It’s a rare occurrence, but it does happen: every now and then you’ll come across a sequel that’s actually better than its predecessor. Silent Night, Deadly Night Part is slightly better than the original film – if only because most of the film is so outrageously bad that it forces you to laugh and enjoy yourself. The other thing Part has going for it over the first film is that the entire opening hour of this sequel is actually footage lifted from the original. You get all of the good bits from Silent Night, Deadly Night without all of the boring in-between scenes. Bridging the gaps between flashbacks is a wraparound story of Ricky, now fully grown, being interviewed from his prison room.
Eric Freeman as Ricky just may be the worst actor to ever grace a horror film. In fact, Silent Night, Deadly Night Part has been called one of the worst horror films ever made based solely on Freeman’s ridiculously over-the-top performance. His delivery is terrible, his facial expressions are so exaggerated that you could close your eyes and still see the guy arching his eyebrows with every word he says. Nevertheless, while it is true that Freeman has a bit of trouble making Ricky believable, he certainly does keep things entertaining, which is the primary reason why Part succeeds where the original film failed. The first film dragged and crawled from good scene to good scene, while Freeman, with all of his insane pouting and awful, awful one-liners, keeps you amused throughout the duration of Part .
Apart from Freeman’s overstated performance, however, there really isn’t much to Silent Night, Deadly Night Part . It’s not as original as the first film (which wasn’t all that original to begin with), nor is it quite as gory. The final twenty minutes of the film feature a madcap slaughter as Ricky marches triumphantly down a suburban street, picking off everyone he sees, but very little blood actually crosses the screen. All of the brooding psychological stuff that could have made for a compelling look into the mind of a killer are completely lost by such a goofy performance by Freeman. Looking for story? Don’t look here; what portions of the story that aren’t taken directly from the first movie are so insignificant and unimportant that they might as well not even be there, and even the notion of a killer Santa seems to be brought in almost as an afterthought. Freeman’s worth a laugh, but if you’re searching for horror, search elsewhere, because Silent Night, Deadly Night Part will certainly fail to satisfy your desire. Nevertheless, if you absolutely HAVE to watch one of the Silent Night, Deadly Night movies, this is probably the one to check out.
OVERALL SUMMARY
While actor Eric Freeman’s performance manages to keep you laughing enough to stick with the film until its conclusion, Silent Night, Deadly Night Part is still lacking anything to put it in the category of good horror movies. It’s better than the first film (all the good scenes of which are recycled in the first hour here, anyway), but fails to deliver any surprises, shocks, or scares at all, and merely leaves the viewer wondering just where the last minutes went.
