MOVIE REVIEW : A ‘SILENT NIGHT’ RERUN

Critics have continuously sniped at movie sequels, cruelly damning them as clones of the original. Many of them are. But “Silent Night, Deadly Night, Part 2” may indicate a frightening new trend. This sequel, for much of the way, actually is the original.

For about 40 minutes of this 85 minute film, director-editor Lee Harry simply runs “Silent Night, Deadly Night” over again. As if a nightmare, almost every scene of that ludicrously awful 1984 slasher-basher passes before us once more: Axe wielding lunatic Billy, in his Santa suit, runs amok on Christmas Eve, chopping up the same fornicating teen-agers while screaming “Naughty, naughty!”

What’s the rationale? Apparently, the now deceased maniac had a younger brother, Ricky (Eric Freeman), who has decided to turn maniac himself. He’s a surly chap, who looks something like Bill Laimbeer and chuckles like Count Yorga. Questioned by a psychiatrist, he repeats Billy’s story verbatim--though Ricky was nowhere near most of the events when they happened. Then he kills the psychiatrist, finds a Santa suit and goes on a Yuletide rampage of his own.

Still, the old footage haunts us. At one point, maniac Ricky and his girlfriend walk into a theater, which is showing . . . “Silent Night, Deadly Night”(!) We get to see more scenes we missed--and lest we complain, the filmmakers show Ricky thrashing audience members who call the movie stupid.

The first “Silent Night” was a nadir in moviemaking. The second (MPAA Rated R, for nudity and violence) puts us through the same suffering all over again, while adding more sadistic nincompoopery and vaguely artsier editing and camerawork. Words fail you completely.

But this isn’t just a bad movie. Or a bad movie repeated. Suppose cost-conscious producers everywhere follow suit?

Imagine it. Rambo IV: Monosyllabic John Rambo, incarcerated in an asylum after challenging the country of Albania to a fistfight, tells a skeptical psychiatrist of his adventures in the United States, Cambodia and Afghanistan. He is immediately released and sent off to attack Libya, armed with only a Swiss Army Knife. Friday the 13th, Part 7: Final End of the Next Beginning: A remorseful, guilt-ridden Jason, applying for a job as a summer camp counselor, tells an incredulous board . . .

‘SILENT NIGHT, DEADLY NIGHT, PART 2’

A Silent Night Releasing Corp. presentation of a Lawrence Applebaum production. Producer Lawrence Applebaum. Director, Script, Editor Lee Harry. Co-script Joseph H. Earle. Camera Harvey Genkins. Music Michael Armstrong. With Eric Freeman, James L. Newman, Jean Miller.

Running time: 1 hour, 25 minutes.

MPAA rating: R (under 17 requires an accompanying parent or adult guardian).