Scream, Queens! The Top 40 Horror Films of The 80’s!

From:  The Backlot

#23
Silent Night, Deadly Night

PUNISH! The second Killer Santa movie on the list, it’s also the most infamous. Poor little Billy sees his father shot to death and his mother’s throat cut by a psychopathic Santa, and this … affects his later life. After he gets a job in a toy store and is asked to dress up as the jolly guy, well, you can guess what happens next. SNDN stands out for two reasons. The controversy it caused: Upon its original release in 1984, the film received a generally negative reception. Siskel and Ebert condemned the film and went so far as to read the film’s production credits on air, saying “shame, shame” after each one. Siskel also said that all the money the filmmakers were making off of this film was blood money. Leonard Maltin also denounced the film, calling it a “…worthless splatter film”, giving it zero stars and asking: “What’s next, the Easter Bunny as a child molester?” Large crowds (mostly angry families) formed at theaters and malls around the nation to protest the film. TriStar Pictures, its original distributor, pulled all ads for the film six days after its release (November 15). The film itself was also withdrawn shortly thereafter, due to the controversy.”

The second reason is that star Robert Brian Wilson was one of the hottest horror himbos to ever grace the screen.