Silent Night, Deadly Night 4: Initiation (1990)

Directed by Brian Yuzna. Starring Neith Hunter, Maud Adams, Tommy Hinkley, Allyce Beasley, Clint Howard, Reggie Bannister, Jeanne Bates, Glen Chin, Laurel Lockhart. [R]

Fourth outing in the Christmas-horror franchise is unrelated to the previous movies, Halloween III: Season of the Witch-style, and has hardly any connection to the holiday either (Die Hard isn’t a Christmas movie, but it’s ten times the Christmas movie this thing is). A female prospective news journalist (Hunter), disrespected at work, pursues the bizarre story surrounding a woman who jumped to her death off a building while she was on fire, gets mixed up with a coven of man-hating cultists, giant gooey worm monsters, and Clint Howard. Brian Yuzna may be the most talented director this film series ever attracted, and it’s a definite improvement over the last two outings, but the confused themes, choppy storytelling, limp pace, and Rosemary’s Baby-ripoffs keep it within the middle section of the trash bin cylinder. Like the Silent Night, Deadly Night movies immediately preceding and following this one, it was released straight to video; the one to come is subtitled The Toy Maker.

28/100