{"id":42129,"date":"2023-12-25T07:21:19","date_gmt":"2023-12-25T12:21:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/?p=42129"},"modified":"2023-12-25T13:01:24","modified_gmt":"2023-12-25T18:01:24","slug":"bad-movie-monday-silent-night-deadly-night-3-better-watch-out","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/2023\/12\/25\/bad-movie-monday-silent-night-deadly-night-3-better-watch-out\/","title":{"rendered":"BAD MOVIE MONDAY: SILENT NIGHT, DEADLY NIGHT 3: BETTER WATCH OUT!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Today on BAD MOVIE MONDAY, Santa Jeremy is going to review one of the most dreaded of all Christmas films. SILENT NIGHT, DEADLY NIGHT 3: BETTER WATCH OUT! So put on the socks your grandma gave you and hold on tight! This may be a rough ride. Ho-Ho-Ho!!!<\/span>
\n<\/p>\n

In the annals of cinema, the Silent Night, Deadly Night franchise has been rather unique in its own weird way. The first one was a somewhat straightforward and slightly above average slasher flick that took itself seriously, for the most part. It was a bit silly at times, true, but it wasn\u2019t a comedy. Then you had the second one, which was so over-the-top that it was almost a slasher movie <\/span>parody<\/i><\/span>. When it wasn\u2019t padding itself out with recycled footage from the first film, it actually had better jokes and funnier scenes than the totality of Smokey and The Bandit Part 3. Admittedly not a high bar, but still… Eric Freeman\u2019s performance as the film\u2019s Killer Santa Claus Ricky is absolute perfection. Trust me, I\u2019ve seen a lot of crazy acting in my time, but this is next level transcendent stuff. I\u2019m a huge admirer of Freeman\u2019s work in the film because if anyone is responsible for Part 2\u2019s massive cult success, it\u2019s him.<\/span><\/p>\n

Then we have the third film, this one, which is more low key in tone than Part 2. In fact, it\u2019s too low key if you ask me. Which is odd, because the story is kind of nuts. After being shot by the cops at the end of Part 2, Ricky is in a deep coma and has undergone a Sci-Fi brain regeneration procedure for some reason (He didn\u2019t get shot in the head so I don\u2019t know why he needs a new brain) and is now telepathically connected to a blind girl called Laura FOR SOME REASON. He wakes up on Christmas of course, escapes from the hospital he was being kept at, and chases after Laura and her family as both a Police Detective and Ricky\u2019s Doctor look for him before it\u2019s too late. It\u2019s one of those super simple premises that could be fun in the right hands.<\/span><\/p>\n

Except, it kind of isn\u2019t. Not often anyway.<\/span><\/p>\n

Don\u2019t get me wrong, on paper this movie is amazing. It\u2019s directed and co-written by 1970s arthouse director Monte Hellman of Two Lane Blacktop fame. It\u2019s scored by J. Steven Soles, one of Bob Dylan\u2019s guitarists from his 1975-76 Rolling Thunder Review tour. It also stars <\/span>three<\/i><\/span> actors from David Lynch TV shows and movies. Richard Beymer and Eric Da Re, who were both in Twin Peaks, and Laura Harring, who was in Mulholland Drive. Not just that, but it also has Bill Moseley (Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2, The Devil\u2019s Rejects) playing the killer Ricky, and Robert Culp (I Spy, The Greatest American Hero) as a Police Detective. This is a LOT of talent for a direct-to-video film.<\/span><\/p>\n

However, Silent Night Deadly Night 3 tosses away a lot of good will right out the gate by having Bill Moseley play Ricky as mostly mute and zombie-like throughout the entire movie. It\u2019s mind boggling that the filmmakers made this choice. Moseley is a wonderful madman, capable of cranking his persona to 11 and being awesome doing it, but they force him into this subdued boring performance. It\u2019s even more jarring when you think of just how over-the-top Eric Freeman was in Part 2. I would have loved to see Moseley go \u201cFull Metal Moseley\u201d in the part. It would have easily ranked up there with his Chop Top and Otis. Alas, what could have been…<\/span><\/p>\n

Still, there are many bright spots and I always find myself enjoying this movie. The cinematography can be really interesting, and it\u2019s probably the most professional looking of all five films. There are also a lot of good little character moments. Eric Da Re and Samantha Scully are really believable as brother and sister. Richard Beymer is really great as the slightly mad Doctor obsessed with keeping Ricky alive so he can figure out what drives psychopaths to kill by using Laura to dive into his mind and discover why he\u2019s insane. Also, as tragically sedate as Moseley is, at least Robert Culp is having the time of his life. He\u2019s easily the best thing in the movie, by far, and his interactions with Richard Beymer are marvellous. It really makes me wish he\u2019d have had the same sort of career as Leslie Nielsen. The man knows how to steal scenes and it\u2019s beautiful.<\/span><\/p>\n

