Silent Night, Bloody Night

Dir: Theodore Gershuny

1972

**

Theodore Gershuny's low-budget seasonal horror has become infamous since its eventual cinema release in 1972 - two years after its completion. It actually disappeared into obscurity for quite some time until Elvira and her Movie Macabre television show featured it one Christmas and decided to air it every year thereafter during the festive season. Reputation goes a long way and I can see why it became a must see movie. Firstly, it has a great title and Christmas horror films were few back then. Since its release, its co-producer Lloyd Kaufman has become a legendary horror film maker (Troma) and most of the cast were made up of members of Andy Warhol's Factory including the likes of Mary Woronov, Ondine, Candy Darling, Kristen Steen, Tally Brown, Lewis Love, Jack Smith and Susan Rothenberg. If that weren't enough to get the interest of weirdos and cinephiles, it also stared cult legend John Carradine in a supporting role. It's something of an early triumph for independent film and the indie horror genre but as much as I like a low budget horror - particularly an independent Christmas themed low-budget horror, Silent Night, Bloody Night is almost unwatchable. There are some interesting elements to it that I admire which held my interest but overall it’s not great viewing at all. To its biggest credit, it showed the way for many young film makers and the horror film industry, for better or for worse, was given an important boost. It is a clear precursor to the slasher, its 'Insane Asylum' story line is now hugely influential and it re-wrote the book when it came to the 'Haunted House' sub-genre. I can't help but admire it, even though I was bored to tears. It does have a notable eeriness to it that is impressive but overall it’s like watching a game-show where a contestant nearly gets the right answer but gets an important word wrong. The next contestant that buzzes in gets the answer right, thanks to the nearly right answer of the first contestant, who ends up losing the show and going home early. Close, with credit but generally quite bad.