Movie Info
Movie Name: Silent Night, Deadly Night Part 2
Studio: Silent Night Releasing Corporation
Genre(s): Horror/B-Movie/Seasonal
Release Date(s): April 10, 1987
MPAA Rating: R
Garbage Day!!!
Ricky Caldwell (Eric Freeman) has been institutionalized since the death of his brother Billy (Robert Brian Wilson) and having committed a number of murders himself. Dr. Henry Bloom (James L. Newman) is trying to analyze Ricky and Ricky’s recounting of his brother’s murders and his own deadly rampage are revealed…when Ricky makes his own escape plans, Mother Superior (Jean Miller) finds that her past is coming back to haunt her.
Directed by Lee Harry (who also helped write the film), Silent Night, Deadly Night Part 2 is a season low-budget horror comedy. Following the controversial Silent Night, Deadly Night in 1984, the movie was panned upon its release but gained a following (partially due to the “Garbage Day” meme which featured Ricky).
Blood drops keep falling on my head…that doesn’t mean my life will soon be turning red
My friend and I loved Silent Night, Deadly Night when it was new, but we never sought out the sequels. I didn’t watch Silent Night, Deadly Night Part 2 for years…but because of how the movie was made, that didn’t matter.
The set-up for Silent Night, Deadly Night Part 2 is completely a waste of time. The hour and half movie features Ricky telling Dr. Bloom about his brother’s actions for forty minutes before getting into his own crimes and then going after Mother Superior. It is the ultimate of lazy filmmaking and was simply to try to squeak out a full-length film. The “new” material isn’t any better than Silent Night, Deadly Night…but it does have that garbage day scene, a jumper cables electrocution, severed heads, and an umbrella through a loan shark.
Mother Superior…let me show you the new axe I got for Christmas!
What makes the movie so comedic is Eric Freeman as Ricky Caldwell. It feels like he had no direction of the film and the director just told him to laugh to fill the uncomfortable silences. His glares and stares are laughable and it is fortunate that he is humorous because he gets no support from anyone else in the cast.
The movie also looks cheap. The film moved to the sunny palm tree world of California for many of the new shots and it just doesn’t feel like Christmas. Ricky finally kills a Santa Claus to get some gear, but it is too little, too late.
Silent Night, Deadly Night Part 2 has to be seen to be believed. I have shown clips of it to people and they even question if it is a real movie. If you want someone to see the “best” parts of Silent Night, Deadly Night and the funny sequences of this sequel, you can probably just skip the first one and pop this one on…it is so-bad-it-is-good. Silent Night, Deadly Night Part 2 was followed by Silent Night, Deadly Night 3: Better Watch Out! in 1989.
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