing is similar to another recent murder. Given the nature of the crimes, lead investigative cops, Lt. Judd Austin (Leonard Mann) and Taj (Joseph R. Sicari), are drawn to Wendell College where womanizing anthropology professor Vincent Millett (Drew Snyder, FIRESTARTER, 1984) teaches a course on tribal rituals, which introduces them to Millett’s research assistant, Eleanor Adjai (Rachel Ward, THE FINAL TERROR, 1983)—this visit deepens Austin’s suspicions about Millett. It seems that the murderer either works at or attends Wendell. The pool of suspects widens when a creepy busboy (Gary, played by Bill McCann) at a local diner is introduced as well.

More women in the area are decapitated, as Austina and Taj further investigate clues and suspects, and eventually figure out who did it.

This solid, occasionally suspenseful police procedural/slasher film shows a bit of blood and severed heads but rarely shows actual violence (lots of shots leading up to attacks, freeze frames and cutaways), and the killer is relatively easy to spot if you’re familiar with the genre. What makes NIGHT SCHOOL a gem of a slasher flick is its playful touches of macabre humor, good acting, well-sketched characters, lack of gratuitous violence, effective soundtrack (courtesy of Brad Fiedel), twisty/bizarre-ish ending, and its competent crew. It probably won’t win many awards (it won a few small ones when it came out) but it might provide tightly edited hour and a half entertainment for you, if you keep your expectations modest.

 

Deep(er) filmic dive

NIGHT SCHOOL is Rachel Ward’s feature debut, and director Ken Hughes’s final movie, in a forty-eight-film career that includes THE IPCRESS FILE (1965, he was an uncredited writer).

Though a perforated hockey mask is shown in Gary’s room, it’s probably not a reference to Jason Voorhees from the FRIDAY THE 13^th films. Jason’s iconic mask (its first version) wasn’t introduced to the summer-set franchise until FRIDAY THE 13^th PART 3 (1982).

 

NIGHT has two minor players from JAWS (1975) in its cast: Belle McDonald, who played Marjorie Armand in NIGHT, was an uncredited Mrs. Posner in the JAWS; Edward Chalmers Jr., a “Construction Worker” in NIGHT, was also uncredited in JAWS— he played Mr. Denherder in that blockbuster film.

SILENT NIGHT, DEADLY NIGHT 3: BETTER WATCH OUT! (1989)

 

(a.k.a. SILENT NIGHT, DEADLY NIGHT III: BETTER WATCH OUT!. Director/co-screenwriter/uncredited co-editor: Monte Hellman. Co-screenwriters: Rex Weiner, Arthur Gorson, and uncredited Melissa Hellman.)

 

Review

Christmas Eve. Ricky Caldwell, killer from SILENT NIGHT, DEADLY NIGHT PART 2 (1987), has been in a coma for six years, after being shot by the cops at the end of the previous film. A clear dome has been attached to the top of his head, exposing his brain to open view—not logical, considering all his bullet wounds were in his torso, but never mind about that—and an oddball doctor, Dr. Newberry (Richard Beymer), has been using a blind clairvoyant woman, Laura Anderson (Samantha Scully, BLOODSUCKERS, 1987) to try and rouse Caldwell from his six-year slumber.

Laura, often angry and sarcastic, has traded dream memories with Ricky (played by Bill Moseley, THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE 2, 1986—in SILENT 2, Ricky was played by Eric Freeman). These mingled memories and emotions stir them more than the doctor or Laura suspect, though the young woman, disturbed by what she’s experienced with Ricky, is ready to quit the experiments. Later that day, Ricky wakes and kills Danny, a drunken, mean-spirited hospital Santa (SILENT 3 director/co-screenwriter/co-editor Monte Hellman), and a b*tchy hospital receptionist (Isabel Cooley) before escaping the institution.

Laura arrives at her grandmother’s house with her brother, Chris (Eric DaRe, CRITTERS 4, 1992), and his new girlfriend, Jerri (Laura Harring, billed as Laura Herring), the latter of whom Laura openly dislikes. Their “Granny” (Elizabeth Hoffman, FEAR NO EVIL, 1981) is strangely absent from her house and they look for her. They’re unaware that Ricky, triggered by taunts and the color red, has slashed and decapitated his way to their current location.

Ricky’s bloody trek has not gone unnoticed by others. He’s being pursued by an intrepid cop, Lt. Connely (Robert Culp, SANTA’S SLAY, 2005) and Dr. Newberry, who are not far behind them. Will they find Granny safe and whole, and can they survive Ricky’s second-time-‘round murder spree?

