Orwo Studios and Black Hanger Studios have officially acquired the remake rights for Silent Night, Deadly Night. The outfit is behind the upcoming Jeepers Creepers: Reborn & the film has a planned release date of 2022.
The original film was released in 1984 & quickly became controversial. The movie tells the story of a child who is traumatized after seeing his parents killed by a man dressed as Santa Claus. Years later, he dons a Santa suit himself and gets bloody revenge. Due to imagery of a murderous Santa Claus, its graphic violence, and advertising campaign, particularly its posters and TV spots, the film became a target of The National Parent & Teacher Association, a group that fought to have the film removed from theaters. There were protests against the film & critics Siskel and Ebert were among many to condemn the movie and Siskel went as far as to read names of the production crew on-air, telling them, “Shame on you”. In response, TriStar pulled all ads for the film six days after its release, and the film itself was withdrawn shortly after.
This kind of response leads to a cult following & that is what certainly happened with Silent Night, Deadly Night. The interesting thing is when the film opened, it performed pretty well for its time, outgrossing Wes Craven’s A Nightmare On Elm Street, which opened on the same day. Before being pulled from theaters, the film took in more than $2.4 million (three times its budget) in 10 days. Silent Night, Deadly Night spawned multiple sequels over the years and a loose remake in 2012.
