The Bloody Pit #48 - SILENT NIGHT, DEADLY NIGHT (1984)

For our second annual Holiday Horrors episode we take a look at the highly controversial 1984 killer Santa slasher SILENT NIGHT, DEADLY NIGHT. Deemed, at the time, to be an affront to all that is good and sacred about the idea of a fat stranger breaking into your home in the dead of night to eat cookies and leave crap under a tree it has since become a much beloved December viewing ritual for millions of fans. OK! So, maybe it was tempting fate to have the advertising for the film play off the fact that a man in a Santa suit runs around axing people on Christmas Eve, but the effort put into stomping this film into the mud was a bit excessive. Luckily, all three co-hosts were alive in 1984 (we are OLD) and have memories of those strange days. We never had a chance. Shame on us all, indeed!

Settle in with the beverage of your choice to listen to Troy, John Hudson and Rod go through this twisted Christmas classic pointing out favorite moments and puzzling over dangling story threads. We discuss jerk co-workers, well stocked toy stores, dangerous gifts of our youth, odd places for copulation, traumatic Christmas images, good and bad child actors as well as the dark ideas behind putting angry nuns in charge of defenseless orphans. We also touch on the protests that got this film yanked from theaters after two weeks and the reasons behind that move by Trimark. For more detailed information about that please read the excellent article over at The Hysteria Lives by the always reliable Jason Kerswell. It's well worth your time, as is the entire site.

If you have any comments or suggestions please write us at thebloodypit@gmail.com or drop by the Bloody Pit Facebook page and give us a 'like'. We still have no idea which Holiday Horror we'll do next year so, if you have one you'd like us to consider, let us know. Thank you for downloading and listening!