Silent Night, Deadly Night 4: Initiation Review
Directed by Brian Yuzna
Written by Richard N. Gladstein , Arthur Gorson, Woody Keith, S.J. Smith and Brian Yuzna
"Fuck my attitude, fuck the job, and fuck you!"
Merry Christmas and welcome one and all to the annual Silent Night, Deadly Night movie review! Each year I review the next movie in the Deadly Night franchise and if you hadn't already noticed, I am not too merry on this series. So far, the quality has skied downhill more and more with each passing film and the first wasn't up a high slope to begin with. The saving grace of our last movie: Silent Night, Deadly Night 3: Better Watch Out! was that it couldn't get any worse. Let's see if that's really true...
Initiation opens with a homeless man (Clint fucking Howard!) watching a woman half ablaze falling to her death and you quickly realize that this movie has nothing to do with the previous entries. That's right, no Ricky, no Santa Clause PTSD and most importantly... no more Garbage Days. Deadly Night has taken the Halloween III approach and has decided to turn into an anthology show, too late into the series. Initiation even shows Clint Howard watching Silent Night, Deadly Night 3 during the movie, what is that about? I should be bothered, since I wasted my time on three other connected movies and I might as well get closure... but to be honest, I don't like the tale of the Caldwell family all too much and I'm happy to move onto something HOPEFULLY more interesting. Initiation is about cults, ambition, empowerment and insects, so the only thing it has in common with the others of the series is it's lack of Christmas spirit. I'd love at least one of these sequels to have a festive vibe but Part Four is only bookended with a little Xmas scenery, you forget it's even winter during most of the movie.
Our protagonist Kim Levitt (Neith Hunter) is a determined journalist in training, unfortunately she's surrounded by piggish men (This is one of those movies that just presents ever male possible as a scumbag) who only let her investigate the coffee machine. She becomes intrigued by the fiery rooftop death I told you about earlier and she decides she's writing a piece on it, whether her boss likes it or not. So naturally she gets involved with a group of cult librarians who try to feed her insects guts and use her body as a surrogate for the rebirth of the cult leaders recently deceased daughter, as you do. It actually gets so weird that it's actually pretty entertaining. The first act is slow and fairly unengaging but after the most bizarre library scene with the more awkward handshake ever put on screen passes, Initiation takes a turn for the bizarre. Kim is stalked by visions of cockroaches and chased by that crazy homeless guy, Ricky (Yeah, I don't know why they called him after the killer of the last movie either) from the opening. Initiation even has some interesting subtext thanks to the psychotic cult leader Fima (Maud Adams). She compares the men in Kims life to parasites, infecting every aspect of her life and making her day to day more difficult (which might explain the cockroaches invading her home). I also noticed Neith Hunter would, every now and then, argue like a child having a strop because she's not getting her own way. I couldn't tell if this was inconsistent acting or an on purpose reference to her being used as a vessel for Fimas younger daughter. I did noticed that she talked to Kim in a very mothering and sensitive way. There's a good chance I'm looking way too deep into a low grade movie but hey, I just thought it was interesting. Initiation does dig into some feminist subtext and themes but it never quite makes a statement, so it's hard to recover a meaningful point from the viewing experience.
It's hard to root for our protagonist Kim, she comes off very awkward and she just isn't very interesting as a whole. I can connect to her being underused and feeling that she has more to offer the world but the film never quite gives her the chance to sell it. Her boyfriend Hank starts to redeem himself towards the end but his unfavorable actions at the beginning were too off-putting for me come round to him. I will say his dad is relentlessly and hilariously religious in his one big scene, bless him for the commitment to the character. The legendary Clint Howard would usually play the oddball outcast very well and here he plays the oddball HOMELESS outcast, Ricky. So this is good ol' classic Clint Howard doing his thing. I think the most interesting character is cult leader Fima. She's just so off angle and awkward that it's entertaining. I honestly don't know if she's an horrendous actress or if she's playing the part flawlessly, either way, good show Maud Adams.
I was shocked during the opening credits to find that the director and effects artist of the outstanding Re-Animator movie were actually involved with this sequel and they didn't disappoint, adding their usual "What the fuck am I watching" scenes and wonderful practical effects. Giant squiggling practical larvae and peeping Tom giant cockroaches and Kafka vibes are abound and it's by far the most entertaining part of the movie. Every scene involving special effects were confusing but kind of wonderful. My only issue is that they didn't go weird enough. I assume the budget wouldn't allow for it but I would have been very open to a much more experimental movie.
Silent Night, Deadly Night 4: Initiation isn't a great piece of Christmas cinema by any stretch of the imagination but the step into the weird and wonderful was certainly a great departure from the painfully slow Santa slasher features. It's characters and their arcs are the spine of the movie but are unfortunately also the worst part, dooming the film from the start. Thankfully the practical insect effects, unintentionally awkward scenes and balls to the wall direction saved me from falling asleep. It's a Christmas Miracle!
Rating: **
As good as > Silent Night, Deadly Night Worse than > Gremlins
Main pros
-Weird practical effects -Bizarre and awkward scenes -Possible interesting subtext?
Main cons
-Uninteresting characters -Inconsistent acting -Weak first act -Half-baked plot
I recommend you look for the supremely awkward library scene. Look out for the awkwardly long handshake, the sexual tension and the hilariously sassy painting.
Well that is that for another year. In the Winter of 2019 I will be reviewing Silent Night, Deadly Night 5: The Toy Maker and at this point, I have no idea what to expect apart from another weak entry. Hopefully it'll build off the weirdness of Initiation and surprise me.
Merry Christmas to all and thanks for joining me.
