SILENT NIGHT, BLOODY NIGHT

SILENT NIGHT, BLOODY NIGHT. An overlooked horror masterpiece from 1973. Yes, this film has it's drawbacks...the sound is muddled at times and the picture quality is very dark and grainy....but that only adds to the appeal of this movie. This is a creepy little film....and the sound track is very ominous....the recurring melody of "Silent Night" in a minor key really sets the tone for this film.As the movie starts out, SILENT NIGHT, BLOODY NIGHT really tries your patience...you think it is one of those bad 1970's horror flicks that go nowhere.....but you have to kick back and wait for this one to put it's mystifying curse on you, because once it gets you, it hooks you good....Most of the story is told in flashbacks..The movie is about a mansion that has an odious reputation. The original owner's daughter Mary Ann was raped and impregnated by someone who broke into the mansion...she gave birth to a son, whom the owner took under his wing. She soon was declared insane because she could not get over the shock and the owner made the house into a mental institution, primarily to take care of her. Many doctors moved in to take care of all of the patients...they lived it up, boozing and partying and not caring for their patients like they should. Eventually the owner grew tired of the doctors' depravity and released all of the inmates on them while the doctors were all in a drunken stupor.........what follows is a very gory scene and the most powerful scene in the movie...it is dark, washed out in sepia tones, with heavy,heavy shadow as the insane brutally murder their doctors. After the carnage, the inmates eventually left the scene and moved elsewhere.But what happened to the Mary Ann? Was she killed by the mental patients because she was the reason the institution was founded or did she escape?Fast foward many years. The owner's son(Mary Ann's) wants to sell the house against his father's wishes. His father wanted the house to remain untouched because of all the cruelty that happened there....So the house is going to be sold to the city and the son's lawyer comes out to negotiate the sale of the house with his girlfriend...they are going to stay at the house overnight so they can complete the sale in the morning......but they are brutally axe-murdered by a mysterious masked figure. Who is this person? And why is everyone involved in the sell of the house getting their limbs chopped off?I will divulge no more as this movie likes to keep you guessing and the ending is a shocker...I highly recommend this one. Hunt it down, now.