Silent Night, Bloody Night: The Homecoming

Dir: James Plumb

2013

*

Theodore Gershuny's original 1972 Silent Night, Bloody Night became infamous and eventually reached cult status, largely thanks to the involvement of Lloyd Kaufman, John Carradine and the almost full set of Andy Warhol superstars. It's a fairly awful watch but it has become hugely influential and a hero to all independent horror films made ever since. James Plumb's sequel/remake is clearly made out of love and admiration for the original and isn't just cashing in on the now famous name but I'm afraid that is pretty much the only praise I can give him and his film. The title 'The Homecoming' sounded pretty American to me, I wondered how they would continue the story and had images of school dorms and graduation balls but no, The Homecoming is a puzzling and odd title that has very little to do with anything. The biggest surprise to me was that the film, a remake rather than sequel, was set in Wales. Nothing wrong with that, not until it becomes clear that this is one of the most amateur productions ever to have been submitted to DVD. I like independent horror films and quite often a low-budget can be overcome by originality and creativity but Silent Night, Bloody Night: The Homecoming suffers everything that makes a low-budget horror film bad. Most of what makes it so terrible is made worse by the fact that the first five minutes of the film features some truly brilliant old-school composition. For those first few minutes it really did feel like this was going to be a heartfelt and authentic tribute to independent horror but it was as if someone flicked the quality switch from on to off and the circuits broke, the wires came loose, burst into flames and the house burnt down with everyone inside. I have many gripes with amateur independent films but I think the most irritating is the self-congratulation usually seen towards the film's finale. I get it, I've worked on many low-budget films and admit I've made the same mistake but by sticking in personal jokes and over-doing the gag reel, you only end up ostracizing the audience even more than you did by making a low quality film. Horror film makers and heavy metal rock music often go hand in hand also and I'm sure many of the fans enjoy both but I'm not sure why they feel the need to make their lead characters - who certainly don't come across as rock fans - secret rockers. I also understand that many of the cast were probably friends of or indeed the film makers themselves but the problem is that they really look like horror film makers and thus ruin the illusion. There is often a fine line between a tribute and woeful imitation and I'm afraid cinema doesn't get any more woeful than this.