Though director Hellman and Ed Rothkowitz show strong editing chops and the behind-the-scenes crew knew what they were doing, the often brightly (often whitely) lit movie lacks suspense (sometimes bordering on tedious) and the dream sequences aren’t particularly disturbing. The gore quotient is low but effective. This isn’t the worst horror movie I’ve seen, far from it, but it’s probably one that only die-hard Monte Hellman and/or SILENT franchise fans might appreciate. Followed by SILENT NIGHT, DEADLY NIGHT 4: INITIATION (1990).

 

Other actors worth noting

Melissa Hellman (daughter of director Monte Hellman and uncredited SILENT 3 co-screenwriter) played “Dr. Newberry’s Assistant”.

Leonard Mann (NIGHT SCHOOL, 1981) played “Laura’s Psychiatrist”.

Carlos Palomino (IT’S ALIVE III: ISLAND OF THE ALIVE, 1987) played “Truck Driver”.

Jim Ladd (TO DIE FOR, 1988) played “Newscaster”.

Richard N. Gladstein (SILENT NIGHT, DEADLY NIGHT 4: INITIATION, 1990) played “Detective”.

Dave Mount Jr., billed as Dave Mount (PUMPKINHEAD II; BLOOD WINGS, production assistant, 1993), played “Policeman”.

 

Deep(er) filmic dive

Eric DaRe, who played Samantha’s brother in SILENT 3, also appeared in David Lynch and Mark Frost’s TWIN PEAKS (1989-91), along with Richard Beymer, who played Dr. Newberry in SILENT 3.

Further David Lynch connection: Laura Harring, who played Jerri, Chris’s girlfriend, in SILENT 3, also appeared in Lynch’s MULHOLLAND DRIVE (2001) and INLAND EMPIRE (2005).

 

Richard N. Gladstein, who played a “Detective” in SILENT 3, was also an executive producer for the film. He also produced/acted in SILENT NIGHT, DEADLY NIGHT 4: INITIATION (1990) and SILENT NIGHT, DEADLY NIGHT 5: THE TOYMAKER (1991).

 

Hellman was not a fan of the original SILENT 3 script, so he requested original co-screenwriter Arthur Gorson work on a new screenplay with another writer, Max Weiner. (The other original screenwriter, Steven Gaydos, went uncredited for his work.). Later Hellman, and his daughter (Melissa) tweaked the rewrite—SILENT 3’s original script became the screenplay for SILENT NIGHT, DEADLY NIGHT 4: INITIATION, 1990.

 

The movie the gas station attendant (and later Laura and Chris) watch on TV is THE TERROR (1963, directed by Roger Corman, Francis Ford Coppola, Jack Hale, and uncredited Monte Hellman).

JACK FROST 2: REVENGE OF THE MUTANT KILLER SNOWMAN (2000)

 

(Director/screenwriter: Michael Cooney)

Review

A year after the niveous carnage of JACK FROST (1997), anti-freeze dissolved serial killer snowman (Frost) is accidentally resurrected in an FBI genetics lab by a clumsy employee (Brett A. Boydstun). The icy menace (again voiced by Scott MacDonald) tracks his source-film nemesis Sheriff Sam Tiler (Christopher Allport, TO LIVE AND DIE IN L.A., 1985), with whom Frost shares a psychic link, and his friends to a tropical island.

Sam, traumatized by his experiences with Frost, and his wife (Anne, again played by Eileen Seeley, CREATURE, 1985) are (also) island-bound to attend the wedding of Sam’s deputy (Joe Foster) and his secretary (Maria).

The quip-spouting Frost, via his “genetically altered water molecules”, wastes no time in dropping bodies—initially two boat-trapped castaways, then young, drunk, and otherwise oblivious vacationers. The kills are creative and appropriate (e.g., a LOONEY TUNES-esque icy anvil crushes a model; a man’s tongue, in a shout-out to A CHRISTMAS STORY, 1983, has his tongue ripped off; sentient-spawn snowballs tear apart numerous victims). Before long, Sam and the others figure out the environs-dominant Frost is out to get them, and this time, it’s going to take more than anti-freeze to end him.

