Silent Night, Deadly Night 3: Better Watch Out!
Dr. Newbury (Richard Beymer) has linked a blind, female clairvoyant, Laura's (Samantha Scully), brainwaves to comatose Ricky Caldwell (Bill Moseley), the killer from the last installment. Trying to pick something up, Laura sees in her mind what the murderer thinks. Since it's time for Christmas, Laura, her brother Chris (Eric DaRe), and his girlfriend Jerri (Laura Harris) are all visiting Samantha's grandmother (Elizabeth Hoffman) at her secluded home. Just as they're leaving, Ricky awakes from his coma, still in a hospital gown and brain exposed underneath a Plexiglas cap, killing and escaping his way out of the hospital and succeeding in hitchhiking a ride from a man, who he soon kills because of a red coat he has. Red is the color that triggers Ricky's rage, and he makes his way to Granny's house, killing her as well, until Laura and the others arrive.
Laura has been having visions and dreams of the serial killer. Now the real terror begins, Ricky killing them all off one by one. They're in the middle of nowhere, and nobody can hear them scream! Laura's the only one that can stop him, but is she strong enough to survive?
Monte Hellman directed the second sequel to the Silent Night, Deadly Night series, which is pretty good. There's one memorable and tense scene, in which Scully's character is standing in front of a window, with the killer on the outside, when she suddenly jumps back. Seeing Deep Red: The Hatchet Murders, a Dario Argento film made long before this, had a scene that reminded me of that.
Scully's character is very likeable and is perfect as the film's final girl. Robert Culp has a small role as an angry cop, in hot pursuit of Ricky. Thankfully, there's only a bit of footage reused from the original, unlike the last installment, which over-did-it a little! The mood of this one is a weird kind for some reason, especially the calm music. My second favorite to the original in the whole series.
