Review | Silent Night (Blu-ray)

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Plot: What’s it about?Video: How does it look?Audio: How does it sound?Supplements: What are the extras?

Plot: What’s it about?

The holidays can be a tough time, especially when a maniacal serial killer is preying upon your small town. Such is the case with Cryer, Wisconsin, whose residents have been turning up dead at the hands of a sadistic madman. Even so, the town’s historic holiday parade is close and the show must go on. The first line of defense is Deputy Sheriff Aubrey Brandimore (Jamie King), a recent widow who has a lot to cope with in her personal life. But she is determined to protect and serve, even with a cranky old Sheriff (Malcolm McDowell) hounding at all turns. The murders are soon revealed as the work of a sick bastard dressed as Santa Claus, with the motive being that the victims were judged as naughty. This is certain to put a damper on local holiday cheer, as the blood flows and the killer remains on the loose. The murderer is able to hide in plain sight, given that countless folks don the Santa suit, so the case is a tough one. But if anyone can crack this case and save the holidays, it is Deputy Sheriff Brandimore, but can she tame her own demons and serve justice at the same time?

The horror remakes continue, as we now have a loose retake on Silent Night, Deadly Night. Silent Night revisits the always fun “Santa as a sadistic killer” premise and layers on massive doses of bloodshed. This is of course good news for some, as Silent Night packs in a lot of gore and never shies away from brutal killing scenes. The gore is certain to draw in horror’s gore hounds, especially since the carnage is rather well done. This includes a porn actress being fed into a wood chipper, which is one of my personal favorite moments in Silent Night. While the gore is fun and the overall production values are slick, the film’s cast seems to phone it in and to me, that just adds hilarity to the movie. Jaime King really tries to be a solid lead under the circumstances, but the others seem to take the night off and just go through the motions. So surprise, Silent Night isn’t going to be added to the AFI 100, but for a horror movie these days, it is a lot of fun at times. So if you can stomach yet another horror remake, Silent Night is at least one that gets the gore right and is worth a look.

Video: How does it look?

Silent Night is presented in 2.40:1 widescreen. This transfer looks terrific, with no real flaws to discuss. The film wasn’t shot on an extensive budget and that is evident at times, but the movie still looks great. The image is sharp and clean, with crisp detail that lets you know this is high definition. I saw no softness to mention, which is always good news. The visuals show off bright and natural colors, as well as accurate contrast. So in the end, this transfer looks quite good.

Audio: How does it sound?

A Dolby TrueHD 5.1 soundtrack is provided and of course, the sound design ratchets up the tension. This is especially true during the various death scenes, as the brutal noises will make you wince at times. Nothing spices up a porn star in a wood chipper like effective sound effects, right? No issues with dialogue either, as vocals are at the proper balance and never suffer from any woes whatsoever. This release also includes English and Spanish subtitles.