Fantastic Fest 2025 Review: SILENT NIGHT, DEADLY NIGHT is a Wonderfully Fresh Remake

Warning: There are minor “spoilers” in this review because there’s no way to talk about the remake’s new direction without acknowledging the fresh storytelling angle. 

Filmmaker Mike P. Nelson is no stranger to taking big swings with horror remakes. His "Foundation" cultiness approach to Wrong Turn (2021) might not be for me, but it's still a respectable veer away from the original. It's that big-idea brain that revamps Charles E. Sellier Jr.'s Silent Night, Deadly Night into an entirely new tinsel-strewn beast. There's a killer who dresses like Santa, and a prevailing theme of "Naughty" slashings, but Nelson's second remake is speaking an entirely different language than Sellier's and Miller's Christmastime carnage.

Rohan Campbell (Halloween Ends, The Monkey) steps into Billy Chapman's tightly laced boots, an orphan who must kill twenty-five individuals each December to appease the voice in his head. As a child, he watched a costumed Santa Claus shotgun-blast his parents to death, and upon touching the criminal’s hand, became the host to a presence that guides his serial killings. Billy's latest relocation leads him to the small town of Hackett, where he gets a job stocking Ida's Trinket Tree. It's here where he develops a crush on the owner's daughter, Pamela (Ruby Modine), and ponders a pleasant life without murder. But "Charlie," the voice in his noggin, reminds him of the work that must be done—an unfortunate circumstance for Hackett's locals.

While that sounds standard for a Silent Night, Deadly Night update, there's more to Nelson's in-universe rules. Billy's a stone-cold killer, but this time, his conscience tries to steer him towards guilty individuals who deserve to die. Not only that, but Charlie assures Billy that if he does not claim a life himself, someone random will die, whether they're naughty or nice. Campbell's hardly a mindless killing machine who loses it at the sight of red suits like some raging bull of a psychopath, instead playing Billy with a low-grade split personality. He's sheepish and slippery, but also switches into "Punishment" mode with a menacing effect. It's a massive flip of the script that judges the weight of playing God (in a Santa suit), whether Billy's shown as a hero or villain.

Nelson dives headfirst into the holiday spirit and nods to the entire Silent Night, Deadly Night franchise when possible. Diehard fans will giggle as "Garbage Day" squeezes into a random conversation, while deaths are torn straight from Michael Hickey's screenplay. It's a very antique and kitchy Christmas vibe, with porcelain figures and angelic ornaments like out of some Hallmark rom-com that accidentally ended up in a horror director's hands. But it's hardly Silent Night, where bodies are decorated with blinking outdoor lights and other holly-jolly twists. Nelson sticks to tradition by using axes and hammers as weapons, because canonically, from Billy's mouth, "guns are for pussies."

However, there's a scattershot vibe about the film's narrative that feels predictably rote. Well, most of the time, because—and I say this with glee—Silent Night, Deadly Night says "Nazi punks, fuck off" with two massive middle fingers. But the rest, as Billy pursues romantic joy with Pamela and wrestles with Charlie's instructions, can be seen a mile away. There's an underlying subplot about a Hackett kiddie snatcher happening in tandem with Billy's spree, as well as Pamela's own fury-driven bouts with EPD (Explosive Personality Disorder). It's as if Nelson is trying to fish for red herrings that don't exist at times, overcomplicating the simplicity of massacring under the mistletoe.

Nelson's also executing executions on a low budget, so don't expect to see every graphic detail as Billy offs his victims. You'll get your recreation of the sledding decapitation, the antlers, and some head-splitting axe wounds, but other times, Billy's just bashing his blade into actors as they double over so we can't see the non-existent wound, or the camera pans away at the last moment. That's not to say action sequences or special effects are lacking—gory highlights are reserved for those who deserve their brutal demises—but the description "rough around the edges" sure fits.

Fortunately, Silent Night, Deadly Night boasts enough originality to save itself from turning into a lump of coal. I still prefer Silent Night, but Mike P. Nelson's remake (once again) takes some pretty grand risks that I have to respect. Don't expect Terrifier-level effects despite each production’s shared producers, but do come with a love of Christmas Horror and an appetite for a refurbished Billy Chapman. I mean, can you really be mad at a horror flick that hates Nazis, hates guns, and preaches good tidings? Not to mention a few brain-busting kills that'll have audiences recoiling in their seats and/or rolling with laughter.

Movie Score: 3/5