Silent Night, Deadly Night 4: Initiation

Name: Silent Night, Deadly Night 4: Initiation
Released: 1990
Duration: 87 min

21/100Festive FactorWhy it scores 21 ↓

UK certificate 1887 min
Horror

The fourth Silent Night, Deadly Night drops the killer Santa entirely and puts a coven of witches and a…

Plan this film night ↓Can the kids watch? ↓

+ Add to a list

Explore Ho Ho Horror →

Explore this film 4 sections

The CineClaus Christmas score

Festive Factor

A different kind of Christmas.

Two paper elves inspect a miniature red bookshop with frosted windows, black beetles, coloured lights and candles glowing in front of shelves of books. — A little magic in the making.

Five ingredients make the Festive Factor.
Open an ingredient to find out more.

Christmas in the storyChristmas is only the occasion.10/30

What we ask: Take Christmas out. Does the plot survive? Worth up to 30 of the 100 points.

A world dressed for ChristmasVisibly Christmas for the final act.5/20

What we ask: How much of the running time is visibly Christmas? Worth up to 20 of the 100 points.

The little seasonal details2 of the 10 kinds of Christmas icon we count turn up on screen.3/15

What we ask: How many kinds of Christmas icon turn up on screen: trees, lights, snow, carols and the rest? Worth up to 15 of the 100 points.

A Christmas heartHow far the ending rests on goodwill, family and belief: not at all.0/20

What we ask: Does the ending depend on what Christmas means: goodwill, family, redemption, belief? Worth up to 20 of the 100 points.

A returning traditionNiche at Christmas (under 25,000).3/15

What we ask: Is it actually watched at Christmas in the UK? Worth up to 15 of the 100 points.

12/100

Cosiness Rating Rating

Chilly in tone. Genuinely frightening. An unsettled ending.

How we score →

What do these scores mean?

Festive Factor measures how Christmassy a film is. Five ingredients add up to 100: story (30), setting (20), seasonal details (15), emotional heart (20) and returning tradition (15).

Cosiness is a separate score for warmth of tone, sense of safety, visual comfort, a reassuring ending and how easily you can settle into it.

How the Festive Factor works →

The story

About Silent Night, Deadly Night 4: Initiation

A junior reporter, Kim, chases the story of a woman who fell burning from a building, after her editor hands it to her boyfriend instead. Her digging leads her to Fima, who runs a bookshop in the same building and draws her into a women's coven with a Christmas Eve ritual in mind. As insects overrun her flat and her body starts to change, Kim realises the coven means her to be the centrepiece of that ritual. A grotesque body-horror sequel that drops the series' killer Santa altogether and keeps only the Christmas season.

The CineClaus verdict

The fourth Silent Night, Deadly Night drops the killer Santa entirely and puts a coven of witches and a plague of insects in his place. Christmas survives as background decoration and a ritual date, kept because the series name demanded it.

Brian Yuzna commits fully to the body horror, and the make-up effects by Screaming Mad George still turn the stomach. As a Christmas film it barely registers. Watch it for the effects, on a night when nobody has just eaten.

The family desk