Silent Night, Deadly Night Part 2 (1987)

It's simply incredible at how stupid this movie is. Roughly a third of the entire film is noting but stock footage from the original. Yes, that's literally what the film is and it's only interrupted by an occasional voice over and a scene showing the present. We see all of the murders that the main character committed. This is the first slasher film I've ever seen where a guy uses an actual gun to commit crimes. It's pretty easy to say that the "Garbage Day!" scene is the goofiest and most over the top part. It is however, followed by a scene where he shoots a car which spins out of control and blows up.I had in fact heard of this movie before the actual meme became popular. I think most people probably did. Most of the film is the guy telling a psychiatrist about all the people he's killed. This guy was caught by police because he failed to kill himself. He then kills the therapist and goes on to kill the nun who was responsible for his upbringing. Wait, if he was going to kill her, why did he attempt suicide before? All throughout the film, this guy has this goofy expression on his face.I think we actually managed to track down the real life actor and had some interview with it. Needless to say, he wasn't in anything else, really. I'm glad to have seen one of the worst Christmas movies of all time. It was supposed to be about a serial killer dressed as Santa. He doesn't even dress up as Santa until the last 15 minutes of the movie! As an installment in the "Silent Night, Deadly Night" series, it fails to even be a faithful sequel. It's so unbelievably awful with how this film is. 1/2*

GARBAGE DAY! This much-maligned sequel to the 1984 cult horror film focuses on the original serial killer's younger brother who recounts his own version of events (from Part 1) to a psychiatrist before describing a recent killing spree. From such a premise, one might expect Part 2 to delve even further into psychological waters than the original, but on the contrary, the filmmakers merely use his confessions as a framing device while significantly upping the black comedy angle of Part 1 (watch for an umbrella death!). It is a formula that does not always work. Constantly moving his eyebrows around, Eric Freeman gives a deliriously over-the-top performance that is enjoyable for the most part, hissing "naughty!" and declaring "Garbage Day!" before offing various victims. It is, however, such an overboard performance that we never have any chance to care about him as an individual or the trauma that is driving him (conversely, empathy is one of the first film's strongest points). The film also fails to capitalise on the novelty of Santa Claus as a serial killer for the most part with Freeman only briefly donning the red suit near the end. The biggest drawback of the movie though is the over-reliance on archive footage with over 35 minutes (!) of the original film played out in flashback. That said, there is one very cool part in which the characters sit down to watch the first movie (in a cinema) and comment on how trashy it is. This is a heavily flawed film for sure, but it is also far more enjoyable than its low IMDb rating might make one suspect.

Searching round on Amazon UK for a DVD of Silent Night,Deadly Night,I was shocked to find that the set containing the sequel,was cheaper than the edition which only contained the original!,which led to me once again,getting ready to find out how silent the night could be.The plot:Visiting a mental hospital, Dr. Henry Bloom goes to talk to Ricky Caldwell,who along with his now-dead brother Billy has spent his whole life in orphanages and mental hospitals,since they both witnessed their parents being killed by a man dressed up as Santa.Getting told by Bloom that today is Christmas Eve,Caldwell begins thinking about cutting the meeting short,so that he can escape the ward,and go on a deadly Christmas spree.View on the film:Filmed in 10 days & with the producer/studio furious over their plans not being followed,the screenplay by co-writer/(along with Joseph H. Earle/Dennis Patterson & Lawrence Appelbaum) director Lee Harry do well to pull the movie out of the corner,by using the old footage to set the outline up for the follow-up,where the writers deliver (unintentionally?) hilarious one liners with some surprisingly memorable killings.Locked up in the mental ward, Eric Freeman gives an extremely funny performance as Freeman,thanks to Freeman trying to make Caldwell look creepy,which ends up making Caldwell look like he really needs the bath room.Final view on the film:A film which instead of giving the viewer a silent night,will instead give the audience a night of laughter.

The first 40 minutes of this 88-minute-long movie is a recap of the prequel. I'm not even joking, with the end credits being 4 minutes long, almost half of the movie is a recap. So, unless you want to watch a shorter version of the first movie again, you can do yourself a favor and just skip the first 40 minutes. You won't miss anything, believe me.Now, what we basically have left is a 44-minute film with ridiculous plot and one of the worst acting in the history of cinema I've ever seen, done by the main actor, Eric Freeman. Coincidentally, he never got any major roles after this movie ever again.If you are really curious, and really want to watch this movie, I do not advise watching it alone. Not because it's scary or anything (it's not), but because watching it with friends might end up entertaining after all as you laugh together how bad this movie is.