The episode of Best Horror Movie You Never Saw covering Silent Night, Deadly Night 3 was Written by Andrew Hatfield, Edited by Paul Bookstaber, Narrated by Kier Gomes, Produced by John Fallon and Tyler Nichols, and Executive Produced by Berge Garabedian.

Not everything in a given horror series has to be a stone cold classic. That being said, some series entries don’t get the fair shake they deserve. For example, there are some absolute bangers in the later entries of series like Puppet Master or Child’s Play that are overlooked thanks to entries in, say, Leprechaun or Hellraiser that would make you swear off sequels be it direct to video or not. Some series, like the focus of today’s entry, probably didn’t need or deserve sequels but that never stopped an executive from being greedy before. Silent Night, Deadly Night is an all time classic for a reason but what about its 4, yes, 4 sequels? Part 3, also known as Better Watch Out, sits in an interesting place right in the middle of the series. It has the last plot threads of the first 2 movies, and I use the word plot very loosely, and the 2 after it decided to go the full insanity Halloween III route and have nothing to do with the series apart from title space. Silent Night, Deadly Night 3 (watch it HERE) has its flaws, but it still may be one of the best holiday horror movies you never saw.

Last December I was torn between this entry and the Bryan Yuzna helmed Silent Night, Deadly Night 4 and went with the latter because its absurdity was like a car wreck that I couldn’t take my eyes off of. While I don’t regret that decision and hope that a ton of viewers added that to their naughty list, this year I wanted to spotlight part 3. While it’s not quite as crazy, the cast and director make it an interesting piece and the movie itself has a lot to offer. According to director Monte Hellman, the script was re-written in a week and shooting and editing took no time at all. While this isn’t exactly the hallmark of a great movie, at least it was an easy shoot for all involved. Hellman even mentioned that he thinks this is his best work although the movie is admittedly not his best movie. I can’t find anything on the recent Blu-ray release or online but this screams of being created as a standalone project and then having Silent Night, Deadly Night being shoehorned in much like a lot of the aforementioned Hellraiser movies that were created as one thing and then had a dash of Pinhead added to create a sequel.

Silent Night, Deadly Night 3 Best Horror Movie You Never Saw

The movie opens with a woman named Laura waking up in a hospital and being chased by a very Frankenstein’s Monster looking Bill Moseley. We know her name is Laura because this creature continues to whisper the name as he chases her. She runs into Santa Claus who beckons her to sit on his lap. This must seem like a reasonable request as she begins running through her list of gifts before he brandishes a knife, and she screams to wake herself up. Yep. Not that it didn’t feel like it already, but this was a dream. We also learn that Laura is blind and being observed and treated by a Dr. Newbury. Laura then dreams of the killings from the first movie in the series and we then get shown that the man she dreamed of also exists in the waking world. Another clue that this may not have originally been meant for this series is the cut and pasted on patient info that tells us that he is actually Ricky “Garbage Day” Caldwell from the first 2 movies.

Ricky is played by Bill Moseley, and this is probably pretty low on the list of his horror roles that includes Chop Top from Texas Chainsaw 2 and of course Otis in the Rob Zombie Firefly trilogy. The man is a gem and while he perhaps isn’t on the same level as a Robert Englund or Kane Hodder, he’s just as beloved as someone like Jeffrey Combs with nearly as many memorable roles. Laura is played by Samantha Scully and this is one of only 4 credits for the actress. She definitely gets lost in the crowd here with the other actors but would have done well in the DTV horror realm. Dr. Newbury is played by the first of two Hollywood heavyweights that show up here. Richard Beymer started in TV in the early 50s but was also Tony in West Side Story and eventually Benjamin Horne in the first run of Twin Peaks.

Laura’s dreams have woken up Ricky who thankfully isn’t a walking murder joke and played by a far better actor, but the killing begins again, at least in her dreams. A drunken mall Santa wanders into the hospital and that’s what actually wakes Ricky up who proceeds to kill both the Santa and the receptionist before walking out of the hospital in broad daylight. Laura’s brother and his new girlfriend pick her up from a therapy session and the girlfriend Jerri is played by Laura Harring who is most famous for Mulholland Drive as well as her multi episode runs on soap operas Sunset Beach and General Hospital. The trio decides to head to their grandmother’s house, but Ricky kills the driver who picked him up hitchhiking as well as a gas station attendant who happens to be watching The Terror, a movie that Monte Hellman was an uncredited director on.

