Silent Night Deadly Night (Mike P. Nelson, 2025) Review

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“Just don't forget who you are and what you do.” One of the most notorious slasher movies of the 1980s, torn from theatres after a fervent protest by concerned mothers, Silent Night Deadly Night (Charles E. Sellier Jr., 1984) nonetheless survived with a sheer bloody mindedness that produced four sequels and not one but two remakes. But how far can you really stretch such a straight forward, but admittedly vivid, concept as a serial killer in a Santa suit?...

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“Good boys get good things.” Written and Directed by Mike P. Nelson, who made two of the best segments from V/H/S/85, the 2025 remake of this Killer Saint Nick yarn begins in much the same way as the original: young Billy visiting a rest home where his Grandfather resides. While the particularly memorable moment with Will Hare's original version of the 'scary Grandpa' encounter in the 1984 film is unbeatable, Nelson still manages to put his own strangely moral twist on Billy's transformation from cherub-cheeked kid to slaughter machine. The rest home's janitor Charlie (Mark Acheson, Brand New Cherry Flavor) turns out to be the shotgun-toting maniac who brutally slays Billy's family in bloody-gushing fashion, but the main twist that Nelson introduces to the formula is a transference of evil as Charlie's spirit is supernaturally merged with Billy.

“Naughty boys get punished.” We first meet the grown-up Billy (Rohan Campbell, The Monkey and Halloween Ends), not on the brink of a deadly spree (as in the original), but a whole decade deep into a procession of murder that takes place according to the Advent Calendar: twenty-five days of punishing the wicked every December. Indeed, Billy is guided by Charlie's voice, who even pilots his host with supernatural ability: from seeing the evil inside prospective victims to being able to function normally inside society in order to live to see another December. This twisted father/son dynamic laces an added layer of spice, rescuing the story from toppling into what could have been a lazy rinse/repeat in lesser hands. Campbell, meanwhile, steers his performance along a fine line with assurance, never falling into over-wrought drama or slapstick nonsense.

“Sugar-coated onion, if you know what I mean.” While the 2012 remake Silent Night (Steven C. Miller) opted to focus on a group of small town cops faced with a slew of bloody killings perpetrated by a mysterious nutter in a Santa suit – law vs disorder in a sinful community – the 2025 film chooses to once again make the antagonist the central figure, but the Dexter-like spin brings something familiar yet still fresh to proceedings. Billy must kill twenty-five naughty people or else someone innocent will suffer, such is his thirst for violence over which he needs to exert control. This barely contained force of destruction simmers in the background, bubbling to the surface as Billy's dial of death creeps over the red line, producing some nice moments of tension.

“Pooping incident?” Drifting into the town of Hacket, Billy finds work at Ida's Trinket Tree, a local store for all things Christmassy, and strikes up a close friendship with the owner's true-crime-loving daughter Pamela (Ruby Modine, Happy Death Day 2 U), who seems sweet and innocent enough until her Explosive Personality Disorder rears its head – don't mess with her nephew! Suddenly, misfit Billy isn't quite so alone in this world, and the local residents with dark secrets have something to be worried about.

“We are pilgrims in an unholy land.” The 2012 remake wasn't able to, or didn't want to, emulate the grimy grindhouse aesthetic of the notorious 1984 original, opting for a slick stab of genre fun. The 2025 remake similarly sidesteps the grottier aspects of the fan-favourite original, divesting itself of any notions of nudity (much like the recent remake of Deathstalker did), but to be fair it wouldn't have really fit the tone that Nelson is going for here.

“To be honest, I was a bit of a slut back then.” This is not to say that the film takes itself too seriously, even if it does occasionally wobble while wrestling its more outré moments – a very secret Santa party being the most gleeful highlight – with some of it's darker ideas: 'The Snatcher', for one, who has been kidnapping children and terrorising the town, or the abusive ex-boyfriend subplot, for two, or the exploits of a sadistic foster mother, for three.

There is an authentic chill afforded to these aspects of the story, but they can clash with the more joyfully lurid dressing of the film, such as the flashes of madness and titles rendered in scruffy black-and-white that is soaked red with impending bloodshed – or a cackle-inducing rendition of the sledging kill from the original movie: this time featuring a quad bike and the precision use of the iconic double-headed axe.

A few other references are dotted around: a wink to the meme-tastic “garbage day!” line from the second film, for instance, and what would a SNDN movie be without someone getting skewered on deer antlers? In regards to that final point, though, Linnea Quigley's iconic scene has yet to be topped.

“I'm getting one of those feelings.” This 2025 version of Silent Night Deadly Night will struggle to find a hallowed place in slasher movie history, but such is typically the case with remakes of genre classics. Indeed, it's unfair to expect such a feat when the original has a four-decade head start and years of dedicated fan fervour, cemented by the second film, half of which is infamously recycled footage from the original movie.

However, much like the 2012 remake, the 2025 film is certainly not without its fair share of guts, gore, and blood-soaked festive fun. Mike P. Nelson hews much closer to the source material than Steven C. Miller did, but despite doing so he has still been able to put enough of his own stamp on something familiar to render it quite worthy of existing in its own right.

Thankfully, SNDN hasn't been mangled around like Black Christmas arguably was – Bob Clark's 1974 slasher classic was remade in 2006 and 2019. Billy's rampage in the gritty, sleazy 1984 original still maintains a place upon the horror movie mantle all to itself where other similarly-themed films haven't quite managed to reach. The sleazy and grotty, but woefully slapdash, Don't Open 'Till Christmas (Edmund Purdom, 1984) is one example, while the far better-regarded Christmas Evil (Lewis Jackson, 1980) with its focus on psychological drama, is another. But protesting parents marching outside movie theatres – won't somebody please think of the children! – is bound to make sure that such a place above a line of blood-dripping festive stockings is well secured.

“Such a sweet little boy.” So, all said and done, it's Santa hats off to the 2025 incarnation for managing to find purpose and style of its own while still adhering to much of what made the original a fan-favourite: the source material is treated with respect, but this is certainly no paint-by-numbers retread either.

Combined with a well-written script, solid protagonists, and that big scene mid-way through (no spoilers here, so enjoy it in-full when you see it!), the latest version of Silent Night Deadly Night dances in familiar territory but carries a tune of its own. Having viewed the 1984 and 2012 versions of the material numerous times each, I can certainly see the 2025 version similarly extracting multiple viewings from this slasher movie fanatic.