YMMV / Silent Night, Deadly Night

• Alternative Character Interpretation: Is Mother Superior a Well-Intentioned Extremist, or is she the real Big Bad? When Billy is moments away from bringing the axe down upon her head, she doesn't scream or show any fear, and even appears to Face Death with Dignity. However, it's dubious if she shows any remorse for her treatment of Billy during his childhood. The Cinema Snob likes to lean towards the latter.
• Bile Fascination: If one of the most respected critics says that a film is just as despicable as I Spit on Your Grave and tells the filmmaker on live TV that his film's profits are blood money, people will be interested.
• Cry for the Devil: Billy. After witnessing both his parents being murdered on the night of Christmas as a child, and being mistreated by the Mother Superior, worsening his psychological issues, you'd almost excuse him for going completely Ax-Crazy.
• Ho Yay: When Sister Margaret introduces Billy to Mr. Sims the camera pans up Billy's body, making it look like Mr. Sims is Eating the Eye Candy.

• Older Than They Think: Christmas Evil had a plot about a man who had a Christmas-related trauma as a child and who as an adult ends being driven off the deep end, which inspires him to dress as Santa to punish the naughty, four years before Silent Night, Deadly Night (albeit much less controversially).
• One-Scene Wonder: Grandpa Chapman and his scene-chewing speech about the horrors of Christmas.
• Overshadowed by Controversy: It's hard to talk about the movie without bringing up the massive protests it sparked upon release, due to parental offense at the movie being about a slasher who murders people while dressed in a Santa suit.
• Retroactive Recognition: Otis "Old Man" Peabody was Grandpa Chapman.
• Ron the Death Eater: Pamela, of all people, with some calling her an Ungrateful Bitch who deserved to be killed, because she didn't thank Billy for killing the guy who was trying to rape her. Even though there's a world of difference between just saving Pamela from her would-be rapist, and garrotting the guy to death with a set of Christmas lights. At most, her actions fall under Too Dumb to Live for yelling at and slapping Billy right after he killed someone, and even that's a huge stretch considering that she's clearly shocked and traumatised.
• Rooting for the Empire: It’s not uncommon to see people who wish that Billy wasn’t interrupted when trying to kill Mother Superior, given how much of an abusive jerkass she is and her being the one primarily responsible for driving Billy to insanity.

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