"Silent Night, Deadly Night III: Better Watch Out!" begins as a sexy young blind woman, Laura (Samantha Scully), is having nightmares featuring the previous movies' psycho-Santa killer Ricky Caldwell (now played by genre icon Bill Moseley). As it turns out, her demented doctor, Newbury (Richard Beymer), has been planning to probe the mind of Ricky, who is still alive yet in a coma, and is using Laura to this end. Laura and Ricky now share a psychic link; what one sees, the other sees. As Laura, her brother Chris (Eric DaRe), and Chris' new girlfriend Jerri (Laura Harring) travel to the family homestead to visit with Laura and Chris' grandma (Elizabeth Hoffman), Ricky naturally escapes and leaves a few bodies in his wake as he attempts to meet up with Laura. Trailing Ricky are Dr. Newbury and a detective named Connelly (Robert Culp).
Done by cult favourite director Monte Hellman ("The Shooting", "Two-Lane Blacktop", etc.) basically as a favour, Part 3 largely eschews any sense of humour that the previous sequel displayed, playing its material with a very straight face. The one exception to this approach is the ever so slightly off kilter character of Connelly, amusingly and effectively played by Culp, a man who's quick with the sardonic quips, and who has one strange yet memorable exchange with Beymer during a car ride. This character and performance are really the best things about Part 3, which unfortunately, despite some solid atmosphere, is ultimately too tedious to maintain much interest. It should be pointed out that one supposed shock moment just falls way too flat. The science fiction element is a fresh enough new hook, but it fails to inject much life into the story.
Moseley, better known for much more uninhibited performances in movies like "The Devil's Rejects" and "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre Part 2", is awfully low key here; his antagonist never registers very strongly, or inspires much fear or unease. Co-star Harring does show off some of her nice body in a bathtub scene, but horror fans who crave nudity and lots of gore aren't going to find enough here to suit their tastes.
Not even the finale (which borrows a little from "Wait Until Dark") is particularly exciting. Scully's character isn't particularly likable, although some viewers could see that as an appreciable break from convention. The use of archive footage is still present, but not prevalent.
As an interesting footnote, it's been noted by buffs that both DaRe and Beymer became regulars on 'Twin Peaks' after and that Harring would get a showcase role in David Lynchs' feature film "Mulholland Drive". (It's also worth noting that Hellman and executive producers Richard Gladstein and Ronna Wallace would also executive produce Quentin Tarantinos' break through film "Reservoir Dogs" a few years later.)
In any event, SNDN No. 3 is dull, draggy, and something of a chore to sit through.
Hellmans' daughter Melissa plays Newbury's assistant.
Four out of 10.
Done by cult favourite director Monte Hellman ("The Shooting", "Two-Lane Blacktop", etc.) basically as a favour, Part 3 largely eschews any sense of humour that the previous sequel displayed, playing its material with a very straight face. The one exception to this approach is the ever so slightly off kilter character of Connelly, amusingly and effectively played by Culp, a man who's quick with the sardonic quips, and who has one strange yet memorable exchange with Beymer during a car ride. This character and performance are really the best things about Part 3, which unfortunately, despite some solid atmosphere, is ultimately too tedious to maintain much interest. It should be pointed out that one supposed shock moment just falls way too flat. The science fiction element is a fresh enough new hook, but it fails to inject much life into the story.
Moseley, better known for much more uninhibited performances in movies like "The Devil's Rejects" and "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre Part 2", is awfully low key here; his antagonist never registers very strongly, or inspires much fear or unease. Co-star Harring does show off some of her nice body in a bathtub scene, but horror fans who crave nudity and lots of gore aren't going to find enough here to suit their tastes.
Not even the finale (which borrows a little from "Wait Until Dark") is particularly exciting. Scully's character isn't particularly likable, although some viewers could see that as an appreciable break from convention. The use of archive footage is still present, but not prevalent.
As an interesting footnote, it's been noted by buffs that both DaRe and Beymer became regulars on 'Twin Peaks' after and that Harring would get a showcase role in David Lynchs' feature film "Mulholland Drive". (It's also worth noting that Hellman and executive producers Richard Gladstein and Ronna Wallace would also executive produce Quentin Tarantinos' break through film "Reservoir Dogs" a few years later.)
In any event, SNDN No. 3 is dull, draggy, and something of a chore to sit through.
Hellmans' daughter Melissa plays Newbury's assistant.
Four out of 10.