I was initially lured in by the somewhat odd cover for this movie; having a strange-looking Santa there with a flamethrower. If that is not an eye-catcher, then I don't know what it.

Having seen the movie now, I somewhat sit here and wonder where the horror in the movie vanished off to, because this movie was anything but scary. And if anything, then the older movies in the same genre, such as "Silent Night, Deadly Night" or "Black Christmas" were actually more entertaining than this 2012 movie.

The story in "Silent Night" is about a mysterious and masked person dressed up as Santa Claws who goes on a killing spree in a small town during the Christmas holidays. And it is up to the local police force to bring an end to the murderous rampage.

Story-wise, it wasn't the most interesting of movies, as it was all something that basically had been seen before in other movies. That being said, I am not saying that it is all bad, because the movie does manage to entertain from the very start and up to the end. Sure, there were some questionable moments and goofy parts to the movie, but all in all, it did manage to entertain. However, this movie is not likely going to become a Christmas classic such as "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation" is, nor is it the type of movie that you will most likely ever watch again after having seen it once.

If you enjoy horror movies, then "Silent Night" is not the best of choices, but there are far worse movies available.

The police force of a remote Midwestern town search for a killer Santa Claus who is picking off citizens on Christmas Eve.

First of all, let me get this off my chest: the film takes place in the Midwest on Christmas Eve and there is not one flake of snow... and the grass is still green. Even when we have no snow on Christmas (rare, but possible) the grass is quite dead... not sure what these people were thinking.

And second, calling this a "loose remake" of the 1980s slasher "Silent Night, Deadly Night" seems to be just a way to get around the fact the idea of a killer Santa has already been done. The films have practically nothing in common beyond the title... and could be treated as completely unrelated without anyone noticing.

But comparing a 2012 slasher to a 1980s slasher is unfair from the start. The styles are different, the culture is different. And frankly, for as bad as most slashers are these days (particularly the remakes) this one holds up surprisingly well. We like seeing Santa chase people down, we love the ax... and we really love the wood chipper. Sure, I still prefer practical effects, but they did not go overboard on the CG like they could have.

For a Christmas slasher, SILENT NIGHT isn't up to scratch. I've not seen the original SILENT NIGHT, DEADLY NIGHT, but I have seen the likes of DON'T OPEN TILL Christmas and that memorable segment from TALES FROM THE CRYPT and both were much, much better. Director Steven C. Miller seems to vary broadly when it comes to the films he makes, for every trashy flick like UNDER THE BED he makes something superior like THE AGGRESSION SCALE. However, this is one of his worst.

The story is about a killer Santa Claus who goes around bumping off various victims while a local sheriff department attempt to track him down. There's little more plot to it than that, although attempts to raise the whole 'whodunit' aspect of the film fall flat because you never care who's responsible. The deaths are gory but somehow feel fake and overblown; it may be that the victims are all random and rather despicable in themselves, so it all goes over your head a bit.

Jaime King gives a tired performance as the protagonist of the piece and you get the sense that her heart wasn't really in it, and you can't really blame her for it. Malcolm McDowell is better, but is given little to work with other than play it gruff. The ending is as cheesy and over the top as you'd expect.