Silent Night, Deadly Night 4: Initiation

""

Director: Brian Yuzna Year: 1990 Runtime: 87 min IMDb: ⭐ 4.2
Movie Poster

Synopsis

A reporter investigating the bizarre death of a woman who leaped from a building in flames finds herself mixed up in a cult of witches who are making her part of their sacrificial ceremony during the Christmas season.

After being shot down by police, the infamous Santa Claus Killer Richard "Ricky" Caldwell is left comatose for six years, with a transparent dome affixed to his head by the doctors in order to repair his damaged skull. Wanting to contact Ricky, the eccentric Dr. Newbury begins using a blind clairvoyant girl named Laura Anderson to try to reach out to him. One Christmas Eve, after a particularly traumatic session with Newbury, Laura begins to regret her participation in his experiment, but Newbury tries to convince her to keep trying, saying that they can talk more after Laura returns home from visiting her grandmother over the holiday. After Laura is picked up from the hospital by her older brother Chris, a drunk hospital employee dressed as Santa Claus wanders into Ricky's room and begins taunting him, rousing Ricky back to consciousness. Killing the Santa impersonator, Ricky escapes from the hospital, taking a letter opener with him after killing a receptionist as well. Picked up from a session with her psychiatrist, Laura is introduced by her brother to his new girlfriend, a flight attendant named Jerri, whom Laura dislikes. As the trio heads off to Granny's, they overlook Ricky (who can hear Laura thanks to their mental link) following them. Acquiring a truck and some fuel after murdering a motorist and a gas station attendant, Ricky makes it to Granny's first. Believing Ricky is simply an unfortunate vagrant, Granny tries befriending him but is killed when Ricky is provoked at the sight of a Christmas gift she offers him. Lieutenant Connely and Newbury find the two staff members butchered by Ricky at the hospital. They begin trying to track Ricky down, realizing he is drawn towards Laura after surveillance camera footage shows him uttering her name. Reaching Granny's house, Laura feels something is wrong. Chris ignores her suspicions, who believes Granny may have just gone off for a walk. When Granny fails to show up and the car is found sabotaged, the group become very worried, with Chris and Jerri deciding to go out and look for Granny. Laura senses Ricky staring at her through the window and screams, bringing Chris and Jerri back to the house. After discovering the phone is dead and her picture is missing, Laura realizes it must be Ricky who is after her moments before Ricky punches through the door and begins throttling Jerri. She is saved when Chris stabs Ricky in the arm. Elsewhere, when Connely leaves the car to urinate, Newbury drives off, intending to try to reason with or trap Ricky, not wanting his experiment to go to waste by having Connely kill him. Armed with an old shotgun, Chris, Laura, and Jerri go out searching for aid, but are ambushed by Ricky, who stabs Chris in the chest. While Laura and Jerri run back to the house, Newbury finds Ricky. At first, Ricky is uninterested in Newbury but is drawn close when Newbury plays a tape of one of his and Laura's sessions. As Ricky reaches out to him, Newbury, believing the tape had some kind of calming effect, grabs Ricky's hand, only to be stabbed in the stomach. Laura and Jerri barricade the door at the house, but Ricky still manages to break in. While looking for a gun, Ricky kills Jerri, and her body is found seconds later by Laura. Ricky approaches, allowing Laura to touch his face. Enraged when Laura flees in terror after feeling his artificial skullcap, Ricky chases after her. In the basement, Laura is encouraged by a vision of Granny, whose body she finds hanging from the ceiling before knocking the light out. Laura is easily knocked aside trying to attack Ricky. As Ricky begins choking her, Laura is saved when Chris appears and shoots Ricky with a shotgun. Unfortunately, the shotgun fires blanks, and the unharmed Ricky snatches it from Chris and uses it to choke him into unconsciousness. Ricky then moves in to finish off Laura, but she grabs a piece of a broken stick and holds it in front of her at the last second, and Ricky impales himself. Reaching the house with backup, Connely finds the dying Newbury before discovering Laura cradling her brother's body in the house. Driven away by Connely as the body of a survivor is rushed to the hospital by paramedics, Laura wishes the lieutenant a "Merry Christmas" before having a vision of Ricky in a suit breaking the fourth wall as he states, "... And a Happy New Year".

Summary adapted from TMDb and Wikipedia sources.

🎄 Holiday Cheer Breakdown

Content Warnings

⭐ IMDb Parents Guide 🛡️ Common Sense Media

someone is sexually assaulted
spoiler A fairly graphic rape occurs in the last thirty minutes of the film.
there's a dead animal
Yes
there are spiders
Yes
there are snakes
Yes
there are bugs
Yes
an animal dies
spoiler Mouse
there's child abuse
Yes
a woman is brutalized for spectacle
Yes
someone gets gaslighted
Yes
someone is stalked
Yes
someone is sexually assaulted onscreen
Yes
someone is drugged
Yes
someone is restrained
Yes
there's excessive gore
Yes
there's shaving/cutting
Yes
someone struggles to breathe
Yes
someone is stabbed
Yes
someone falls to their death
Yes
there's Achilles Tendon injury
Yes
there's finger/toe mutilation
Yes
someone is burned alive
Yes
there's body horror
Yes
there's torture
Yes
hands are damaged
Yes
someone dies
Yes
someone is kidnapped
Yes
a parent dies
Yes
there are jump scares
Yes
there are shower scenes
Yes
someone vomits
spoiler When the spaghetti starts moving Kim runs to the bathroom and throws up. Then Kim later throws up a giant bug.
There's audio gore
Yes
there's spitting
Yes
someone dies by suicide
Yes
reality is unstable or unhinged
Yes
there's body dysmorphia
Yes
there's dissociation, depersonalization, or derealization
Yes
someone has a meltdown
Yes
there's flashing lights or images
Yes
there's screaming
Yes
there is obscene language/gestures
Yes
someone is watched without knowing
Yes
there is a baby or unborn child
Yes
there's childbirth
Yes
there's ableist language or behavior
Yes
an LGBT person dies
Yes
there's antisemitism
Yes
there is sexual content
Yes
someone is sexually objectified
Yes
there are nude scenes
Yes
there's blood/gore
Yes

Add to Your List

Open this movie on a tracker to watchlist, rate, or review.

Metadata

Trailer

User Comments

No comments yet. Be the first!