SILENT NIGHT, DEADLY NIGHT reimagines a 1984 cult horror classic in which a young boy, Billy, witnesses the murder of his parents at the hands of a man dressed as Santa, only to grow up and become a killer himself. Haunted by trauma and fuelled by a twisted sense of justice, he dons the red suit, turning the advent calendar into a series of nights of terror. As Christmas Eve approaches, a small town becomes his latest hunting ground, where the naughty and bad pay the ultimate price. Blending psychological horror, brutal slasher thrills, a touch of the supernatural, and – more shockingly still – a sprinkle of romance, the film delivers a modern chilling new take on the ultimate holiday nightmare.
As Silent Night, Deadly Night prepares to slash it’s way into Australian cinemas on December 11, Nick L’Barrow spoke with the film’s writer-director, Mike P. Nelson, about paying homage to the original film while adding original ideas, and how a horror director decides how gory a scene is going to be.
Nick: Mike, this is such a fun horror film! And I love how you pay homage to the original film and 80s slashers, but you have this unique humanity to Billy that makes this feel like more than just a remake. I’m curious to know, as a filmmaker, how do you balance honouring the foundations of the genre, but also make something that feels like a Mike Nelson movie?
Mike P. Nelson: When I’m dealing with IP or remakes or reboots, to a certain extent it’s got to feel like one of my originals. I’m going to go in and kind of hand pick the things that I feel like I can bring from the original. Like with the original Silent Night, I really love how the original one starts, so I was always going to do something with that and put my own twist on it. I wanted to start the movie that way because it also feels like you’re back at that original again, but the movie just gradually gets crazier.
I think what’s most important at the end of the day, when I pitch something or write something – and some people would scold me for saying this – but if I can make these IP’s feel original again, that’s kind of a win-win.
Nick: One of the things you explore that is original to this story is this voice inside Billy’s head and the moral confliction that takes place in the narrative. He kind of has to listen to this evil voice for his own protection, even though what he is doing is also wrong. I kind of want to flip the context of the concept – was there a moment making this film where you had to trust the voice in your head? Was there a scene or decision that was changed because you went against everyone else and trusted that little voice inside of you?
Mike P. Nelson: You know, a huge part of the writing process was realising that Charlie is really a main character. And as I was writing the movie, I realised that I needed to have him as a voice. I wanted to make Billy the protagonist, and obviously he’s not a bad dude, but he’s done these terrible things.
I wanted it all to be a fun surprise, but I had to figure out, kind of, is it a split personality? Is it psychosis? Is it schizophrenia? Is it this Son of Sam serial killer thing? And as the movie goes on, I got to explore it more and more about how it works. I think what is important was that it’s not just a voice in his head, but there is an actual story behind it. That was really interesting to me and really led to a lot of the world building stuff.
Nick: This may sound like a stupid question – but do you ever think about whether a scene has too much blood and gore? There’s moments in this film that are insanely gory, then other times where it’s held back a bit and feels more brutal. So, is that something you have to consider when crafting some of these set pieces?
Mike P. Nelson: That is an interesting question. Look, I’m a fan of the red stuff. I love gore and I love when violence packs a punch, probably even more so than making it uber gory. So, yeah, I actually do believe that things can go too far, at least for my own taste.
What’s so great about horror now is that there are so many different facets of it. There’s a little bit of something for everyone. There’s so many different flavours. And I feel like there is a time and place for the excessive gore and nastiness, you know what I mean? For me, I love when violence is super story effective. If the violence is blending in with what I’m trying to do with the story, I feel like I can shock an audience more, as opposed to a sustained sequence with lots of blood and guts.
I always harken back to something like Terminator 2 or No Country For Old Men. Like, No Country For Old Me is the perfect example of a movie that is one of greatest violent movies of all time, but it’s not overly bloody. It’s the tension underneath that makes the acts of violence so juicy. It’s all about that build up to what they’re going to do, and not necessarily doing it to just sicken you.
Nick: One of the moments where you kind of flip that mentality on violence on its head in a very entertaining way is the ‘Slay Rider’ scene. It was one of those moments where I could just imagine a crowd of horror sickos just collectively losing their minds at what was happening and enjoying the excitement of the communal cinematic experience. I’m curious to know if you have a cinematic memory that reminded you of the communal aspect of going to the movies and enjoying those moments together?
Mike P. Nelson: There are two. One I always go back to was when I saw Grindhouse, and the hooting and hollering during that – the full double feature with the trailers and everything – was an experience.
But, I also saw the original 1974 print of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre at a theatre here in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It was this old school movie theatre with the sticky floors and everything. And originally they were going to show this brand new, remastered 35mm print, but it never arrived. So they showed the original 1974 print. And it was so beat up, and there were like 5-10 second bits missing, and the splices were weird, and it had all the fucking cigarette burns. And hearing the audience react to it, and knowing there were people in the theatre who had never seen it before… like, people were screaming when the guy gets hit in the head with the hammer. It just felt like we were watching it back when it first came out.
Thank you so much to Mike for his time, and to StudioCanal Australia for organising the interview. Silent Night, Deadly Night is in Australian cinemas December 4.
