- Rohan Campbell, Ruby Modine, David Tomlinson
- December 12th 2025
- 96
- Mike P. Nelson
Rohan Campbell’s Billy Chapman goes on a killing spree dressed in a Santa costume every Christmas.
The Silent Night, Deadly Night horror franchise, which first began way back in 1984, hasn’t had a new instalment for 13 years.
Director Mike P. Nelson, who previously brought us a remake of Wrong Turn in 2021, has now turned his attention to remaking this festive horror franchise.
Taking inspiration from the 1984 original, this film follows Billy Chapman (Rohan Campbell), who puts on a Father Christmas costume and goes on a killing spree every December for reasons unknown for the majority of the film.
Encouraged by the voice in his head, Billy murders at least one person a day and puts a smudge of their blood in his unusual – and chilling – Advent calendar.
His activities fit better with a nomadic loner lifestyle, but Billy decides to stay in a small town he was passing through after becoming attracted to a woman named Pamela (Ruby Modine). In order to get closer to her, he gets a seasonal job in her family’s shop.
The original Silent Night, Deadly Night was a straightforward slasher in which Billy killed a lot of people while dressed as Santa Claus. In this remake, Nelson honours that concept while also trying to offer up something new.
He does this by introducing the voice in Billy’s head – think Dexter or Venom – as well as the freaky Advent calendar and a whole new spin on Billy’s past.
While you have to respect Nelson for not simply rehashing the original, you can’t help but wonder if a simple killer Santa movie would have been a lot more fun than what we’ve ended up with.
The first half hour is way too slow and dull for a horror movie, taking far too long to set up Billy’s story, tell us his history and give us a reason to invest in this character. The pacing is off, and he’s deliberately kept mysterious until the very end.
Thankfully, the festive horror shenanigans pick up when Billy crashes a party with an unexpected theme (you’ll never guess!) and goes on a brutal killing spree that is easily the standout sequence of the whole feature. It’s exciting, surprising and funny and exactly what the film needed to get going.
Horror fans may be disappointed by how tame the violence is. Besides that outstanding sequence and one particularly gruesome death, the rest of the kills are underwhelming and uninspired (an axe has limited options), and Nelson often cuts away before you see much gore.
Silent Night, Deadly Night gets better as it goes along and has some entertaining moments, but it is ultimately not scary or fun enough to make a lasting impression.
In cinemas from Friday 12th December
By Hannah Wales
© Cover Media