Hellman was an interesting selection for director on the project but brings lots of interesting angles and shots. Hellman was one of the maverick directors of the 50s and 60s who started off in very low budget affairs like Beast from Haunted Cave and Back Door to Hell but also has certified cult hits like The Shooting, Two Lane Blacktop, and China 9 Liberty 37. After this movie, he would go 17 years without directing anything but from one maverick director to another, he would help produce Quentin Tarantino’s Reservoir Dogs. Hellman would also get story credit along with Arthur Gorman and Rex Weiner with Rex getting the screenplay credit. Yes, I promise Rex Weiner is a real dude. He also wrote the screenplay for the Andrew Dice Clay vehicle The Adventures of Ford Fairlane. Gorson’s original story and screenplay were rejected but fear not, it was turned into the fourth Silent Night, Deadly Night movie instead.

Ricky beats the group to grandma’s house, and she is just too nice and lets him in with little regard for her safety. Just when the movie starts to drag on, it introduces it’s main police officer character in lieutenant Connely. Instead of a no name here however, we get a damn legend in Robert Culp. Culp had 176 credits and was all over the place from TV shows like The Greatest American Hero and I Spy to movies like The Pelican Brief and Hannie Caulder. He even showed up in the all time classic video game Half Life 2 as Dr. Breen. Also, since I don’t know when I’ll be able to mention it, he’s in the way too creepy TV movie with Eli Wallach A Cold Night’s Death from 1973. Culp plays the cop with zest and more fun than everyone else in the movie combined and really elevates the whole project.

Connely knows who Ricky was and is shocked that he is still alive. Laura can see and know what Ricky does but due to their link, he can too. Laura’s brother Chris and Jerri look for Granny, but they come up with nothing and then find out their car is missing. Laura senses Ricky but they don’t find him while Connely continues to find the trail of bodies that will lead him to our group with the good doctor. Ricky makes his presence known by breaking through a door with his hands to choke Jerri. They find a shotgun and attempt to escape but Ricky finds them and kills Chris. Moseley’s performance is so different than the first two killers in the series. Billy is a damaged psychopath who snaps and you still feel some sort of pathos for while Ricky in part 2 is maybe the strangest and most laughable villain, unintentionally or not, in any slasher film ever. Here, Bill plays him with a quiet rage and even an affable kindness at times where maybe he doesn’t know what he’s doing or doesn’t want to kill.

The doc shows up in the car he stole from Connely and tries to talk Ricky down, to try and understand him. Ricky doesn’t want to be understood however and the base impulses of his damaged brain take over in his pursuit of Laura. He kills the overly confident doctor and goes after the girls. While the first three movies of this series could constitute as slasher movies, this one does it the best, primarily due to Moseley’s performance. The lights go out and Laura finds Jerri’s corpse before confronting Ricky. He thinks maybe she understands him but when she screams and runs away, he goes overboard in his chase for her. She finds granny’s body and a voice tells her to use her power to even the odds. She turns off all the lights to try and make it even in a Wait Until Dark situation. She is able to fight off and kill Ricky as Connely and the backup arrive. They take her away and she wishes the lieutenant a merry Christmas followed by Ricky wishing the audience a happy new year. It’s not really a twist ending as he’s almost ethereal. I see it as his spirit is finally at peace.

The movie did well on the direct to video market and did play some festivals but never got a wide or even limited theatrical release. It wraps up the trilogy in unique a unique way and while it is a tad slow, it’s different enough from the first two that it makes for a worthwhile viewing, especially if you marathon them. For a while it was only released on poor quality DVDs with other middling movies but in 2022 Vestron Video released it on a triple pack Blu-ray with parts 4 and 5. Special features were included and it’s just nice to be able to have the entire series on physical and high def. if you don’t want to take a chance on a blind buy, it’s usually on Tubi for streaming. Grab some hot cocoa and move this from your naughty list to the nice list of best holiday horror movies you never saw.

A couple previous episodes of the Best Horror Movie You Never Saw series can be seen below. To see more, and to check out some of our other shows, head over to the JoBlo Horror Originals YouTube channel – and subscribe while you’re there!