 

Other notable cast members include:

Ian Ambercrombie (WARLOCK, 1989) as Sam’s terrible “Psychiatrist”;

Chip Heller (MUNCHIES, 1987), returning from the first FROST, as Deputy Joe Foster;

Marsha Clark (MY DEMON LOVER, 1987), also from the first movie, as Maria, Joe’s future wife;

Stefan Marchand (HELLBORN, 2003) as Charlie, one of starving, life raft-bound castaways who fights with fellow boat-mate Dave (Doug Jones, JOHN DIES AT THE END, 2012);

Ray Cooney (real-life father of director Michael Cooney) as the idiosyncratic Col. Hickering, former British officer and murder-hiding resort manager;

David Allen Brooks (THE KINDRED, 1987) as returning-from-the-first-film character Agent Manners (played by Stephen Mendel in JACK FROST);

Tai Bennett (JOHN DIES AT THE END, 2012) as Bobby, as Col. Hickering’s assistant;

and

Sean Patrick Murphy (THE HANGRY DEAD: THE BIGGEST INSTAGRAM MOVIE EVER, 2020) as energetic entertainment director, Captain Fun.

Michael Cooney, despite a behind-the-scenes dramatic slashing of his sequel budget, has crafted a tightly written and edited, silly, and over-the-top work that deftly balances horror and humor. If you can get past its financial limitations, hammy acting and bad dialogue as well as ridiculous/cheesy CGI gore and plot elements (Frost can travel via the actual ocean and control local weather), you might enjoy this decent, Asahi beer-sponsored follow-up to the solidly made first film. 

Be sure to watch the credits all the way to the end. A follow-up to JACK FROST 2 was planned, but Christopher Allport, who played Sam Tiler in the first two films, passed away before it could be filmed, scuttling Michael Cooney’s intentions.

 

Deep(er) filmic dive

In Andrea Subissati’s article “Massacre Under the Mistletoe” (Rue Morgue magazine, issue 203, November/December 2021, pp. 12-18), she interviewed JACK FROST director Michael Cooney. In it, Cooney said that Asahi beer, JACK FROST 2’s only sponsor (to the tune of $5,000] might’ve thought they were funding a sequel to the Michael Keaton film, also released in 1997. 

JACK FROST (1997)

 

(Director/screenwriter: Michael Cooney)

Review

Snowmonton, California. After a truck carrying vicious serial killer Jack Frost (Scott Macdonald) to his execution collides with a genetics company truck, Frost’s body is bathed in the experimental fluid, fusing his melted body with the snow. The police, thinking Frost dead, declare him as such.

But Frost is still alive. He is a murderous snowman seeking revenge on the small-town cop (Sheriff Sam Tiler, played by Christopher Allport) who arrested him, with a few more killings along the way. Tiler is still jittery about Frost, who to the end of his life, vociferously vowed vengeance on Tiler.

The bodies pile up quickly in this low budget horror comedy─an old man is found frozen to death, with serious spinal damage; a bully picking on Ryan, Tiler’s son, while Ryan builds a snowman (actually Frost, unbeknownst to Ryan). Horrible, quip-punctuated deaths follow. 

As a direct-to-video comedy horror flick, JACK─not to be confused with the 1998 Michael Keaton film─is a golden turkey (“so bad it’s good”): it’s fun, mostly light-toned, and fast-paced, with good cinematography and FX, and intentionally cheesy/well-shot kill scenes (and quips to accompany said killings). One of the murder scenes involving a bathtub stands out for its darkness: a young woman (Jill Metzner) is raped by Frost before she’s covered in frost (while this is shot in a ridiculous, darkly humorous way, it’s obviously still disturbing and unnecessary)─shown in JACK's original trailer, the filmmakers had not intended for Jill to be assaulted that way, just killed, but since her murder scene so closely resembled further violation, they shot additional footage of Frost saying sex puns.

Shannon Elizabeth, billed as Shannon Elizabeth Fadal, played Jill. This was her first role; she appeared in AMERICAN PIE two years later and other bigger budget movies.

There are no wasted shots in JACK and all the players are solid in their roles, making this hour-and-a-half-long B-movie breezy entertainment with an imaginative, laugh-out-loud finish to its villain. Its ending explicitly leaves JACK open for a sequel, keeping with the (mostly) fun spirit of the film. Followed by JACK FROST 2: REVENGE OF THE MUTANT KILLER SNOWMAN (2000).

 

Deep(er) filmic dive

In Andrea Subissati’s article “Massacre Under the Mistletoe” (Rue Morgue magazine, issue 203, November/December 2021, pp. 12-18), she interviewed JACK FROST director Michael Cooney. In it, Cooney said:

—JACK FROST was made in 1994 but not released until 1997, and originally was budgeted as a bigger film with a bigger director.

—JACK FROST  was not intended as a horror film, though it was “influenced by horror films. . . [it was influenced] by Sam Raimi’s THE EVIL DEAD (1981)”.

