At once a remake of Silent Night, Deadly Night and the sixth movie in the series, it’s amazing how good Silent Night is. Director Steven C. Miller turned to action films after this, which is a shame, because he gets how horror works. The script by Jayson Rothwell is great, too.

There’s a Santa killing sinners in Cryer, Wisconsin and he’s not shy or quiet about it. The cops, on the other hand, are following the lead of Sheriff James Cooper (Malcolm McDowell) and not telling the mayor or the media. Deputy Aubrey Bradimore (Jaime King, the queen of 2000s remakes after being in My Bloody Valentine 3D and Mother’s Day) is on the case as she worries if she’s made for being a cop, struggling to live up to the example of her father Hank (John B. Lowe), the former sheriff, and attempting to get over the death of her husband.

For a small town, there are a ton of suspects, including drug dealer Stein Karsson (Mike O’Brien), Reverend Madely (Curtis Moore) or drunk Santa Jim Epstein (Donal Logue). Or maybe it could be someone involved in the night that Santa turned a flamethrower on a party, which was based on the real life Covina Holiday Massacre in which Bruce Jeffrey Pardo dressed as Santa and then killed nine people by gunshot wounds and fire.

An old man regaining his voice to yell “Watch out!,” someone being impaled on antlers and even a “Garbage day!” callback. Silent Night has fun being in this film series and brings plenty of gore and holiday spite to stand out and be at the top of the holiday horror tree.