Wrong Turn reboot director talks taking on a tonally different IP with Silent Night, Deadly Night remake: "You're laughing, you're disgusted, you're like, 'I shouldn't be watching this right now'"

Rohan Campbell in Silent Night, Deadly Night — (Image credit: Cineverse)

Director Mike P. Nelson, best known for helming the successful 2021 reboot of Appalachian slasher franchise Wrong Turn, says he wanted his remagining of Silent Night, Deadly Night to go into a more "fun" direction – while still honoring the original 1984 film.

"I knew I wanted to have some fun, I knew I wanted to do something that, at least in the beginning, makes you feel like you're in a Silent Night, Deadly Night movie, with, of course, its own little twists and turns," Nelson tells GamesRadar+ during an exclusive interview at NYCC. "But then there were some other ideas that I wanted to play around with. And I really wanted to see if there was a way to be on board with Billy without going into as much of a dark [tone], which is what the original had, which again, is why it is such a cult classic, 'cause you're just like, you're laughing, you're disgusted, you're kinda like, 'I shouldn't be watching this right now. I feel bad.' You know what I mean?'"

Nelson's reimagining of Silent Night, Deadly Night stars Rohan Campbell (Halloween Ends, The Monkey) as Billy Chapman, a disturbed young man whose Christmas-related childhood trauma turns him into a Santa Clause-themed serial killer. While Charles E. Sellier Jr.'s original 1984 film is more of a straightforward slasher (with some particularly festive kills), Nelson's movie stars Billy and his love interest Pamela (Ruby Modine), who has a reduced part in the original film.

"With this one, I wanted to go for a wild ride, and I wanted to make sure that there was enough fun and irreverence kind of sprinkled throughout it, but again, in my way," Nelson continues. "And that was really important. And that for both characters of Billy and Pam, there were tidbits of me, so I could really understand them and know how to present them to people. And of course, then when I gave the script to Ruby [Modine], she was the only one I gave the script for Pam to. We were off and running."

The original film spawned four sequels: Silent Night, Deadly Night Part 2, Silent Night, Deadly Night 3: Better Watch Out!, Silent Night, Deadly Night 4: Initiation, and Silent Night, Deadly Night 5: The Toy Maker in 1991, and a loose remake in 2012. The 2012 remake, directed by Stephen C. Miller, fared well at the box office during its limited run and received positive-to-mixed reviews, but failed to reignite interest in a relaunch of the franchise. In terms of the 2025 remake relaunching the franchise, Nelson says he wouldn't mind making a follow-up or two if both the audience and studio demanded it.

Lauren Milici is a Senior Entertainment Writer for GamesRadar+ based in New York City. She previously reported on breaking news for The Independent's Indy100 and created TV and film listicles for Ranker. Her work has been published in Fandom, Nerdist, Paste Magazine, Vulture, PopSugar, Fangoria, and more.

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