In 2009, I reviewed the original four Silent Night, Deadly Night movies. I did not review the fifth one, however, and it wasn’t until today that I was able to sit down and review it. I saw it last night. “Silent Night Deadly Night 5: The Toy Maker” came out in 1991 and stars Mickey Rooney, of all people, and the poster art is kind of cool. The series at this point was a joke, and this movie doesn’t necessarily follow along with the rest of the movies, with the sole exception of a somewhat killer Santa at one point, but it’s short lived.
The plot of the movie is a bit all over the place. We are introduced to Joe Petto (get it, eh, eh), and his son Pino (again, get it, eh, eh), and they are toy sellers. These will be the villains, but not at first, at first we get a kill with a crazy toy orb that suffocates the father of our lead kid. The kid says very little for the rest of the movie after that. In that regard, this pays homage to the first movie since there’s a death sequence in the first act. The movie goes along with Pino breaking into the home of the kid, setting up booby-trapped toys, and then moving along to worse. That’s the simplest way I can explain this plot, but even then, there’s so much in between that doesn’t push the plot forward, including a near pornographic sex scene with a babysitter.
The pacing of this movie is horrible. I had to pause the film at one point because it seemed to be epicly long, but it was only 50 minutes in. Suffice to say that 50 minutes into this one, you’re not going to miss much, with the sole exception of introduction to characters. There’s a lot of downtime to set up the third act, and then the final act.
Things go off the rails in “Silent Night Deadly Night 5: The Toy Maker” when Pino is discovered to have a secret, and changes the course of the movie completely. I won’t give away the twist, but that’s enough to spoil this movie I’m sure. It’s almost as though the writers threw their hands up and just went with a science fiction nod, more than a horror one, and well there are some awkward moments. I cannot express how awkward it is to see Pino dry humping a lady and calling her mommy, or maybe that’s it, the expression. Whatever the case may be, the final act goes off the rails and you are treated to the best part of the entire movie, which isn’t saying a whole lot as this thing really is slow.
“Silent Night Deadly Night 5: The Toy Maker” is not going to be one of those movies you go back to a lot. The first film in the series is a classic, the second one is laughable, and then things really go bad with the sequels. The posters aren’t half bad, the movie does stick with you for the ending, I will give it that much credit. However, other than a few jump scares, some creepy toys, and a moment of a killer Santa, this movie is awful. I only recommend it for those that are wanting to complete the series, collect the dvds, or just want something in the Christmas Horror genre.
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