Silent Night, Deadly Night Part 2 is a 1987 American slasher film edited, co-written with Joseph H. Earle, and directed by Lee Harry. It is the sequel to 1984's Silent Night, Deadly Night, and was followed by Silent Night, Deadly Night 3: Better Watch Out! in 1989. Its plot focuses on Ricky Caldwell, the brother of Billy Chapman, and his own trauma regarding his parents' Christmas Eve murders, which triggers his own killing spree. The film relies heavily on flashbacks, utilizing approximately 30 minutes of stock footage from the original film.
Plot
On Christmas Eve four years after the events of the first film, Ricky Caldwell (né Chapman), the now-adult brother of serial killerBilly Chapman, is being held in a psychiatric hospital for a series of murders he himself committed. While being interviewed by the psychiatrist Dr. Henry Bloom, Ricky tells the story of the murders his elder brother committed throughout a series of several flashbacks.
After this, Ricky tells his own story: after Billy's death, he was adopted by the Rosenbergs, a Jewish family and given a good upbringing, but his trauma was never addressed. After his adoptive father's death, Ricky loses his composure and commits a series of random murders, targeting people who are "naughty". A chance for a normal life seems to appear when he starts dating Jennifer Statson, but an unpleasant encounter with Jennifer's ex-boyfriend Chip sends Ricky over the edge. He kills Chip by electrocuting him with jumper cables attached to a car, while Jennifer watches in horror, and then strangles Jennifer to death with the car antenna after she screams that she hates him. A security officer witnesses this and as Ricky is about to be arrested, he grabs the officer's revolver and shoots him in the forehead, before going on a shooting spree. He kills at least three more people throughout the neighborhood, including one man taking out his garbage. Eventually, Ricky finds himself in a stand-off with the police, and tries and fails to commit suicide before being arrested.
Upon finishing his recollection to Dr. Bloom, Ricky strangles Dr. Bloom to death using audio tape and escapes from the mental hospital. He murders a Salvation Army Santa and steals his costume. Ricky plans to kill Mother Superior, the nun who abused Billy as a child, and whom Billy failed to murder four years earlier. After chasing Mother Superior throughout her house, Ricky succeeds in decapitating her with an axe. Ricky cleans up the blood and stages the scene, with Mother Superior sitting in a chair, her severed head balanced on her body. As soon as this is discovered by the police officers that arrive on the scene, a screaming Ricky leaps out and prepares to attack, but is shot down out the patio door. Sister Mary wakes up, and the police officer tells her, "He's gone, Sister. It's over." Then she turns over and sees Mother Superior's severed head, before screaming in terror.
Ricky suddenly opens his eyes and smiles devilishly, indicating that he survived his gunshot wounds. The final shot shows the arm of the murderer dressed in a Santa suit (footage from the first film) plunging a knife into the screen, before it freezes and the credits roll.
On the film’s DVD commentary, the filmmakers say that they were paid a dismal amount of money to make the film. Originally, they say, they were told to re-edit the first film and pass it off as either a sequel or a re-release. Director Lee Harry said that he demanded that a new film be shot, though he did not have the budget to create an entirely new story.[citation needed]
Harry says that they tried to find Eric Freeman to participate for the commentary track, but they were unable to locate him at the time. He later appeared in the commentary on the 2018 Scream Factory Blu-ray release [citation needed]
Release
Box office
The film received a release theatrically in the United States in April 1987. It grossed $154,323 at the box office.[3]
In the United Kingdom, it was submitted to the British Board of Film Classification, which had refused to issue a certificate to it, effectively rendering it banned; it would be passed uncut with an 18 certificate on September 22, 2020.[4]
Critical response
The film was heavily criticised due to the excessive use of footage from the original film. However, the film has gained a cult following as a black comedy, due to Freeman's performance.[5] In addition, the scene in which Ricky shoots a man who is taking out his trash after shouting the phrase "Garbage day!" became a viral internet meme.[6]
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 22% rating, out of 9 reviews, and an average score of 4.2/10.[7]
Home media
The film was released on VHS and laserdisc in the United States by International Video Entertainment in September 1987.
[8] The film was later reprinted on VHS in 1992 by Avid Home Entertainment.
The film was released on DVD on October 7, 2003 from Anchor Bay Entertainment, in a double-feature disc alongside the original Silent Night, Deadly Night, but was discontinued due to copyright problems, and went out of print.[9] On December 4, 2012, Anchor Bay reissued it alongside the first film as a two-disc "Christmas Survival Double Feature", containing the same archival bonus features as the 2003 release.[10]
In the United Kingdom, the film was declined a certificate by the BBFC after the distributors refused to make the cuts required for an '18' certificate. The ban was lifted in 2020 when the film was released uncut with an 18 certificate.[11]
On December 11, 2018, Shout! Factory under its Scream Factory label released the film in a two-disc set collector's edition on Blu-ray. It features a new 2K transfer of an archival theatrical print, with flashback footage of the first movie being taken from the same 4K master released by Shout! Factory in 2017. It contains new special features produced by Justin Beahm's Reverend Entertainment such as interviews with director Lee Harry, actors Eric Freeman, James Newman, Elizabeth Kaitan, Darrel Guilbeau, Kenny McCabe, and makeup effect artist Christopher Biggs. It also contains special features from the 2004 and 2012 DVD releases as well. Scream Factory also released the film in a limited edition collector set that is limited to 2,000 orders. It contains the Blu-ray set along with an 18x24 poster of the Blu-ray's artwork cover and an 8" action figure of Ricky Caldwell.[12]
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