SILENT NIGHT, BLOODY NIGHT / The Night Earth Became An Inferno Of Horrors! - 1972

Here we go with an XMAS themed horror flick. It goes like this... Old Wilford Butler returns home on Christmas Eve and his house had been turned into a mental institution for the criminally insane. But, the day of his return, he's set on fire and dies! The towns people believe his death was an accident, but the institution-house is closed down anyway. Wilford leaves the house to his grandson Jeffrey and a few years later, Jeffrey decides to sell the house, the towns people including the Mayor have mixed feelings on keeping people away from the place, especially when a serial killer escapes from another institution and finds refuge there. Man, this movie is confusing even if you're paying full attention!

It stars Patrick (CHAMBER OF HORRORS) O'Neal, James (IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT - Died at age 40, this was his last movie) Patterson, Mary (TERRORVISION) Woronov, Astrid (THE THOMAS CROWN AFFAIR) Heeren, John (RED ZONE CUBA) Carradine, Walter (THE HITLER GANG) Abel and with Candy (KLUTE) Darling.

Here's Patrick as John Carter, him, the mayor and others are there to discuss the fate of the old Butler house. You can tell it's XMAS because of the tiny tree and the laurel hung on the window. Other than a few hints, you'd never know it was XMAS at all...

The mayor and his wife argue one angle, while Charlie Towman argues the counter point. John's hands were starting to look fairly deformed by 1972.

Then, a psycho shows up at the house. In the yard, he pulls out his blade, kills the guard dog and then disappears from sight.

John and his wife are having a nice quiet dinner at home. Later, they go to the bedroom and both are attacked by someone with an ax!! It looks like Patrick only worked for a day or two before getting knocked off, making him a minor character!

This shot reminds me of my cousins' house back in the early fifties where their bedroom was in the attic in a triangular shaped room.

Here's a young Mary Woronov as Diane Adams, I can't remember how she fits in, but she knows about the story and is involved with the grandson, Jeffrey Butler, somehow.

Then, there's a very long flashback scene starting in 1929, the owner of the house, Wilfred Butler is narrating the story...

He's noticing how piggish all his well to do friends are, filling him with rage.

Later, he wants to save his daughter from the institution, and in doing so, he releases all the freakin' inmates, who invade another dwelling after wandering around in the woods.

There's always at least one psycho in a sanitarium, and here he is! He breaks a wine glass and jams the shards into the mouth of a rich guy who's drunk and passed out!!

Back at the ranch, an old dilapidated Wilfred Butler shows up unannounced. He looks like the the guy in the Portrait Of Dorian Gray. Crappy print, obviously taken from a VHS transfer.

Anywho, Diane shoots his ass a few times and he's outta there!

Here's the weird ending as Diane wanders into the woods as a tractor comes to dig the murderer's grave. So, there you have it, another one bites the dust, here, at The Dungeon!!..