Silent Night Deadly Night: Every Santa Killer Explained
This article contains affiliate links. If you choose to purchase a product through an affiate link, I will earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.
Sometimes we need to be punished for the holidays. So, in that spirit, we’ll explain every Christmas villain in the Silent Night, Deadly Night franchise... animated!
warning: spoilers ahead!In the original film, after witnessing the shocking loss of his parents at the hands of a Santa-suited criminal, Billy Chapman and his younger brother, Ricky, grow up in an orphanage run by nuns who torment the boys with strict Catholic discipline. Years later, Billy is employed as a toy store Santa. His suit has a black belt, bells on the cuffs, added pockets, red gloves, and boots with white trim. He also wears a pulled-down beard and a long wig. This suit-up sends Billy over the edge, leading him to gift punishment to those on his naughty list. But before he reaches his former Mother Superior, he’s taken down – with Ricky bearing witness.
In the sequel, Ricky, now an adult, regales a psychiatrist with many, and I mean many, clips from the first film, plus flashbacks of his teenage first kills. He recounts a brief relationship that ends when, well, jealousy gets the best of him… however, he does manage to help with “Garbage Day!”. After his therapy, he dons a Kris Kringle getup with centre trim – but no pockets, bells, or gloves – and he lacks the wig and beard… though his hat does have a dangling pompom. He sets out and finishes his brother’s nun-ly business, then is ultimately neutralised.
The third film finds Ricky in a coma, tethered psychically to a blind woman for some reason, and is accidentally awoken by a Santa performer. Ricky looks completely different, is wearing a hospital gown and slippers, has one damaged eye, and a mechanical brain cap keeping him alive. He later changes into blue pants, a matching windbreaker, plaid attire, and a beanie. Ricky stalks the psychic blind woman; however, she eventually puts a stake in this lumbering monstrosity.
In “Silent Night, Deadly Night 4”, Kim, an aspiring journalist, uncovers a witch coven that implements slug-roaches to initiate her into their ritual. Their leader, Fima, curses Kim to sacrifice a young boy, but she instead uses her newly knotted hands to Uno-reverse the curse, ending the spell... and this non-Christmas “Christmas” movie.
The fifth film features Joe Petto, a toy maker who lost his pregnant wife in a car crash, leading him to create boobytrapped-toys. The lethal toys include: A Santa ball with retractable limbs, rigged roller blades, a rubber hand, robot, a killer snake, munchie larva, a dinosaur, several killer cars, army toys, a plane, and even a kamikaze superhero. Joe is outfitted in Father Christmas apparel with a thin belt, short boots, white gloves, and a tiny hat. Yet it turns out Joe is very much not alive, and this disguised killer is a robot named Pino, built by Joe as a robotic son – complete with a Barbie-body. This robo-son tries to gain a “pretty mommy”, but instead, he gets shut down.
In the 2012 remake, Ronald Jones Jr.’s festive getup has bulging white trim, buckled boots, black gloves, and a plastic Santa mask with darkened eyes and bright brows. He’s even stocked with a flamethrower! It’s revealed that his divorced dad went on a Yuletide rampage years earlier, but was taken out in front of him, causing Ronald Jr. to dole out revenge. Although in this pursuit, he becomes a crispy Kringle, and then somehow sneaks away.
In the latest reboot, the drifter Billy Chapman dons Santa attire with dark gloves, laced boots lacking any fur, a comically fake beard, and a wide hat-trim. He also rocks a suit with white gloves and boot-gaiters with poofy trim. This Santa has the usual grim backstory, though this time, the man who slayed his parents passed a supernatural killer-instinct to Billy – guiding him on his seasonal reckoning of the naughty. He also has a female love-interest, well, at least for a little while…
Now we’d better hope there isn’t a chimney big enough to fit all of these bad Santas...
What other holiday vids do you want to see? More festive animations right here! Thank you to the jolly patrons. Press like, comment, and subscribe!
I’m diving into one of the weirdest horror franchises: Silent Night, Deadly Night. From the classic killer Santa movie to the weird sequels and multiple reboots, let’s rank them from worst to first!