1984
Starring: Robert Brian Wilson, Gilmer McCormick, Lilyan Chauvin.
This movie could also be called How to Create a Spree Killer. We first meet Billy when he is about 3 or 4 years old. His parents and infant sibling have all come to the old folks home on Christmas Eve to visit his grandfather who appears to be catatonic. The family leaves Billy with his grandfather briefly and the grandfather scarily tells Billy about how Santa Claus will punish you if you were the least bit naughty during the year. The family is driving home when they come across Santa Claus! Actually it's just a man in a Santa Claus suit who shoots Billy's father and kills Billy's mother while Billy runs to hide in the bushes.
Several years later, we see Billy at the Catholic orphanage where he is being raised by nuns. The nuns are aware of the horrible way that Billy's parent's were murdered but they are just ignoring it or trying to beat it out of him. Billy acts up around Christmas time and doesn't want to sit on Santa's lap. He ends up punching Santa in the face and is punished for it. Young Billy also sees some of the older kids having sex through a peephole and is beaten for that too.
Once Billy turns 18, (now played by Robert Brian Wilson) one of the nicer nuns gets him a job as a stock boy at a toy store. Billy is initially a great worker but as the holiday season approaches he gets a strange distant look in his face. The store has hired a Santa but on Christmas Eve he calls in sick. The store manager asks Billy to act as Santa that day. Billy cannot handle it, he acts very strange with the children. The store has an employee Christmas party that night and Billy just loses it, now that's he dressed as Santa he embodies his terrible vision of Santa. Billy strangles his first co-worker with a strand of lights. He then kills all of his co-workers and his boss, but it doesn't stop there.
Billy takes an ax and just starts wandering around town. He knocks on the door where a babysitter (Linnea Quigley) is having sex with her boyfriend. She opens the door only wearing her denim cut-offs and nothing else. Billy punishes her by impaling her on a stag's head that's mounted on the wall. The little girl that was being babysat comes out when she sees Santa, Billy asks her if she's been good and she honestly says yes, so he gives her a box cutter from his pocket. Merry Christmas!
Billy continues to walk around killing whoever he can find. He stumbles upon some teens who are night sledding and he beheads one of them. The cops catch on that there is a murderous Santa on the loose, the nice nun that got Billy the job figures out that he's gone nuts. By morning, Billy makes it to the orphanage to dole out his own punishment on the mother superior.
It's definitely a neat story where you already know the killer and you're just waiting for him to snap. Not that Billy should have killed anyone but it's not a surprise considering all the terrible things that happened to him and no one tried to help him work through it.
As we watched this Jen mentioned that she was sure Hollywood would be remaking this one, little did we know that they already did. It came out in late 2012 as Silent Night, I just watched the trailer and it doesn't look anywhere as awesome as the original. Plus the killer santa is not a good looking as young Robert Brian Wilson. This is a welcome addition to my permanent VHS collection. I've also heard some crazy things about the sequel, so I might have to add that one to the ever growing list.
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