TEN THOUGHTS I HAD WATCHING THE MOVIE:<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

#1 \u2013 Bill Moseley actually does some slightly fun acting in the movie, and he has more dialogue than I may be letting on, but it\u2019s still a very dry performance.<\/span><\/p>\n

#2 \u2013 You will say “Come back Robert Culp, we need you!” many many times. He’s the best thing in this.<\/span><\/p>\n

#3 \u2013 While this is probably the best shot and best directed of all the Silent Night films, it’s not the most fun to watch.<\/span><\/p>\n

#4 \u2013 For F\u2014k\u2019s Sake! They still managed to pad this turd out with footage from the first film. AGAIN!<\/span><\/p>\n

#5 \u2013 Thanks for the Gratuititties Laura Harring! Truly a great Christmas present.<\/span><\/p>\n

#6 \u2013 Would it have killed them to have Bill Moseley dress up as Santa Claus? He\u2019s not the Denim Jacket and Corduroy Shirt killer. He\u2019s the SANTA CLAUS killer.<\/span><\/p>\n

#7 \u2013 Speaking of Denim. The denim budget on this film must have been HUGE. It\u2019s like Jay Leno controlled the fashion industry back then.<\/span><\/p>\n

#8 \u2013 The power of Eric Da Re’s chest hair could solve male pattern baldness. I swear to God, I thought he was wearing a mohair shirt.<\/span><\/p>\n

#9 \u2013 Robert Culp is the MVP of this movie. I have tried to praise almost everyone involved in the film, but I think he deserves the most.<\/span><\/p>\n

#10 \u2013 Speaking of praise, Richard Beymer is a wonderful actor. I really wish he’d done more movies that played up to his strengths. He’s great at being weird and intense.<\/span><\/p>\n

WAS IT REALLY BAD?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cGood\u201d bad movies are usually the result of untalented filmmakers trying to make art or talented filmmakers succeeding at making trash. In both cases, what makes these films work is that people care about what they\u2019re doing. I\u2019ve said this before, but it bears repeating, sincerity always shines through. So with that in mind, Silent Night 3\u2019s director Monte Hellman doesn\u2019t seem to give enough of a shit to make this work on any level. It\u2019s not really art, it\u2019s not really trash, and except for a couple of actors no one seems to be giving two turdle doves about being in this movie. (Yes, I misspelled Turtle on purpose) Everyone seems to have shown up, did a thing, and went out for tacos. That\u2019s it. Zero effort for them. Zero reward for us.<\/span><\/p>\n

Still… I can\u2019t totally toss this movie under the bus. It had many good singular scenes, there was some good dialogue, some of the performances were cool, and there was some laughter and merriment to be had. I just feel that there\u2019s less good than there is bad, and so I can\u2019t quite recommend this. There\u2019s too many scenes were literally nothing happens because they didn\u2019t have the budget. So you\u2019re often just watching actors faff around to pad the running time. Know what though? I kind of love this movie anyway, despite everything I\u2019ve said, but I fear I might be alone. Maybe I\u2019ll inspire some of you to love it too. Who knows? There certainly have been stranger Christmas miracles than that.<\/span><\/p>\n

Well, that\u2019s all I got. Hope I was at least a bit amusing and educational. I may not be the greatest reviewer, but I like to think I bring a little human soul to everything I write. Anyway, I wish you all happy holidays, health, and joy. The world could use more of that. Be excellent and have a great rest of the year.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today on BAD MOVIE MONDAY, Santa Jeremy is going to review one of the most dreaded of all Christmas films. SILENT NIGHT, DEADLY NIGHT 3: BETTER WATCH OUT! So put on the socks your grandma gave you and hold on tight! This may be a rough ride. Ho-Ho-Ho!!!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3070],"tags":[135,200,3331,1649,3333,3332,3330],"class_list":["post-42129","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-badmoviemonday","tag-bill-moseley","tag-christmas","tag-deadly-night","tag-monte-hellman","tag-richard-beymer","tag-robert-culp","tag-silent-night"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42129","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42129"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42129\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":42140,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42129\/revisions\/42140"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42129"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42129"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42129"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}