Silent Night, Deadly Night Part 2 Review: Garbage Day Comes Early
My Rating: ⭐ ⭐ ☆ ☆ ☆ 2/5
A locked room.
A nervous doctor with a notepad.
A patient with very busy eyebrows.
And a whole lot of footage you have already seen.
Welcome to our Silent Night, Deadly Night Part 2 Review. This infamous ’80s bomb is so spectacularly bad that it somehow manages to be entertaining. It is the kind of disaster you have to see to believe.
This Silent Night, Deadly Night Part 2 Review is spoiler free. I will cover the setup, the cast, the recycled footage, and why this movie refuses to die. The ending stays in the trash can where it belongs.
Silent Night, Deadly Night Part 2 Review: The Sequel That Recycled Itself
Lee Harry directed Silent Night, Deadly Night Part 2. He also edited it and wrote the screenplay with Joseph H. Earle. It opened in a limited theatrical release on April 10, 1987.
This was Lee Harry’s first time directing a feature. He walked into a strange job. The producers did not really want a new movie at all.
They wanted him to take the 1984 original and cut it into a “new” film. A couple of fresh scenes would tie it all together. That was the plan.
Harry and Earle pushed back. They talked the studio into a $250,000 budget and ten days of shooting for new material. That helped, but only so much.
To make matters worse, nearly the entire first half is spent recycling flashbacks from the original film. If you watched Part 1 last night, get ready for a strong case of déjà vu.
The Story Setup
It is Christmas Eve. Ricky Caldwell sits in a mental institution. He is the younger brother of Billy Chapman, the Santa killer from the first film.
A psychiatrist named Dr. Henry Bloom comes to interview him. Ricky has a story to tell, and he takes his sweet time telling it.
He starts with Billy. He walks the doctor through that terrible Christmas Eve, the orphanage, and everything that came after. Every bit of it plays out in footage from the first movie.
Here is the funny part. Ricky narrates scenes he could not possibly have seen. He was a baby for much of it. The movie does not seem to mind, so I guess we should not either.
Eventually, Ricky gets around to his own story. He grew up carrying the same trauma as his big brother. And it shaped him in some very ugly ways.
From there, the movie turns into a revenge tale. Ricky has a score to settle with the people who hurt his family.
That is all the plot you are getting from me. Trust me, it is better as a surprise. Or at least it is more confusing that way.
The Cast of Silent Night, Deadly Night Part 2
This is a small cast, and one man carries nearly all of it.
Eric Freeman plays Ricky Caldwell. This was the role that would follow him for decades. Producers picked him over David Heavener, who also auditioned for the part.
Darrel Guilbeau plays Ricky at age 15.
Brian Michael Henley plays Ricky at age 10.
James L. Newman plays Dr. Henry Bloom, the psychiatrist who has to sit through all of this.
Elizabeth Kaitan plays Jennifer. She had appeared in Savage Dawn in 1985. A year later, she would turn up in Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood.
Jean Miller plays Mother Superior. She takes over the role from Lilyan Chauvin in the first film.
Corrine Gelfan plays Mrs. Rosenberg.
Michael Combatti plays Mr. Rosenberg.
Ken Weichert plays Chip.
Nadya Wynd plays Sister Mary.
Kenneth McCabe plays a rent a cop.
Ron Moriarty plays a detective.
Frank Novak plays a loan shark.
Harvey Genkins plays the Salvation Santa. He was also the cinematographer, so he pulled double duty.
Now let’s talk about Eric Freeman. His performance is the reason anyone still watches this movie.
He glares. He squints. He arches those eyebrows like they are trying to escape his face. Every line comes out bigger and louder than it needs to be.
Is it good acting? Not in the usual sense. Is it watchable? Absolutely. You cannot take your eyes off him.
Freeman later admitted he had regrets about the film. He said, “I took it this was going to be a comedic horror film.” He was paid about $1,500 for a few days of work.
Honestly, that explains a lot. Some of his choices make more sense if you picture him playing it for laughs.
So Bad It Is Entertaining
Let me be clear. This is not a good movie. Most of it misses the mark by a mile.
But there is bad, and then there is this. Silent Night, Deadly Night Part 2 is bad in a way that loops right back around to fun.
The acting is over the top. The dialogue is clunky. The story barely holds together. And yet the whole thing has a goofy energy you cannot fake.
Once the new footage finally kicks in, the movie wakes up. Ricky starts moving, and the film picks up speed. It never gets smart, but it does get lively.
The best way to watch it is with friends. Grab some snacks, turn off the lights, and keep score of the eyebrow moments. You will lose count.
Garbage Day
You cannot review this movie without mentioning two words. Garbage Day.
Partway through the film, Ricky shouts that line during one of his scenes. Then he laughs like a maniac. It lasts just a few seconds.
Years later, that clip took on a life of its own online. People shared it, remixed it, and turned it into parodies. Plenty of folks know the line without ever knowing which movie it came from.
The clip turned a forgotten 1987 sequel into an internet legend. It is the main reason the film has a cult following today.
Out here in Shenandoah, garbage day comes once a week like clockwork. I can never hear those words the same way again. Neither will you.
All That Recycled Footage
This is the biggest problem with the whole movie, so let’s dig in.
Estimates vary, but somewhere between 25 and 40 minutes of this film comes straight from the 1984 original. The movie only runs 88 minutes.
The first half plays like a highlight reel of Part 1. Billy’s childhood. The orphanage. The toy store. The Santa suit. You see it all again, with Ricky talking over the top.
