We all know the classic christmas films, everyone has a favorite. Whether that may be Elf, Rudolph, or A Bad Moms Christmas, it brings us into the holiday season. Every new Christmas movie is automatically fighting for its place amongst the pre-existing Christmas films, which may not be fair, but it is the way it is. Unless a new movie blows the people away, it is usually forgotten in the holiday haze.

That, in addition to the fact that a lot of people do not believe certain movies have a place in the Christmas movie category, some think that if it is a “Christmas Movie,” it cannot have death, violence, and action because that would not be seen as traditional, effectively taking it out of the “competition.” One of the biggest movies of this debate is Diehard.

One of the newest additions to the Christmas movie categories is named “Silent Night.” The film was released in December 2023 before Christmas. It was based around a father, who lost his young child in a gang-related accident in addition to getting seriously injured, and lost his ability to speak. The father took it upon himself to avenge his child by hunting down every person related to the incident. The goal was to kill every single one of them. One of the most interesting details in this movie is the fact that no one speaks a word the entire time. This is to mirror the fact that the protagonist himself cannot speak either. The symbolism stays strong throughout the whole movie.

The movie was directed by John Woo, the director behind The Killer, Mission Impossible 2, Face/Off, and so many more. The film made $1-2 million in opening weekend box office. The movie was considered a box office failure. Although critics have highly rated the movie, fans of the genre have stayed away from the film. It’s believed that this is because many fans are leaning away from lower budgeted movies entirely.

The film has some redeeming qualities; the gore and violence was quite good. The kill scenes were creative to say the least. For example, some characters get thrown through glass railings, there’s car chases and crashes. I personally would not put this film on my favorites list, however. But maybe you may have a different opinion, so go see Silent Night in theaters this December.