Art the Clown terrified at the holidays last year. This Christmas season, it’s Santa’s time to kill.
The first teaser trailer has arrived for “Silent Night, Deadly Night” (in theaters Dec. 12), an unrated reimagining of the controversial 1984 cult horror movie written and directed by Mike P. Nelson (“Wrong Turn”). And this slasher Santa Claus doesn’t mess around, using an axe and a shotgun with deadly intention and also down for impaling people on deer antlers.
Rohan Campbell, whose scary-movie resume includes “Halloween Ends” and “The Monkey,” stars in the film as Billy. As a child, he witnesses Santa gruesomely murder his mom and dad on Christmas Eve, and it sparks his life goal to spread holiday fear instead of cheer. So every holiday, Billy gets in the familiar red suit and embarks on a yuletide massacre.
“Silent Night” is the latest unrated movie coming to theaters from Cineverse, the company which distributes the hit “Terrifier” franchise and is also releasing the upcoming “The Toxic Avenger” remake (out Aug. 29) starring Peter Dinklage. Cineverse is “this rogue independent studio that’s all about helping artists get their films in front of audiences,” chairman and CEO Chris McGurk told USA TODAY in March.
Maybe audiences in 2025 will be more embracing of a murderous St. Nick than in the 1980s. When the original “Silent Night” was released in November 1984, its ad campaign caused a kerfuffle and the filmed ended up being pulled from theaters amid parental outrage,Â