A few new shots were added to place young Ricky into some of those old moments. It does not fully hide the trick.
At one point, characters even head to a movie theater. The film playing on that screen is built from more recycled footage. You almost have to admire the nerve.
If you have never seen the original, the flashbacks work as a crash course. If you have, you will be reaching for the fast forward button. Either way, it is a long wait before the new story really starts.
Behind the Scenes
Lee Harry wrote the film with Joseph H. Earle. The story credit also includes Dennis Patterson and producer Lawrence Appelbaum.
Michael Armstrong composed the music. Christopher Biggs handled the makeup effects. Harvey Genkins shot the film, and he also shot The Garbage Pail Kids Movie.
Think about that for a second. A movie famous for Garbage Day, shot by the man behind The Garbage Pail Kids Movie. You cannot make this up.
New footage was filmed in California in January 1987. The schedule was just ten days. Everything about the production was tight and rushed.
The film had a limited run in theaters starting in April 1987. That makes it the odd one out in a Christmas series. Spring is a strange time to sell a killer Santa.
An Infamous ’80s Bomb
The box office tells the story. The film cost about $250,000 to make. It grossed only about $154,000 in theaters.
That is a bomb by any measure. The first film had caused a national uproar. This one barely made a sound.
Home video gave it a second chance. International Video Entertainment released it on VHS and laserdisc in September 1987. That is where most fans first found it, usually on a video store shelf.
Here at the shop, I still see these old tapes pop up now and then. Horror collectors always grab them. A bad movie with a good story behind it is a great conversation piece.
Anchor Bay later paired it with the original on DVD in 2003. A Christmas Survival Double Feature followed in 2012.
Then Scream Factory released a Blu-ray on December 11, 2018. That set includes a feature length documentary called Slay Bells Ring Again. It also has Ricky Today, a short film with Eric Freeman reprising his famous role.
A limited edition even came with a Ricky action figure. For a movie that flopped in theaters, that is quite a glow up.
Ricky came back in Silent Night, Deadly Night 3: Better Watch Out! in 1989. That time, Bill Moseley played him.
How It Compares to the Original
I recently gave the 1984 original a 4.7 out of 5. This sequel lands far lower, and the gap says a lot.
Silent Night, Deadly Night 1984 Review: Great Terrifying Gem
The first film took its time with Billy. It showed each stage of his life and let you understand him. By the end, you felt sorry for him even as he frightened you.
Part 2 rushes all of that. It hands you Billy’s story as a rerun, then races through Ricky’s. There is no time to care about anyone.
The two brothers could not be more different on screen. Billy was quiet, shy, and sad. Ricky is loud, wild, and twitchy. One feels like a tragedy. The other feels like a cartoon.
The original made people angry. Part 2 mostly makes people laugh. That might be the strangest legacy of any horror sequel I know.
Still, I will give it this. The 1984 film is the one people respect. Part 2 is the one people quote. In the world of cult movies, that counts for something.
If you want to see the series at its best and its most baffling, watch them back to back. It is a lesson in how far a sequel can fall, and how much fun the fall can be.
Where It Stumbles
Where does it stumble? Pretty much everywhere.
The recycled footage eats up far too much of the running time. You spend ages waiting for the actual sequel to begin.
The story is thin and patched together. Ricky narrates things he never witnessed, and the movie never explains how.
The supporting cast is stiff. Most of them seem unsure what kind of movie they are in. To be fair, so does the audience.
The scares are almost nonexistent. This is a horror film that rarely gets under your skin. It gets laughs far more often than chills, and not always on purpose.
And it is rough material. There is plenty of violence and some adult content. This is not one for the kids, even if it does have Santa in it.
Is Silent Night, Deadly Night Part 2 Worth Watching?
That depends on what you want.
If you want a real horror sequel, skip it. You will be bored for the first half and baffled by the second.
If you love bad movies, this is a must. It belongs on the same shelf as the all time great disasters. It is pure cult fun.
My advice is simple. Watch it with a crowd. Talk through it. Shout along when Garbage Day hits. That is how this movie was meant to be enjoyed, even if nobody planned it that way.
If you skip the first film, this one will catch you up anyway. That might be the only time recycled footage counts as a feature.
The Kilroy Verdict on Silent Night, Deadly Night Part 2
This movie should not work. It was made on the cheap, stuffed with old footage, and rushed out the door.
And yet here we are, decades later, still talking about it. That says something.
Writing this Silent Night, Deadly Night Part 2 Review, I kept coming back to Eric Freeman. He took a thin role and made it unforgettable. Maybe not in the way he hoped, but unforgettable all the same.
It is a mess. It is a bomb. It is also a weird little piece of horror history that fans will never let go.
Final Thoughts 2/5
This one earns a 2 out of 5 from Kilroy. Wrapping up this Silent Night, Deadly Night Part 2 Review, this infamous ’80s bomb is so spectacularly bad that it somehow manages to be entertaining.
“Eric Freeman’s unhinged performance makes this notorious sequel wildly, weirdly watchable.”
ML Lamp, Kilroy Was Here Shop
It is the kind of disaster you have to see to believe. Nearly the entire first half recycles flashbacks from the original. Once Ricky finally gets moving, though, the madness takes over.
Track down the Blu-ray or hunt for that old VHS. Invite some friends, pop some corn, and count the eyebrow raises.
Just remember to put your trash out on time this week. You never know who is watching from across the street.
