silent night deadly night

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Super Soundtrack: Silent Night, Deadly Night (1984)

Though this blog is Halloween Shindig, we’ve been known to take brief holiday detours once Christmas rolls around. Particularly for a film that is near and dear to our hearts….

Primarily this is because Halloween Shindig is a music blog and one of our favorite things about Silent Night, Deadly Night is its unique and original Christmas soundtrack.

5 years ago, when this blog was in its infancy, we posted 2 songs and several crummy gifs (now revamped) from the film.  We also asked if anyone knew where we could find the rest of this bizarre music. Of course no one did, because no one knew and no one reads this blog.

However, Death Waltz Records apparently heard our Christmas prayers.

A few years back, they released a double-album featuring not only the unreleased soundtrack by Morgan Ames but also the erratic and beautifully atonal synth score from Perry Botkin. Double bonus.

We thought, it being Christmas and all, that this was a perfect time to roll out a second Super Soundtrack, and give the entire OST and score a little extra Shindig magic.

This Super Soundtrack comes complete with all the original Morgan Ames tracks from the film (plus a bonus track!) and the majority of the Perry Botkin score, all arranged chronologically with tons of great samples to wrap it up in a naughty Christmas bow. We hope you enjoy this gift as much as we do.


Click Silent Night, Deadly Night Super Soundtrack to download a zip file containing all the songs, the artwork and an iTunes playlist file!

Or you can stream it directly below!

So grab a carton of milk and relax under a tiger painting to this festive audio offering.

A few notes here on this amazing album:

This soundtrack is nuts.

What I imagine happened was that either the producers didn’t have the budget to shell out for actual Christmas music or no one was willing to give them the rights to use that music in such a context. Or the 3rd option that they just wanted to have an amazing soundtrack filled with new and interesting Christmas music.

Whatever the reason, what emerged was an absolute gem of an album, both as a Soundtrack and just a good-ole-fashioned Christmas album. Some of these tracks sound so legit you’d almost believe they were actual, pre-existing Christmas songs: specifically, the festive carol Christmas Fever and the subtly unnerving Santa’s Watching, a tune which characters even reference during the movie, adding to its legitimacy.

The original title for Silent Night, Deadly Night was Slay Ride,  which is a pretty outstanding title on its own. It was pitched, backed, filmed and even edited with this title, only changing in the last minute for reasons unbeknownst to this blog.

As such, Morgan Ames whipped up one hell of an (almost) Title Track for that movie which, unfortunately,  is not featured in the final cut, despite being listed in the credits. For years this drove me nuts. “Slayrider? What fucking song is that?! I need to hear this song immediately! What is this nonsense!?”

The silver lining, of course, is that it exists, someone found it and then decided it was a good idea to finally release it. They were right, because it’s an awesome song. A song I wish was actually featured in the movie, however out of place it may have been there.

Also, the official Death Waltz release contains 2 other songs that I decided to omit from the Super Soundtrack, I Want To Sing You a Love Song and Christmas Party.

These songs aren’t particularly memorable nor are they featured in the film (or even listed in the credits) and so are extraneous in my estimation. I apologize if you really like them. My guess is, you won’t lose any sleep over it.

In closing, I’d just like to say that I really can’t properly express how stoked I was when this album was released. I honestly never thought it would happen. And not just to finally have access to full versions of Christmas Flu or It Must Be Christmas, or to finally hear (and be overcome with Christmas joy over) Slayrider, but because Perry Botkin’s score is absolutely bonkers. It really is as unsettled and layered as Billy’s psyche and works perfectly to express that unbalanced nature.

I love it, and I hope you will love this blending of the many sounds of Silent Night, Deadly Night.
Merry Christmas!

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The Warm Side of the Door

It’s Christmas morning! Were you good this year? Well, it doesn’t matter, because Santa is here.

As disturbing as that may sound, here’s some consolation, in the form of another Morgan Ames Christmas tune from Silent Night, Deadly Night, The Warm Side of the Door.

This is the only other song which appears in the movie in its entirety. If anyone has this soundtrack, or knows where I might be able to procure it (if indeed it even exists) drop me a line, cause I need some of the other gems from this flick.

There’s always people who love you, to kiss you and hug you, on the warm side of the door.

Now, while I have no idea what this actually means, it’s a nice Christmas sentiment (I think) and the montage that accompanies it is one of the nicer moments in Silent Night, Deadly Night.

In a film where Christmas horrors of all kinds abound, this montage offers us a glimpse into Billy’s life away from the nightmare that is Christmas; where he merrily stacks boxes, lifts small children to reach toys, declines booze in favor of milk, and straightens ends caps directly after punching out, to the well deserved nods of his boss.

Unfortunately for everyone involved, this montage wraps up just in time for Christmas, when Billy’s pleasant disposition will soon transform into murderous punishment.

So, before that can happen, take a moment, maybe with a brother, to enjoy the warm side of the door,…before its kicked in by the shiny boot of Santa and an ax is lodged in your chest.

Merry Christmas Tumblr, or the warm side of the door, as I’m now calling it.

 

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Santa’s Watching

The first Silent Night, Deadly Night track I have to offer is Morgan Ames’ “Santa’s Watching,” just in time for your Christmas Eve.

This is an unsettling song which plays throughout, and is even referred to within, the movie. Not unlike a normal Christmas song, “Santa’s Watching” is a festive carol about how Santa is creeping, and watching, and knowing exactly whether you’ve been good or bad. However, in the context of the movie, coupled with it’s slightly off lyrics, this song becomes a holiday nightmare.

Merry Christmas Eve. I hope you’ve been good all year.

 

Silent Night, Musical Night

This is indeed a Halloween blog. More specifically, its a blog concerning a Halloween playlist of custom songs I’ve created over the last 10 years. However tonight is Christmas Eve, so I believe a brief yuletide interlude is in order.

For the Halloween or monster fiend, there is no shortage of holiday horror offerings to satiate their blood-lust this time of year. Be it Bob Clark’s ground-breaking Black Christmas, Britain’s sleazy Don’t Open Til Christmas, the fantastically bizarre Christmas Evil, or more ridiculous and underrated creature offerings like Evles or Jack Frost.

Easily my favorite however is 1984’s notorious Silent Night, Deadly Night, which has recently gone under the not-exactly-a-remake knife in the form of Silent Night. I’ll pass, thank you very much.

Of all the greatness that is this film – childhood trauma, Santa murder, Santa rape, regular rape, strangulation, antler murder, random-ass bow and arrow murder, grunting ax-throwing, topless Linnea Quigley, sledding decapitation, scary grandpas, excessive tiger paintings, Jabba the Hutt toys, plus 2 different Santas being gunned down in front of children by inept police officers – perhaps my favorite aspect is still its unique Christmas music, some of which the film tries to pass off as legitimate holiday fare.

These songs are not, however, traditional, or found anywhere else for that matter. So for Christmas this year, I thought I give Tumblr some of these songs. Merry Christmas internet.