The Butler estate has been empty for twenty years. Wilfred Butler (Philip Bruns) died in a fire accident on Christmas Eve in 1950. The house and estate went to his grandson Jeffrey Butler (James Patterson). Now Jeffrey, who was raised in California and has never been to the house, wants to sell it. He hired a lawyer, John Carter (Patrick O’Neal) to handle the sale. John brings his girlfriend, Ingrid (Astrid Heeren) with him to East Willard, Massachusetts.
Several of the town’s residents are interested in buying the house. They are Charlie Towman (John Carradine), the editor of the local paper, Tess Howard (Fran Stevens), who runs the town switchboard, Mayor Adams (Walter Abel), and Sheriff Bill Mason (Walter Klavun). Jeffrey has agreed to sell the house and grounds to them for $50,000 cash provided they can get him the money by the next day.
Carter and Ingrid will be spending the night at the Butler house. They are chopped up by an axe wielding maniac.
Soon phone calls begin coming from the mansion to the well-established citizens of East Willard that are interested in buying the estate, wanting them to come to the house. Mayor Adams is out of town getting together the money to buy the house. His daughter, Diane (Mary Woronov) receives the strange messages from someone claiming to be Marianne Butler. Only Marianne died 35 years ago.
Jeffrey Butler shows up and says that Carter isn’t answering the door, and since he doesn’t have a key, he can’t get into the house. Diane ends up in the middle of a night of horror as one by one, the group who are planning to buy the Butler house end up viciously murdered and a secret, long hidden, is finally exposed.
"Silent Night, Bloody Night” was released in 1972 and was directed by Theodore Gershuny. It is an American horror movie and is the first film in the longest running Christmas horror franchise. The movie spawned a British sequel in 2013 called “Silent Night, Bloody Night: The Homecoming”. There was also an American sequel called “Silent Night, Bloody Night 2: Revival” 2015. In addition, there was also a play adaptation done in 2016 that ran for only one night in Brooklyn. Currently there is an indie “Silent Night, Bloody Night 3” that, as of 2023, is being crowd funded.
The film is your usual slasher movie; however, it is noted for starting a few of the standard slasher tropes, such as the killer calling from the house, and killer POV shots. With a cast of some well-known horror stars such as Mary Woronov and John Carradine it’s not surprising that the film developed a cult following. Still, the movie was slipping into obscurity until it was aired in 1981 as episode 2 of season 1of Movie Macabre, hosted by Elvira, Mistress of the Dark. That airing gave the film fresh eyes and some diehard fans.
The James W. Beekman house in Oyster Bay was used for the Butler home.