Cabrini Green
10-23-2002, 08:50 PM
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Silent Night, Deadly Night 3: Better Watch Out! (1989)
Director – Monte Hellman
Cast – Bill Moseley, Samantha Scully, Robert Culp, Richard Beymer, Eric DaRe, Laura Herring
Running Time – 87 minutes
I’ve been watching some very good movies lately (The Ring, The Bride of Frankenstein, Sleepy Hollow, Rosemary’s Baby, Re-Animator, Return of the Living Dead, Chasing Sleep) so I was in the mood for a bad movie. I was rummaging through my VHS collection (which are mostly in boxes) and found this one to wet my appetite. I quickly popped it in and sat back. I particularly found the tagline to be amusing – When Your Nightmare Ends, The Real Terror Begins . I’m shuddering in fear already.
The plot is certainty thin even for a slasher. We’ve got our heroine of sorts named Laura Anderson (Scully) who we learn is of course psychic and blind. After the opening dream sequence we learn that she has a psychic link to Santa killer Ricky Caldwell (played by Moseley in a less then menacing performance) from part 2. He has been in a coma for six years and his doctor (Beymer) is trying to create this link for some reason. Laura’s parents died in a plane crash, which she survived and that left her these powers, and after her session with the doctor she also visits her psychiatrist. She hooks up with her brother and his girlfriend and the trio heads off to grandmother’s house and it just happens to be Christmas Eve. Of course the link was successful and Ricky awakens and is on the loose to spread some holiday mayhem.
Ricky certainty isn’t particularly menacing since he just wanders around with a metal bowl on his head complete with a flashing green light and a dazed look on his face. We get no Santa killer instead he is wandering onto the LA freeway in a halfway open hospital gown. He actually hitches a ride and gets picked up. The grandmother also has these psychic abilities and she also welcomes Ricky into her house as if nothing was the matter. Laura’s brother played by DaRe (Leo Johnson from Twin Peaks, I actually didn’t recognize him at first due to his shaggy Bon Jovi haircut) acts like an eighties rocker and is powerless in trying to protect the household. After the trio arrive at granny’s they are worried since she is missing and only Laura suspects something bad has happened. His doctor and a police detective are hot on the trail but the doctor ditches the cop by stealing the car when he is relieving himself. This after telling a bad joke – “What do you call a person who gets déjà vu twice?, Stupid”. It is pretty oblivious who is going to survive this mess as no real surprises are revealed and the slasher rules are followed. The movie isn’t particularly brutal, we get a couple splashes of blood and some off screen murders. Don’t get me wrong I kind of like this movie as it isn’t really ridiculous. The real kicker is the very ending as we get a hilarious one-liner that I guess is supposed to evoke chills but delivers a good laugh. I’m glad I have this in my collection.
4/10
Silent Night, Deadly Night 3: Better Watch Out! (1989)
Director – Monte Hellman
Cast – Bill Moseley, Samantha Scully, Robert Culp, Richard Beymer, Eric DaRe, Laura Herring
Running Time – 87 minutes
I’ve been watching some very good movies lately (The Ring, The Bride of Frankenstein, Sleepy Hollow, Rosemary’s Baby, Re-Animator, Return of the Living Dead, Chasing Sleep) so I was in the mood for a bad movie. I was rummaging through my VHS collection (which are mostly in boxes) and found this one to wet my appetite. I quickly popped it in and sat back. I particularly found the tagline to be amusing – When Your Nightmare Ends, The Real Terror Begins . I’m shuddering in fear already.
The plot is certainty thin even for a slasher. We’ve got our heroine of sorts named Laura Anderson (Scully) who we learn is of course psychic and blind. After the opening dream sequence we learn that she has a psychic link to Santa killer Ricky Caldwell (played by Moseley in a less then menacing performance) from part 2. He has been in a coma for six years and his doctor (Beymer) is trying to create this link for some reason. Laura’s parents died in a plane crash, which she survived and that left her these powers, and after her session with the doctor she also visits her psychiatrist. She hooks up with her brother and his girlfriend and the trio heads off to grandmother’s house and it just happens to be Christmas Eve. Of course the link was successful and Ricky awakens and is on the loose to spread some holiday mayhem.
Ricky certainty isn’t particularly menacing since he just wanders around with a metal bowl on his head complete with a flashing green light and a dazed look on his face. We get no Santa killer instead he is wandering onto the LA freeway in a halfway open hospital gown. He actually hitches a ride and gets picked up. The grandmother also has these psychic abilities and she also welcomes Ricky into her house as if nothing was the matter. Laura’s brother played by DaRe (Leo Johnson from Twin Peaks, I actually didn’t recognize him at first due to his shaggy Bon Jovi haircut) acts like an eighties rocker and is powerless in trying to protect the household. After the trio arrive at granny’s they are worried since she is missing and only Laura suspects something bad has happened. His doctor and a police detective are hot on the trail but the doctor ditches the cop by stealing the car when he is relieving himself. This after telling a bad joke – “What do you call a person who gets déjà vu twice?, Stupid”. It is pretty oblivious who is going to survive this mess as no real surprises are revealed and the slasher rules are followed. The movie isn’t particularly brutal, we get a couple splashes of blood and some off screen murders. Don’t get me wrong I kind of like this movie as it isn’t really ridiculous. The real kicker is the very ending as we get a hilarious one-liner that I guess is supposed to evoke chills but delivers a good laugh. I’m glad I have this in my collection.
4/10