Silent Night, Deadly Night (1984) (40^th Anniversary Edition) [4K Ultra HD]

Director: Charles E. Sellier Jr.

Cast: Lilyan Chauvin, Gilmer McCormick, Robert Brian Wilson

Release Date: December 10, 2024

A Review By: Kevin Lovell

Disc Rating: 8.5/10

Synopsis:

Silent Night, Deadly Night is the heartwarming holiday story of little Billy Chapman, who was traumatized by his parents’ Christmas Eve murder, then brutalized by sadistic orphanage nuns. But when grown-up Billy dons a Santa suit and goes on a yuletide rampage to “punish the naughty,” no one can stop him … not even your angry city council!

The horror cult classic that was met with backlash and anger upon its initial release, ‘Silent Night Deadly Night’ tells the tale of Billy Chapman, a kind young boy who was changed forever after witnessing the brutal murder of his parents by a man in a Santa suit and subsequently sent to live with his younger brother in an orphanage where he was tormented by the head nun for years. Years later, Billy is granted a job working at a local department store, but when he is asked to don a Santa suit for the holidays and old terrors start returning to the surface, Billy sets off on a killing spree to punish all the naughty folks out there that he can get his hands on.

‘Silent Night Deadly Night’ was first unleashed upon unsuspecting audiences in December of 1984 and was promptly met with backlash and protests from countless folks that were appalled at the use of someone dressed as Santa and murdering people (regardless of the fact that this wasn’t the first thing to do so by any means either) and the film was heavily censored in order to appease the ratings board which resulted in over two minutes of footage being removed including the majority of gore and bloody detail for basically every kill scene in the film (this footage was fortunately later reinserted into the film for a new and more complete Unrated cut although with a noticeable quality shift due to the lost footage being standard definition inserts).

The film itself is quite a bit of fun and offers a fairly gory and brutal slasher film for the early to mid ‘80s that’s packed with plenty of memorable scenes, crazy kill sequences and some hilariously quotable lines in addition. It may not be a great film in the general sense, but that certainly doesn’t mean that it isn’t still an awful lot of twisted fun. It serves up a goofy, cheesy and graphic ride that at times almost becomes significantly more entertaining due its B-Movie qualities that repeatedly work in its favor as opposed to against it.

While the craziness doesn’t really get going at full speed until the second half, it’s most certainly worth the wait and only all the more rewarding for how aggressive and brutal it manages to be in its delivery (and significantly more so in the unrated version) once the real fun gets started. If you’re a genre fan who appreciates a fun, low budget, gory ‘80s slasher flick but have never had the pleasure of ‘Silent Night Deadly Night’ then I would strongly encourage you to try and rectify that this holiday season because this one’s certainly worth taking the time to check out.

The cult classic holiday slasher ‘Silent Night Deadly Night’ arrives home on 4K Ultra HD for the first time in celebration of the film’s 40^th Anniversary, and just in time for the Holidays courtesy of Scream Factory. The new release brings home the Theatrical cut of the cult classic in full Ultra High Definition with Dolby Vision HDR looking quite spectacular, particularly for a low budget film released four decades prior. The nice new video presentation is capably complemented by a decent 2.0 DTS-HD MA soundtrack and jam-packed with plenty of notable extras that fans should enjoy.

The one undeniable disappointment with this new 4K release of ‘Silent Night Deadly Night’ is the absence of the unrated version in 4K, although it is still included on Blu-ray with SD inserts for the additional couple of minutes, and with the majority still featuring the new 4K restoration which is certainly a nice bonus. While many fans may be excited to see this one make its 4K debut, it will really come down to each individual to decide whether it’s worth double dipping or purchasing for the Theatrical cut in 4K as this film was heavily censored and therefore I’m not too sure how many folks will want to revisit that cut time and again. If you happen to be satisfied with that version, or perhaps feel the new 4K restoration on Blu-ray with the SD inserts is worth it then this one won’t disappoint, but it’s difficult to fully recommend due to that fact alone.

