Not to be confused with the eighties slasher flick 'Silent Night, Deadly Night'; this British chiller is best left forgotten entirely. British cinema produced some great horror films in the seventies (The Wicker Man, Twins of Evil etc) - but it also produced a lot of rubbish. Incense for the Damned, Satan's Slave and Tower of Evil to name a handful are some of the worst films I've ever suffered, and while it pains me to say it; I'm going to have to add this film to that list also. It's a shame that this is a load of rubbish, as the story could easily have afforded a much better film; and some change! I love low budget flicks generally; but hate it when the budget constraints get in the way, and this is what's happened here. Director Theodore Gershuny obviously has flair; that is evident throughout the movie, but the fact he has to constantly resort to voice-overs and scenes that don't make sense lets the film down massively. The plot isn't very well worked, and follows a man who inherits his father's house. The house used to be a mental home, however, and soon we discover what we went on behind those walls. Well, sort of.
The film starts of very slowly; and it's about half an hour before anything happens; when the film explodes with a brutal axe slaying! If the film could have carried on this pace for the rest of the duration, I would have had no qualms with forgetting about how bored I was during the first half hour; but alas, it simply goes back to tedium. The way that the flashbacks are shown in sepia is good, as aside from letting the audience know that the events happened a long time ago, it also gives the scenes more of a horror feel. The score is good also, with a plethora of creepy sounds supporting a brilliant rendition of 'Silent Night, Holy Night'. However, none of this stuff counts in a film as messy as this one. The plot is hard to follow, with many scenes being inaudible; and the picture gets so murky at times that you might as well be watching this film with your eyes closed. I saw this film on DVD, and have seen films from the twenties being scrubbed up better. I would only recommend this film to people that want to see how much of a hindrance low budget can be. There's not much else to see this for.
The film starts of very slowly; and it's about half an hour before anything happens; when the film explodes with a brutal axe slaying! If the film could have carried on this pace for the rest of the duration, I would have had no qualms with forgetting about how bored I was during the first half hour; but alas, it simply goes back to tedium. The way that the flashbacks are shown in sepia is good, as aside from letting the audience know that the events happened a long time ago, it also gives the scenes more of a horror feel. The score is good also, with a plethora of creepy sounds supporting a brilliant rendition of 'Silent Night, Holy Night'. However, none of this stuff counts in a film as messy as this one. The plot is hard to follow, with many scenes being inaudible; and the picture gets so murky at times that you might as well be watching this film with your eyes closed. I saw this film on DVD, and have seen films from the twenties being scrubbed up better. I would only recommend this film to people that want to see how much of a hindrance low budget can be. There's not much else to see this for.