Platypuschow I consider Silent Night, Deadly Night 1 & 2 to be underwhelming but passable slasher flicks, this third part however is a different creature altogether.So Ricky Caldwell found himself in a coma after the final events of the last film, somehow he's formed a psychic connection with a blind girl and when he predictably awakens and goes on a killing spree she is his target.This time he's mute, no more yelling "Naughty" or "Punish" in fact he's near enough braindead. He resembles more of a Frankensteins monster rather than the serial killer we're used to seeing.This could have worked but alas doesn't. The story is a mess, the whole thing is incredibly boring, the kills are uninspired and not one part of it works.To make matters worse Ricky has been recast! Taking the role is horror legend Bill Moseley which you'd think would be a great thing but a mute role like this is one he could do little with. This is certainly not Moseleys finest hour.Not on par with the first two, this is a mindless cash grab.The Good:Not a sausageThe Bad:RecastingIncredibly boringThings I Learnt From This Movie:"She'll come back and she'll let me go as deep as I want, she likes it, loves it" The writer was horny when he was writing this film, this above line was not even remotely meant to be sexual.

Scott LeBrun "Silent Night, Deadly Night III: Better Watch Out!" begins as a sexy young blind woman, Laura (Samantha Scully) is having nightmares featuring the previous movie's psycho Santa killer Ricky Caldwell (now played by genre icon Bill Moseley). As it turns out, her demented doctor, Newbury (Richard Beymer) has been planning to probe the mind of Ricky, who is still alive yet in a coma, and is using Laura to this end. Laura and Ricky now share a psychic link; what one sees, the other sees. As Laura, her brother Chris (Eric DaRe), and Chris's new girlfriend Jerri (Laura Harring) travel to the family homestead to visit with Laura and Chris's grandma (Elizabeth Hoffman), Ricky naturally escapes and leaves a few bodies in his wake as he attempts to meet up with Laura. Trailing Ricky are Dr. Newbury and a detective named Connelly (Robert Culp). Done by cult favourite director Monte Hellman ("The Shooting", "Two-Lane Blacktop", etc.) basically as a favour, Part 3 largely eschews any sense of humour that the previous sequel displayed, playing its material with a very straight face. The one exception to this approach is the ever so slightly off kilter character of Connelly, amusingly and effectively played by Culp, a man who's quick with the sardonic quips, and who has one strange yet memorable exchange with Beymer during a car ride. The character and performance are really the best thing about Part 3, which unfortunately, despite some solid atmosphere, is ultimately too tedious to maintain much interest. It should be pointed out that one supposed shock moment just falls way too flat. The science fiction element is a fresh enough new element, but it fails to inject much life into the story. Moseley, better known for much more uninhibited performances in movies like "The Devil's Rejects" and "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre Part 2", is awfully low key here; his antagonist never registers very strongly, or inspires much fear or unease. Co-star Harring does show off some of her nice body in a bathtub scene, but horror fans who crave nudity and lots of gore aren't going to find enough here to suit their tastes. As an interesting footnote, though, it's been noted by buffs that both DaRe and Beymer became regulars on 'Twin Peaks' after and that Harring would get a showcase role in David Lynch's feature film "Mulholland Drive". (It's also worth noting that Hellman and executive producers Richard Gladstein and Ronna Wallace would also executive produce Tarantino's break through film "Reservoir Dogs" a few years later.) Not even the finale (which borrows a little from "Wait Until Dark") is particularly exciting. Scully's character isn't particularly likable, although some viewers could see that as an appreciable break from convention. The use of archive footage is still present, but not prevalent. In any event, SNDN No. 3 is dull, draggy, and something of a chore to sit through. Hellman's daughter Melissa plays Newbury's assistant. Four out of 10.

lost-in-limbo You know things aren't going so well, when you start to think that you rather be watching 'Silent Night, Deadly Night Part 2' again and this indeed was running through my head during the very plodding part 3. Sure it's competently produced and slicker than the first two (way ahead in those stakes), but what a total snooze fest with a bunch of niggling characters. I know the shoddy second film has a bad wrap, but at least it was brainlessly cheesy fun, which this entry completely fumbled. Gone is the wicked dark humor (well it does try with less than flattering results) and forcefully graphic carnage, replaced with a leadenly talkative script (which does on to meander in many scenes), uninterestedly indifferent performances (does Robert Culp know what the movie's about?) and plenty of flat build-ups that lead to off-screen kills with a spurt of blood. Lame! This straight to video effort (which the next two would follow path) pretty much continues on from 'Part 2', but trying to get away from the randomly standard stalk and slash angle where it adds another idea involving the unusual connection between the comatose Ricky (who survived the head shot with his exposed brain being protected by a Plexiglas cap) and a clairvoyant blind girl Laura, which her doctor was using those physic abilities to get into the mind of Ricky (although unknown to her). However in doing so she gets nightmarish images she rather no talk about, but through these experiments Ricky actually awakens from the coma and because of that attachment he heads after Laura.Credit for trying some different, but it got completely daft and spineless leading to something routine. At the beginning it started using scenes from the first film in what Laura's character was seeing in her visions and I was thinking… "Here we go again?". Gladly it wasn't the case. The only thing that achieved some sort of energy was the hysterical screaming by Samantha Scully as the stubbornly unlikeable blind heroine, but again that wasn't entirely convincing. Moments within the plot actually reminded me of John Carl Buechler's 'Friday the 13th Part 7: New Blood' (1988). Now that one was better. Popping up as the maniac Ricky is Bill Moseley as his robotic manner goes through it with that plastic bowl on top of his head getting most of the attention. Robert Culp gives a batty performance, while Richard Beymer goes for stiltedly serious temperament. Laura Harring and Eric DaRe also appear. The busily echoing score punches out the electronic cues. The man in the director's chair Monte Hellman ('The Shooting', 'Cockfighter' and 'Two-lane Blacktop') does a stylish, but lethargic job which lacked a sinister bite. Bit of atmosphere in some dreamy parts and camera placement showed some inventiveness, but it triggers no tension, no jolts and no fun.

HumanoidOfFlesh Dr.Newbury has saved the life of the hideously injured Ricky Caldwell.The doctor has encased his patient's explosive brain inside a Plexiglas cap,yet he has failed to revive him from his deep coma.In Newbury's attempt to reach the comatose victim's mind,he connects Ricky's brain waves to a gifted clairvoyant,Laura Anderson,who unexpectedly taps into the dark and twisted realm of his haunted dreams.Ghastly things begin to happen and detective Connoly(Robert Culp),must fight to stop the dangerous experiment."Silent Night,Deadly Night 3" is a mediocre horror film at its best.The pace is horrendously slow,the script is terrible and the acting is weak.Still there are some interesting camera angles and the film is suitably interesting.The next sequel was a completely unrelated gorefest from Brian Yuzna,whose unusual vision—often rejected by series fans—was at least a change of pace.6 out of 10.