—Cooney wished he’d shot JACK FROST “on film.” The producers wanted it “shot on digital because that’s how they wanted to promote it. Nobody had lit this camera before, and we struggled. The early digital [cameras] had no depth of field; we were trying to figure out how to make pools of light; the little centre on this brand-new camera picked up every piece of light. . . I think it would have had more warmth if it were shot on film.”

SILENT NIGHT, DEADLY NIGHT (1984)

 

(Director: Charles E. Sellier Jr. Screenwriter: Michael Hickey, his script based on Paul Caimi’s story.)

 

Review

Christmas Eve, 1971. After five-year-old Billy Chapman, baby Ricky and their parents visit their supposedly catatonic Grandpa (who says menacing things about Santa Claus to Billy) in a “Utah Mental Facility”, a roadside criminal in a Santa Claus suit (Charles Dierkop, MESSIAH OF EVIL, 1973) kills Billy’s parents while the hiding, fearful boy watches.

December 1974. Eight-year-old Billy and four-year-old Ricky are now residents at Saint Mary’s Home for Orphaned Children, run by strict disciplinarian Mother Superior (Lilyan Chauvin, PUMPKINHEAD II: BLOOD WINGS, 1993). Billy’s classroom drawings─childish renderings of his parents’ murders─indicate that Billy, quiet, is still traumatized by them, not that the strap-wielding Mother Superior cares (“Punishment is necessary. Punishment is good,” the no-nonsense nun tells Billy). Billy’s situation worsens when he, shocked, espies one of the sisters in flagrante delicto, and he─further freaked out─hits a visiting man in a Santa Claus suit.

Spring 1984. One of Saint Mary’s more sympathetic nuns (Sister Margaret, played by Gilmer McCormick) gets him a job as a stock boy at nearby Ira’s Toys. Things are going good─Billy seems nice, well-adjusted─until December rolls around, and memories of his parents’ killings return in full force.

Mr. Sims (Britt Leach, BUTCHER, BAKER, NIGHTMARE MAKER, 1981), owner of Ira Toys, has Billy don a Santa suit for the store’s Christmas Eve shift. Billy is depressed but complies without complaint. He witnesses the near-rape of one of the female employees (Pamela, who he’s crushing on) and snaps, flashing back to his mother’s near-rape. He kills her assailant (Andy), then her─Billy’s town-wide murder spree has just begun, one that will eventually bring Billy home.

Shot in Heber City, Utah, this tightly edited (thank you, Michael Spence!) and controversial killer-rampage flick has a dark, focused intensity with its religious-critical, punishment theme (reiterated by “Killer Santa,” Grandpa, Mother Superior), its foreboding, humor-leavened mood reinforced by cinematographer Henning Schillerup’s effective mix of Christmas-light cheer and shadowy darkness as well as composer Perry Botkin Jr.’s unsettling, bordering-on-Eighties-cheesy score. Charles E. Sellier’s direction is solid, effective in its execution. Rick Josephson and G. Lynn Maughan’s relatively restrained FX simultaneously add a sense of fun to SILENT (with its syrupy-looking blood) while contributing to the movie’s overall mood and the effectiveness of the creative and varied kill scenes.

Its cast ranges from solid to excellent. Robert Brian Wilson is B-movie good as the trying-to-be-good-before-he-snaps Billy, while Alex Burton, in his only role (Ricky at 14), matches that B-flick goodness (a mix of cheese and sincerity) when he utters the word “Naughty.”

Other players include: Nancy Borgenicht (HALLOWEEN 4: THE RETURN OF MICHAEL MYERS, 1988) as the feisty Mrs. Randall, one of Billy’s co-workers; Scream Queen Linnea Quigley (THE RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD, 1985) as Denise, a lusty babysitter; and Leo Geter (HALLOWEEN: THE CURSE OF MICHAEL MYERS, 1995) as Tommy, Denise’s boyfriend.

Selliers’s workmanlike direction, along with SILENT’s creative kills, bordering-on-bleak humor and other elements, makes this a standout holiday-horror B-movie, one that spawned four sequels, starting with SILENT NIGHT, DEADLY NIGHT PART 2 (1987).

 

Deep(er) filmic dive

Released stateside on November 9, 1984—the same day as Wes Craven’s A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET—it made twice as much money as NIGHTMARE (SILENT was in more theaters, before being pulled two weeks later, after a group, “Citizens Against Movie Madness”, were outraged when SILENT was advertised during primetime television, terrifying children, and angering their parents). SILENT‘s ads were pulled six days later. Curiously enough, producers had expected SILENT’s controversy to stem from its potent anti-Catholic vibe, not the killer Santa theme, which had been done already.

Director Charles Sellier retired from directing because of the film’s reception—it was too hard to find work. He focused on producing instead.