Misfit Robot Daydream: Silent Night, Deadly Night Part 2 (1987)

The Deadly Tapping Toes of "Silent Night, Deadly Night Part 2"

The original Silent Night, Deadly Night (click the link for my review) followed a young boy named Billy, whose parents were murdered before his eyes, by a man in a Santa Claus suit. He and his baby brother Ricky were than sent to an orphanage run by an abusive nun. Billy grew up emotionally traumatized by Christmas and Santa Claus. At the age of 18, he leaves the orphanage and gets a job at a toy store, and seems to be finally coming to grips with his life. But when Christmas time rolls around, Billy has to dress up as the toy store's Santa Claus, which causes him to snap and go on a killing spree. He is obsessed with Santa punishing the wicked, and says, "naughty" to his victims while killing them. The film ends at the orphanage. Billy, dressed up as Santa, has shown up to murder the nun who abused him as a child. Instead, he is shot dead by the police in front of the other orphans. The camera pans up from Billy's dead body to that of his younger brother Ricky, who is still living at the orphanage. Ricky glares at the nun, and exclaims, "naughty," as the credits roll.

Santa Claus With an Axe Versus an Elderly Nun in a Wheelchair

Clearly, the set-up was there for a sequel starring Billy's brother Ricky. Indeed, the next film begins on Christmas Eve six years later, with Ricky, now 18, in a psychiatric prison, after committing a series of murders. Ricky is being interviewed by a psychiatrist, and as Billy recounts his story, we are treated to a series of flashbacks showing how he ended up a prisoner. Unfortunately, for the first 40 minutes of the film, those flashbacks are all clips from the first movie! Eventually, though, we get to Ricky's story, about what happened to him after the first film. The first film went over the top with a series of bizarre traumas that Billy had to endure, to explain why he eventually snapped. For Ricky, this film for the most part dispenses with that. He basically just starts off killing people who piss him off, and then graduates to a random shooting spree.

December 24th? The psychiatrist picked the wrong day to interview THIS guy.

The production quality for the original scenes shot for this film are a big step below the first film. They clearly didn't have much of a budget to work with. The acting by the lead actor, Eric Freeman as the 18 year old Ricky, is especially bad. His performance is completely over-the-top, and he delivers all of his lines in a ridiculously gruff voice, like a professional wrestler. But it's one of those performances that is so bad, that it actually ends up being really entertaining.

Ricky's Angry Face

For fans of horror movie violence there are a couple of entertaining death scenes. There is one where Ricky stabs someone with a closed umbrella, and then the umbrella opens up while sticking out of the guy's back. There is another where Ricky electrocutes a guy with a car battery until his eyeball explodes, complete with some cartoonish electricity special effects.

Assault and Car Battery

The film is the most fun towards the end, where Ricky just starts killing people on the street right and left, while laughing and spouting inane dialogue, and then the final scene, where Ricky finally dons a Santa suit of his own, and then sets out to finish what his brother started in the first film. The film ends with Ricky being shot down by the police, just like his brother. But the film ends with a shot of "dead" Ricky suddenly opening his eyes and grinning, indicating he will survive for a sequel.

Bring Me the Head of the Mother Superior

Over all, this film was a big step down from it's predecessor, but still managed to be entertaining in it's own right when it stopped showing clips from the original film, and started having Ricky kill people right and left like a maniac. If you're a fan of low-budget 1980s horror flicks, this might be one to check out, although you'll probably want to fast forward it for the first 40 minutes if you've seen the first film.

Garbage Day! (clip from Silent Night, Deadly Night 2)

More screencaps after the jump...