There has been no shortage of Silent Night, Deadly Nights over the years. The original film, released in 1984, proudly wore its ax-toting Santa Claus on its sleeve, making a considerable dent at the box office before it was summarily protested out of theaters by livid parents. The cult success of that film spawned four more sequels, including Silent Night, Deadly Night Part 2’s now notorious “Garbage day!” moment, becoming an Internet meme before such things even existed. In 2012, a remake was attempted with Silent Night, though this wound up being largely ignored by audiences. And now, over four decades after the original, we have 2025’s Silent Night, Deadly Night. This latest effort is the brainchild of writer/director Mike P. Nelson, who most recently attempted something interesting in his segment of V/H/S/85. His installment of Silent Night, Deadly Night looks to examine the darkness of its central character, even adding a mythology to the killer Santa, while still delivering on the requisite genre thrills. In that regard, Nelson is largely successful, serving up one of the strongest Silent Night, Deadly Nights in the franchise.
The Santa in question here is Billy Chapman (Rohan Campbell, best known as Corey from Halloween Ends), who lives life as a drifter, hiding his crimes as he bounces from town to town. As a young boy, Billy had an upsetting encounter with his grandfather, who passed away in a horrifying manner right before his very eyes. Almost immediately after this encounter, his parents were murdered by Charlie (Mark Acheson), a psychotic motorist dressed as Saint Nick. When Billy’s mother manages to mortally wound Charlie before passing, Charlie passes his curse off to Billy, assuming the new role of a killer Santa, with Charlie’s spirit inhabiting Billy’s body, acting as a guide to slaughter deserving victims. 10 years later, Billy is a seasoned serial killer, even keeping a makeshift advent calendar that collects the blood of his victims. His transient lifestyle lands him in Hatchett, Minnesota, where he soon acquires a job as an employee at a Christmas store, befriending co-worker Pamela (Ruby Modine) in the process. Billy does his best to keep up a normal façade, but the spirit of Charlie comes calling, especially as the more unpleasant denizens of Hatchett make themselves known.
In the original Silent Night, Deadly Night, Billy was triggered by PTSD from the murder of his parents, sending him on a killing spree born from psychosis during the holiday season. The 2025 remake sets out to remake Billy as more of a Dexter Morgan figure, killing only the wicked who deserve to be killed. He even boasts his own variation of the blood slides with his advent calendar, and Charlie acts as his “Dark Messenger” of sorts, operating as a cosmic dowser to point Billy in the direction of new targets. Charlie also routinely aids Billy in everyday life, even to the point of helping him ace job interviews by imparting learned responses to employer questions. And so, when it comes to killing, Billy emerges as something of an anti-hero, putting down creeps who have it coming. Nelson takes care to spend plenty of time swirling in Billy’s uneasy headspace, but arguably his crusade as a killer Santa is rendered as something of a noble cause, especially when he infiltrates a “White Christmas” party hosted by Nazis, with Billy determined to execute every last one of them.
Nelson also makes space to explore Billy’s humanity. The town of Hatchett initially seems like an ideal place to settle down, and Billy finds a kindred spirit in Pamela, who has her own issue with controlling violent outbursts, all while being harassed by her ex-boyfriend, local cop Max (David Tomlinson). There’s also the menace of the The Snatcher, a local criminal who has been kidnapping the town’s girls and boys, plaguing Hatchett before Billy’s arrival. Campbell is a boon to this entry, who committing to an exploration of the character’s psychological unraveling, fighting the urges to slaughter innocents all while Charlie cheers him on in his head. Given that this is the seventh installment in this franchise, Nelson offers a surprisingly and agreeably fresh take on the material, delivering a satisfying picture in the tradition psycho-killer character studies, making more of an effort here to plumb the depths of Billy’s mind, and even adding a supernatural angle as a means to goose the material and give himself a bit more creative freedom. That’s not to say Silent Night, Deadly Night will be confused for high art any time soon, but its sincere exploration of a killer Santa Claus is made all the more welcome by how genuinely compelling the bloody proceedings ultimately are.
DIRECTOR: Mike P. Nelson; CAST: Rohan Campbell, Ruby Modine, Mark Acheson, David Lawrence Brown; DISTRIBUTOR: Cineverse; IN THEATERS: December 12; RUNTIME: 1 hr. 36 min.
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