A man
Dr. Newbury (Richard Beymar)
managed to save the life of the Santa
killer Ricky Caldwell (Bill Moseley)
after being shot half to death from the
last time he went on a killing spree as
he encased his exposed brain inside a
plexiglas cap but hasn't been able to
revive him from his deep coma.
He connects his brainwaves through a
clairvoyant gifted blind woman
Laura Anderson (Samantha Scully) as she
seems to enter his twisted and haunted
dreams from his brothers past and she
senses what he will do next every time
she dreams before going to her Granny's
house on Christmas.
Eventually Ricky awakens from his coma
and arrives to see Granny (Elizabeth
Hoffman) before Laura does and starts to
kill when he sees red to top it all off.
Dr. Newbury and a Lieutenant
Connely (Robert Culp) must arrive there
to try and save her and her family from
this maniac.
A real improvement
as if part 2 didn't happen at all but
looks too low budget compared to the
first one and taken in a completely
different direction.
There's a neat opening with a blind woman named Laura Anderson sleeping showing the credits along with good moments on Ricky Caldwell in her dream with him whispering to her and trying to kill her which seems impressive to watch and almost looks like a tribute to Freddy Krueger himself with all of this except for the dark comedy used in it. Plus a moment with her sitting on Santas lap and is not who she thinks it is. The writing for this was very imaginative on a blind woman actually seeing people in her dreams.
There's also some funny moments like a guy dressed in a Santa suit and behind a nurse's back asks a sleazy question which made me laugh a bit plus is in the room where Ricky is lying in a coma and mocks him. Right away you think that this is a bad idea and is just that. Plus we see him wobbling outside of the hospital which looked creepy and you don't see this everyday especially what he has on his head too.
There's also flashbacks from the first film but not the sequel but no one mentions Ricky's brother who was the original killer. You do wonder if the filmmakers were paying any attention to the first two since some of the discussions were a bit
fabricated like with the officer named
Lt. Connelly discussing the side of his head being blown off from the previous sequel as that never happened to him at the end
of part 2. He was shot but that's it. Oh
well, if you watch slasher sequels like Friday the 13th or Halloween they never get it right of what happened
beforehand. The writing was slightly off with all of this and it seemed like a totally different film alltogether.
There's also Laura's sibling Chris who escorts her to a car and his girlfriend Jerri tries to get friendly
with her but she acts stuck up as this seems disturbing wondering if Jerri herself will get defensive by telling her off.
I did enjoy a heartwarming moment with ole Granny meeting Ricky at the door thinking he was someone mentally challenged and giving him a meal then finding a present underneath the tree in which the wrapping is red and that changes everything leading to a killing which was caught off camera in which I preferred that since Granny was so warm and caring. The writers did remember that red really affected Ricky like in the previous sequel so a golden point for them there.
Plus it seemed necessary that Chris, Jerry and Laura enter Granny's house and she isn't there as well as things being too quiet along with certain things like the furniture isn't in the right place with Laura noticing that with her blindness and being used to where Granny had them in the first place bringing a bit of suspense into all of this.
But when Ricky tries to make his first attack it falls flat in which this was supposed to make you jump and it doesn't since it looks way too cheesy.
There are some black comedic moments when Connelly discovers a decapitated head in an office of a gas station sitting next to a phone as this person before he was killed was talking on the phone which was well done in a grissly art fashion.
There's also the traditional moment with Dr. Newbury trying to slowly apporach Ricky as well as taking his hand thinking maybe Ricky will give in which looks deadly and dangerous since we all know a killer can play tricks at first like this and then BAM! He snaps and will kill his own shrink after escaping.
There are good and touching moments between Laura and Jerri while being scared from trying to surive Ricky in which they have a better understanding with one another as this was well written in on being allies finally.
There's even the suggested ghostly moments with Granny speaking to Laura on using her special ability along with hallucination sequences showing Granny discussing this which fits in quite well along with great moments on her smashing a lightbulb so Ricky can't see her either on meeting a match between them proving that blind people can defend themselves in many ways.
Bottom line is that the story is alot of fun to watch but alot of the
times the story become quite stale and
bland too.
A part 4 was made but had no relation to
this one but hey Halloween 3
beared no relationship to the Michael
Myers series and were planning to keep it
that way with more sequels until the fans
requested for Myers to return but
unfortunately the Silent Night
series didn't have as big of a fanbase
although it did pull off the slasher
tradition of a certain season unlike most
of these movies.
The acting is alot
better than in the previous sequel as
they all seem to perform not too bad in
this one.
Lead actor Richard Beymar (Dr. Newbury) as a
serious doctor with trying an experiment
on his patient and Ricky was great as a
serious one in the film knowing his craft
throughout his role. He really showed a strong performance and made his role totally believeable with whatever he did in the film. He was coonvincing when he was brutally injured by choking out his words.
Samantha Scully (Laura Anderson) seemed to do the trick portraying someone who is blind with her actions not being able to see and trying to go from one place to another bringing her character to life. She also does well by having a stand offish attitude too. But there's times her energy is low with her screaming the odd times which needed improvement a little bit but other times she was fine.
Bill Moseley (Ricky Caldwell)
this time steps in to
play the Santa killer
instead of the original actor which seemed a bit
odd as he didn't look at
all brawny but more freaky and pulls off
the role well nonetheless. He has nice expressionless expressions acting totally mute which he really got into his role big time and proving that he can be versatile than just acting goofy and chatty like his Chop Top role in Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2. He does well with his brief whispering words sounding dark and deadly. He was great walking
on the side of a road like a zombie which
gives you a strange feeling of what
people would think seeing someone strange
like that outside. He looked convincingly
menacing and deadly when he grasps someone.
However, one of the co-stars in the film
played by Eric DaRe (Chris Anderson) as a
sympathetic brother needed a bit of work. He was one of those nice guy next door types as well as that he supposed to be charming and outgoing but with all of this he was just plain wooden with everything that he did in the film and only had his looks do the talking.
Elizabeth Hoffman (Granny) played the perfect
elder one in the film with her believeable
and kind attitude. She brings alot of good energy into her role and made it believeable that she was open minded and loving like. She had the nice looks not looking too old but just right for her appearance.
TV and film veteran Robert Culp
(Lt. Connelly) usually
played these types of parts in shows and
still pulls it off and added some wit too
to his role showing alot of uplifting energy and not lacking one bit with what he did in the film. He was acceptable but at the same time didn't
stand out as much as he should have.
There is a breast shot on
Laura Harring taking a bubblebath.
A womans wrist is cut open
during a nightmare sequence
A throat on a hospital receptionist is
cut open during a dream sequence
A decapitated head is left on a desk in a
gas station office and much later the
remains of the body
A persons guts is cut open
The music is
cheesily synthesized making it sound
typically low budget yet it can sound
really dark too. There's nice chilling sounds as well as ghostly types of synthesiser and many high pitched icy tinkling type music in alot of spots. There's also good deep dark music in a situation with Laura Anderson and Ricky Caldwell in a dark cellar sounding very effective for that scene. All of this was composed by J. Steven Soles.
Santa:
Merry Christmas
Nurse: Merry Christmas Santa
Santa (Staring at her walking
away) Lick my candy cane little girl??? |
