Silent Night, Deadly Night 3: Better Watch Out! is a 1989 slasher film directed by Monte Hellman. A direct-to-video release, the film is the second sequel to the 1984 film Silent Night, Deadly Night and centers around the Christmas-obsessed killer Ricky Caldwell awakening from a coma and stalking a blind teenager with psychic powers, while she travels to her grandmother's house for the Christmas holiday with her brother and his girlfriend. The film was the last to follow the storyline set by the previous two films, the next two sequels being standalone entries.
Plot
After being shot down by police at the end of the previous film, the infamous Santa Claus Killer Richard "Ricky" Caldwell (Bill Moseley) has been left comatose for six years, with a transparent dome being affixed to his head by doctors in order to repair his damaged skull. Wanting to contact Ricky, the eccentric Doctor Newbury (Richard Beymer) begins using a blind clairvoyant girl named Laura Anderson (Samantha Scully) to try reach out to him. One Christmas Eve, after a particularly traumatic session with Newbury, Laura begins to regret her participation in his experiment, but Newbury tries to convince her to keep trying, saying that they can talk more after Laura returns home from visiting her grandmother (Elizabeth Hoffman) over the holiday. After Laura is picked up from the hospital by her older brother Chris (Eric Da Re) a drunk hospital employee dressed as Santa Claus wanders into Ricky's room and begins taunting him, rousing Ricky back to consciousness. Killing the Santa impersonator Ricky escapes from the hospital, taking a letter opener with him after killing a receptionist with it...
Picked up from a session with her psychiatrist Laura is introduced by her brother to his new girlfriend, a flight attendant named Jerri (Laura Harring) who Laura takes a dislike to. As the trio head off to Granny's they fail to notice Ricky (who can hear Laura thanks to the mental link formed between them) following them. Acquiring a truck and some fuel after murdering a motorist and gas station attendant (beheading the latter) Ricky makes it to Granny's first; believing Ricky is simply an unfortunate handicapped vagrant Granny tries befriending him, but is killed when Ricky is provoked at the sight of a Christmas gift covered in red wrapping paper she offers him. At the hospital the two staff members butchered by Ricky are found and Lieutenant Connely (Robert Culp) and Newbury begin trying to track Ricky down, realizing he is drawn towards Laura after surveillance camera footage shows him uttering her name.
Reaching Granny's house, Laura feels something is wrong, though her suspicions are ignored by Chris, who believes Granny may have simply gone for a walk. When Granny fails to show up and the car is found sabotaged the group become worried, with Chris and Jerri deciding to go out and look for Granny. Left alone Laura senses Ricky staring at her through the window and screams, bringing Chris and Jerri back to the house. After discovering the phone is dead and her picture is missing Laura realizes it must be Ricky who is after her moments before Ricky punches through the door and begins throttling Jerri, who is saved when Chris stabs Ricky in the arm. Elsewhere when Connely leaves the car to urinate Newbury drives off, intending to try and reason with or trap Ricky, not wanting his experiment to go to waste by having Connely kill Ricky.
Armed with an old shotgun Chris, Laura and Jerri go out in search of aid, but are ambushed by Ricky, who stabs Chris in the chest while Laura and Jerri run back to the house, just as Newbury finds Ricky. At first Ricky is uninterested in Newbury but is drawn close when Newbury plays a tape of one of his and Laura's sessions. As Ricky reaches out to him Newbury, believing the tape has had a calming effect, grabs Ricky's hand, only to be knifed in the stomach. At the house Laura and Jerri barricade the door, but Ricky still manages to break in. While looking for a gun Jerri is killed by Ricky, her body being found seconds later by Laura, who Ricky approaches, allowing Laura to touch his face. Enraged when Laura flees in terror after feeling his artificial skullcap, Ricky chases after her. In the basement Laura is encouraged by a vision of Granny, seconds before finding her body and knocking the light out. Attacking Ricky with a stick when he lumbers down the stairs Laura is easily knocked aside, with Ricky breaking the stick afterward. As Ricky begins choking her, Laura is saved when Chris appears and blasts Ricky with a shotgun; unfortunately the shotgun is loaded with blanks and the unharmed Ricky grabs it off Chris and uses it to choke him into unconsciousness. Ricky then moves in to finish off Laura, but she grabs a piece of the broken stick and holds it in front of her at the last second, and Ricky impales himself on the stick, perhaps fatally.
Reaching the house with backup, Connely finds the dying Newbury before discovering Laura cradling her brother's body in the house. Driven away by Connely as the body of a survivor (the film does not indicate whether this is Chris or Ricky) is rushed to the hospital by paramedics, Laura wishes the lieutenant a "Merry Christmas" before having a vision of Ricky, who states "... And a Happy New Year" while staring into the camera.
List of deaths
| Name | Cause of Death | Killer | On Screen | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hospital employee dressed as Santa Claus | Unknown | Richard "Ricky" Chapman/Caldwell | No | Revenge and punishment for mocking him |
| Hospital receptionist | Throat slit with scalpel | Richard "Ricky" Chapman/Caldwell | Partially | Punishment for an unknown reason(s) |
| Motorist | Unknown | Richard "Ricky" Chapman/Caldwell | No | Punishment for an unknown reason(s) |
| Craig | Decapitated | Richard "Ricky" Chapman/Caldwell | No | Punishment for an unknown reason(s) |
| Granny Anderson | Unknown | Richard "Ricky" Chapman/Caldwell | No | Punishment for an unknown reason(s) |
| Dr. Newbury | Beaten and stabbed | Richard "Ricky" Chapman/Caldwell | Yes | Punishment for an unknown reason(s) |
| Jerri | Killed with scalpel | Richard "Ricky" Chapman/Caldwell | No | Punishment for an unknown reason(s) |
| Christopher Anderson | Choked to death with shotgun | Richard "Ricky" Chapman/Caldwell | Yes | Punishment for an unknown reason(s) |
| Richard "Ricky" Chapman/Caldwell | Stabbed | Laura Anderson | Yes |
Cast
- Richard Beymer as Doctor Newbury
- Bill Moseley as Richard "Ricky" Caldwell
- Samantha Scully as Laura Anderson
- Eric Da Re as Chris Anderson
- Laura Harring as Jerri
- Elizabeth Hoffman as Granny Anderson
- Robert Culp as Lieutenant Connely
- Richard C. Adams as Santa
- Melissa Hellman as Doctor Newbury's Assistant
- Isabel Cooley as Hospital Receptionist
- Leonard Mann as Laura's Psychiatrist
- Carlos Palomino as Truck Driver
- Marc Dietrich as Craig the Gas Station Attendant
- Jim Ladd as Newscaster
- Richard N. Gladstein as Detective
- Tamela Song as Nurse
- Michael Ameen as Coroner
Filming
At a screening at the Alamo Drafthouse in Austin, Texas in July 2008, Hellman introduced the film, saying he thought it was his best work (though not his best film). His esteem for the work was partly due, he said, to the speed at which the entire project was put together. The original script was thrown out and rewritten in one week, starting in March. By the end of April, principal photography was done, editing was done in May (with Hellman taking time out to go to the Cannes Film Festival), and by July 1989 there was an answer print screened at a film festival.
Release
International Video Entertainment released the film on VHS, while Image Entertainment released it on laserdisc. Lionsgate released Silent Night, Deadly Night 3 along with its sequels, Silent Night, Deadly Night 4: Initiation and Silent Night, Deadly Night 5: The Toy Maker as a three disc set on December 1, 2009. They are presented in full screen format with no special features included.
