‘When your nightmare ends, the real terror begins.’
Silent Night, Deadly Night III: Better Watch Out! is a 1989 slasher horror film in which comatose Ricky Caldwell reawakens and begins to stalk a blind woman, who he shares a psychic connection with.
The movie was directed by Monte Hellman (Trapped Ashes; Beast from Haunted Cave) from a screenplay co-written with Rex Weiner [as Carlos Laszlo], based on a story by producer Arthur Gorson (writer of Initiation: Silent Night, Deadly Night 4; producer of Cronos).
A direct-to-video release, the film is the second sequel to the 1984 film Silent Night, Deadly Night (1984).
Plot:
After being shot down by police at the end of the previous film, the infamous Santa Claus Killer Richard “Ricky” Caldwell has been left comatose for six years, with a transparent dome being affixed to his head by the doctors in order to repair his damaged skull. Wanting to contact Ricky, the eccentric Doctor Newbury begins using a blind clairvoyant girl named Laura Anderson to try reach out to him.
One Christmas Eve, after a particularly traumatic session with Newbury, Laura begins to regret her participation in his experiment, but Newbury tries to convince her to keep trying, saying that they can talk more after Laura returns home from visiting her grandmother over the holiday.
After Laura is picked up from the hospital by her older brother Chris, a drunk hospital employee dressed as Santa Claus wanders into Ricky’s room and begins taunting him, rousing Ricky back to consciousness. Killing the Santa impersonator, Ricky escapes from the hospital, taking a letter opener with him after killing a receptionist as well…
Choice dialogue:
Doctor Newbury: “There are no innocent people, Lieutenant. We are all guilty.”
Production:
At a screening at the Alamo Drafthouse in Austin, Texas in July 2008, director Monte Hellman introduced the film, saying he thought it was his best work (though not his best film). His esteem for the work was partly due, he said, to the speed at which the entire project was put together.
The original script was thrown out and rewritten in one week, starting in March. By the end of April, principal photography was done, editing was done in May (with Hellman taking time out to go to the Cannes Film Festival), and by July 1989 there was an answer print screened at a film festival.
Release:
International Video Entertainment released the film on VHS, while Image Entertainment released it on LaserDisc.
Lions Gate Entertainment released the film along with its sequels, Silent Night, Deadly Night 4: Initiation and Silent Night, Deadly Night 5: The Toy Maker as a three-disc set on December 1, 2009.
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Lionsgate re-released the film to DVD on January 4, 2011, in a 4-Film Collection set along with My Best Friend Is a Vampire, Repossessed, and Slaughter High.
Buy DVD: Amazon.com
Cast and characters:
Bill Moseley as Richard “Ricky” Caldwell – Death House; House of 1000 Corpses; The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2; et al
Richard Beymer as Doctor Newbury – Home: The Horror Story
Samantha Scully as Laura Anderson – Bloodsuckers (1997)
Eric Da Re as Chris Anderson
Laura Harring as Jerri
Robert Culp as Lt. Connelly – Santa’s Slay
Elizabeth Hoffman as Granny Anderson
Richard C. Adams as Santa
Melissa Hellman as Doctor Newbury’s assistant
Isabel Cooley as Hospital receptionist
Leonard Mann as Laura’s psychiatrist
Carlos Palomino as Truck driver
Marc Dietrich as Craig
Jim Ladd as Newscaster
Richard N. Gladstein as Detective
Tamela Song as Nurse
Michael Ameen as Coroner
Jeremiah Sird as Garbage Dave
Eric Freeman as Ricky Caldwell
Ron Moriarity as Detective
Nadya Wynd as Sister Mary
Jonathan Best as Billy Chapman aged five
Melissa Best as Infant Ricky
Tara Buckman as Ellie Chapman
Geoff Hansen as Jim Chapman
Charles Dierkop as Killer Santa Claus
Filming locations:
Piru, California
Film facts:
A clip from The Terror (1963) featuring Boris Karloff and Jack Nicholson is seen on TV. Hellman was one of the directors who worked, uncredited, on the Roger Corman movie.
