By Geno McGahee
I’m just going to say it. Clint Howard sucks. I know that he is used all the time and that he’s liked by many, but I am not one of them. He is a shitty actor that relies on his strange look and only his strange look to sell a role. We see it here in SILENT NIGHT, DEADLY NIGHT 4: INITIATION and he proves to be the most distracting unnecessary role in the film.
It’s pretty obvious that this film has no connection to the other entries in the series that came before it and that it barely qualifies as a Christmas film. It obviously was rebranded with the “Silent Night, Deadly Night” title to sell it, which is nothing new and I knew it going in, basically. It seemed that the series lost its way quickly after the second entry.
This film was in love with transitions and animations for the opening credits. They must have just gotten them in and wanted to use each and every effect they had in the package. At times, it almost hinted that the film would be in 3-D, but it was just another different effect they owned and wanted to use. At least they got their money’s worth.
We begin with Ricky (Clint Howard) as a homeless guy walking the streets and eating a bug covered hamburger to set the tone that this film will use gross visuals for effect. We then see some woman fall off a building while her crotch and legs are on fire.
Kim (Neith Hunter) is working at a newspaper in a minimal position while her boyfriend, Hank (Tommy Hinkley) has a better position. She desperately wants to cover the death for the paper, but Eli (Reggie Bannister), the boss, doesn’t approve and keeps her on the classifieds. She elects to cover the story secretly and she starts getting into some deep shit as she goes.
While doing research at a bookstore, Ricky enters and pokes her in the ass and then the storeowner, Fima (Maud Adams), gives her a big kiss on the cheek. This is very strange. I never had this happen at Barnes & Noble. I’ve purchased many books, but never had the clerk come around and give me a kiss on the cheek. I might welcome it, but I’ll pass on the Clint Howard ass grab.
Thanks to some drugging by Fima, Kim starts to hallucinate a lot. She sees cockroaches everywhere, including a huge one. This film is big on the visuals and they don’t add a great deal unless you are really put off by cockroaches.
Spoilers Ahead…if you care… at all…
Fima is the leader of an all-woman cult and she is recruiting Kim with some gross out methods to initiate her, including sex with Ricky while he wears some dildo-nosed mask. They wanted to give us disturbing images and Clint Howard with a dick growing out of his face is about as disturbing as it gets. They throw some ugly old women in there in some sort of sexual scene to add to the audience’s discomfort.
Ricky murders Hank and the ritual is nearly complete but there’s one more piece to the puzzle. Kim has to kidnap and kill Hank’s younger brother, Lonnie (Conan Yuzna), to stop her crotch from burning to hell. Most people might say that they wouldn’t kill anyone, but if it was the life of somebody else or your cock being set on fire, you may reconsider your stance.
In the end, Kim does the right thing and doesn’t kill Lonnie, but he’s fucked anyway. His brother Hank was killed and so were his grandparents. His grandfather, Gus (Ben Slack), was a prick but that’s all Lonnie had left at that point. So, the film ends with Lonnie being spared, but is he going to live with Kim now? She’s the one that set up his family to be killed, basically. It’d be sort of weird if they moved in together.
SILENT NIGHT, DEADLY NIGHT 4: INITIATION relies on shock value to be memorable. Neith Hunter does pretty good in the lead role and does her best to sell it, but it’s just not very good material to work with and I’ve already told you what I think of Cilnt Howard. They have him in nearly every scene and he’s just so bad. Filmmakers must think that they’ll get on Ron Howard’s good side by casting him.
I have to give some credit for the death of Fima at the end of the film. Totally engulfed in flames and tossed off a building is pretty good. That made it nearly worth it to watch to the end, but the rest of the film was pretty poor. It was trying to be ROSEMARY’S BABY mixed with some WICKER MAN and blended with absolutely none of the SILENT NIGHT, DEADLY NIGHT series that came before it.
It’s a strong pass on this one, but if you have to choose between this one and the third, pick this one. At least they sort of tried to make a good movie here. It just missed the mark.