Introduction
Silent Night is a film written by Jayson Rothwell and directed by Steven C. Miller. It is a horror movie, and a remake of the 1980 horror film, deadly night or silent night, and loosely based on the real-life event of Covina massacre (Kolisnyk, et. al, 2007). By focusing on this film, this paper will present the basic components of the film; these include Storytelling, Acting, cinematography, directing, and finally the impact or genre.
Storytelling and Acting
The setup of the film is Christmas Eve in the town of Wisconsin town, where every adult male appears to have a St. Nick suit (Bellour & Penley, 2001). The film consists of set pieces which are grisly, and homicidal, where a wide range of weapons are used ranging from axes, flame thrower, cattle prod to wood chipper are used. It involves a vicious serial killer who is dressed as a Santa clause and has already made a naughty list. The Santa in the film is diabolical and loves to deep free mouthy teenagers, dismember people with farm tools and neuter people with an axe. Sheriff, Mc. Dowel attempts to halt the carnage. He also punishes naughty boys and girls and give presents to the good ones. The carnage involves several female victims, with the familiar Slasher movie templates evident.
The film follows a certain chronological order because it is based on different Christmas eves of different years, following a chronological order (Kolisnyk, et. al, 2007). The Christmases range from the Christmas Eve of 1971 to the Christmas Eve of 1984. Therefore, the narrative of the film is linear because a single starting point from the killer Santa, leads to various developments. However, the plot sometimes can be seen to make no sense because of a lot of mess and the shades of good horror movie are lost. The film takes place in the town of Wisconsin, in the streets. The killer hides in plain sight and makes his list, checking it twice, and ensure that the naughty pay with their lives. The practical effects seen in the movie are excellent, because one can see a person being killed as reality, and also horrific mess which crowns it a horror film. The film attempts to take full advantage of the practical as the written storyline does not seem to be good enough. However, the storyline is slimmed down compared to the original, thus missing a lot of opportunities to expand the storyline, and make the film livelier.
Theme
The director of this movie employ the use of atmosphere and tone to bring out the desired themes (Conard & Porfirio, 2007). The killings and terror events in the film bring out the themes of terror and conflict in the film. There is conflict in the film because people are trying to enjoy the Christmas Eve, but there is a Santa, who is busy killing them. Certainly, the most characters involved are teenagers who are trying to have fun, like the teenagers having sex; on the other hand Santa is punishing them for being naughty. Similarly, there is a conflict because it is Christmas Eve, and Santa’s are supposed to be rewarding teenagers and children, but on the contrary he is busy killing them. There is also a conflict between the police who are trying to maintain security, and the killer Santa, who is creating insecurity by killing people. All these conflicts are resolved when the killer Santa is confronted by the police.
Directing
The film was directed by Steven C. Miller a personnel considered a legend in the film industry (Conard & Porfirio, 2007). The film stars Jaime King, Donal Logue and Malcolm McDowell. The movie was designed to unveil terror or horror to the viewers. With the help of Jayson Rothwell the writer, the director, was able to take full advantage of the practical as the written storyline does not seem to be good enough. However, the storyline is slimmed down compared to the original, thus missing a lot of opportunities to expand the storyline, and make the film livelier.
Cinematography
Arguably, the strength of this film lies profoundly on cinematography. The exemplary cinematography in the film was accomplished by Miller the director and cinematographer Joseph White (Bellour & Penley, 2001). The film is seen to achieve a balance of components that include suspense, scares and humor to relieve the viewer a little bit of terror. With the perfect complexion a viewer is disposed to enjoy the movie.
Conclusion
The horror movie is fun to watch because it is hilarious. It has cool musical touches and some chromatography with enough jokes to keep one watching. Strikingly, as much as it is a horror film, it is funny, hence shows the film-makers’ talent in putting in place both at the same time, thus keeping hardcore horror fans entertained. However, the film maker is seen to appeal the male audience more because of the female nudity seen in the film. Conclusively, the movie looks good for a wide release, however there so many holes which are too wide to overcome
References
Conard, M. T., & Porfirio, R. (2007). The philosophy of film noir. Lexington: University Press of
Kentucky.
Kolisnyk, M. H., & I︠A︡mpolʹskiĭ, M. B. (2007). Dispossessions of voice: The work of description
in literature and film. (Dissertation Abstracts International, 68-10.)
