Silent Night, Deadly Night (2025)

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https://www.studiocanal.com.au/titles/index/2191

Date Reviewed: 10/12/2025

If you grew up watching horror movies in Australia in the 80s and 90s, the “Banned in Queensland” sticker on a VHS cover would prompt hopes of a gorefest being contained on the tape inside. While these movies normally failed to deliver on this implied promise, the hope was enough that you took the bait time and time again. But when it came to the original Silent Night, Deadly Night, the flood of controversy was at fever pitch.

After the film was pulled from US cinemas after less than 2 weeks (despite doing good business), an eventual VHS release in Australia was eagerly anticipated by horror aficionados. Despite poor reviews and protests from parents (who were basing their objection purely on the movie’s poster, which depicted a man in a Santa suit holding an axe); there was a buzz about it. Did it deliver? For the most part, no. And the sequels that followed were even worse. So, while I was interested to see this new remake, expectations were low.

This remake follows the early set-up of the original. Young Billy (Rohan Campbell) and his family take a trip to his grandfather’s nursing home at Christmas time. In a moment where Billy is alone with his, at-times, catatonic grandfather; Pops sparks-up and gives Billy the straight-dope on Santa - he rewards good kids at Christmas but punishes those that haven’t been good for the entire year. Shaken by this, things only get worse for Billy on the way home, when he witnesses an attack on his parents from…a man dressed as Santa.

While there are elements that are consistent between the original and the remake - Billy has a tough upbringing as a foster kid, Billy suffers from PTSD from the attack, and Billy eventually dons the Santa suit and puts his own spin on the name “Bad Santa”; the attack on the parents is pretty much where the similarities to the original end. This actually has more similarities to Matthew McConaughey’s 2001 thriller Frailty.

An interesting thing in the original is how a sympathetic protagonist is clearly earmarked to become the main antagonist. The remake has this grey morality early on, but by the movie’s half-way point, the different direction they are steering things in, becomes quite transparent, well before a final act reveal of it; that is not surprising, but still effective.

The use of retro-looking freeze frames and title cards gives the film homage vibes, while simultaneously giving the impression of something hipper than the 80s slasher it was derived from. The visuals work, often giving the impression of more blood and guts than what is actually shown on screen. And while they didn’t make the most of the Christmas-themed music available, a lower-budget movie like this can’t always find the required funding for Jingle Bell Rock-level tunes, that the likes of Die Hard have used in the past.

There are no award-winning performances here, and I doubt that anyone in the cast goes on to win any major acting awards, but everyone is effective, with no-one distracting from the movie by putting in a joltingly bad performance.

Director Mike P Nelson follows-up on his strong segment in V/H/S/85, with a surprisingly good slasher here. For someone with low expectations going in, I left happy with what I saw. While it’s not big on scares, it is big on entertainment. And for a remake, it definitely provides viewers with a lot of new material. 

With remakes, fans of the original usually blast it for being too similar to the original (“why does it exist?”), or too different (“I can’t believe they changed xxxx….”); so I’m not sure if this can possibly win over those fans. But as it’s been 40 years since the original, hopefully people going to see it will have an open-mind and come out inspired not to be branded “naughty” by the next Santa they come across.



Reviewed by Dion Gaunt