VIDEO:

The Scream Factory 40^th Anniversary Edition 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray release of ‘Silent Night Deadly Night’ features a full 2160p Ultra High Definition presentation of the Theatrical Version with Dolby Vision and HDR-10, with the film’s original 1.85:1 Aspect Ratio, featuring a new 4K Scan From The Original Camera Negative. The video presentation looks surprisingly spectacular as a whole, especially for the age of the film and even more so it’s notably low budget. It delivers a quite clean, sharp and filmic presentation that never suffers from any unexpected issues along the way. Detail is wonderful on character specifics and outfits, along with exterior scenery and indoor settings, while retaining a nice grain structure. Much of the film is further complemented by the Dolby Vision HDR which provides richer, more lifelike coloring that stands out on the bright red of the Santa suit, along with backgrounds and landscapes, while black levels are quite impressive and problem free in addition. Overall, this is a very nice Ultra High Definition presentation that looks better than many fans probably ever expected to see the film.

AUDIO:

The 40^th Anniversary Edition 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray release features a 2.0 channel DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack. This lossless dual mono soundtrack is fairly capable in its own right and provides a mostly clean, sharp and audible audio presentation throughout that does occasionally suffer from some hissing and mildly muffled elements and dialogue during a few more aggressive audio moments. For the most part the soundtrack sounds quite good though and nearly all of the music, dialogue and effects share the space nicely with the key dialogue and audio elements remaining audible and clean for the most part throughout. Overall, this is a generally nice 2.0 DTS-HD MA soundtrack that sounds better than some previous editions although still has a few moments of brief and minor imperfection along the way.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

The Scream Factory 40^th Anniversary Edition 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray release of ‘Silent Night Deadly Night’ offers a nice helping of bonus content spread between the included discs. I’ve broken down the extras by disc below for easier navigation.

Disc 1 (4K UHD – Theatrical) includes a new ‘Audio Commentary with Author Amanda Reyes and the Hysteria Continues Podcast’.

Disc 2 (Blu-ray – Theatrical) also includes the ‘Audio Commentary with Author Amanda Reyes and the Hysteria Continues Podcast’, in addition to some new Interviews including ‘“The Night He Came Home… For Christmas: Creating Silent Night, Deadly Night” – An Interview With Producer Scott Schneid’ (running approximately 17 minutes in length), ‘“In Search of Charles Sellier Jr: Remembering the Director” – An Interview With Editor Michael Spence’ (running approximately 10 minutes), and ‘“Naughty or Nice: 40 Years Of Silent Night, Deadly Night” – An Interview with Producers Scott Schneid and Dennis Whitehead’ (approximately 12 minutes).

Disc 3 (Blu-ray – Unrated) features numerous previously released extras including 2 Audio Commentaries: ‘Audio Commentary with Actor Robert Brian Wilson and Co-Executive Producer Scott J. Schneid’ and ‘Audio Commentary with Writer Michael Hickey, Composer Perry Boykin, Producer Scott J. Schneid, and Unit Director Michael Spence’. Also included are various interviews, Featurettes and fun videos including ‘“Slay Bells Ring: The Story of Silent Night, Deadly Night”’ (running approximately 46 minutes in length), ‘“Oh Deer!” – An Interview with Actor Linnea Quigley’ (running approximately 22 minutes), ‘Christmas in July: Silent Night, Deadly Night Locations’ (10 minutes), along with an ‘Audio Interview with Director Charles E. Sellier, Jr. From Deadpit Radio (Extended Version)’ (58 minutes), plus ‘Santa’s Stocking of Outrage’ (featuring text reactions from the film’s release). Also included are a ‘Poster and Still Gallery’, ‘Trailers and Home Video promos’ (2 minutes altogether), ‘TV Spots’ (1 minute combined) and a ‘Radio Spot’ (30 seconds).

*Please note that the above images are taken from the Remastered Theatrical Blu-Ray disc included in the release and resized. They do not represent the quality of the 4K Ultra HD disc itself and will additionally suffer quality loss as a result of .jpg compression. Larger versions of each image can be viewed by clicking on the image. All images and content included on this release are the property of their respective owners.

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Disc Rating: 8.5/10

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‘Silent Night Deadly Night: 40^th Anniversary Edition’ is Now Available to Own in a 3-Disc 4K Ultra HD/Blu-ray Set from Scream Factory!

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You can Purchase ‘Silent Night, Deadly Night’ 4K UHD on Amazon HERE! You can also purchase Directly from Shout HERE!

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