Terrible acting, screenplay and direction.

Absolutely Fantastic

It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

"Silent Night, Deadly Night 5: The Toymaker" is the final contiguous entry of the "Silent Night, Deadly Night" series, and like Part 4, it takes yet another departure from the original storyline. This time, it's concerned with a young boy who witnesses the death of his father at the hands of a mysterious toy that appears on their doorstep during Christmastime; a local toyshop seems to be to blame.Needless to say, the film is silly, and was quite obviously inspired by "Halloween III: Season of the Witch" and "Puppetmaster" in equal measure. As a direct-to-video feature, it has a similarly cheap look to it that the previous installments had, with fairly uninspired cinematography. There are some ridiculous and fun, hokey visuals, however, especially in regard to the killer toys, as well as the bonkers finale.Narratively speaking, it's reasonably well-written and boasts a handful of clever plot turns that, though certainly unspectacular, generate a bit of interest. Another unusual aspect of the film is its inclusion of characters from the previous sequel, almost as though the intent were to sculpt a "Silent Night, Deadly Night" film universe, had any additional sequels panned out. It's a bit strange but does thread some continuity between it and Part 4 (which itself is absolutely insane for a handful of other reasons). The lead child actor, William Thorne, plays the traumatized Derek rather well, and Jane Higgison is likable as his mother. Neith Hunter, the lead from the former sequel, makes a welcome appearance as the mother's friend, as does Brian Yuzna's son as Lonnie (also carried over from the previous film), who receives a pair of rocket-powered rollerblades. Mickey Rooney also has a major part as the elderly wacky toyshop proprietor.In the end, "Silent Night, Deadly Night 5: The Toymaker" is every bit the bad movie that most expect it to be, but as far as bad movies go, it offers enough absurd special effects and amusing twists to make for a fun holiday viewing. Part 4 still outranks it in weirdness, but "The Toymaker" is no less utterly insane. Highlights include a drawn-out sex scene in which a macho man gets his rear-end penetrated by the fingers of an animated toy hand (and likes it) whilst having sex with the babysitter. 5/10.

Well, there is no attempt to forcibly include Ricky in this one. But it still only has a fleeting connection- if any- to the original trilogy. Although, it does retain some connections to the weirdness that was Silent Night, Deadly Night 4 (ie the centipede toy; and cameos from the two main actors). Likely a result of Yuzna acting as Executive Producer on this one...which has a sort of Puppetmaster vibe, with a Pinocchio twist.It also sort of turns things on their heads, as the young boy in this film has aspects of a protagonist, instead of just being another victim and/or ending up as the antagonist.At least this one explicitly takes place at Christmas, and has a Santa Claus killer, of sorts. Though, it must be noted, that there is a bizarre, awkward and hilarious twist at the end...that gives SNDN 4 a run for it's money (of which, I'm quite certain, there isn't much).This one basically tells the story of a young boy, who is left a mysterious present, which ends up being a toy that goes on to murder his father, right before his eyes.You are led to suspect the local toy store owner and his creepy son. And it is them, but with an odd sci-fi themed twist, that arises unexpectedly.Most of the film, however, is just people being attacked and killed by a variety of toys...that utilize really poor special effects (up until the end, at least...the end is pretty sweet, and likely took up the bulk of their effects budget.Weirdness aside, this one is really kind of "meh". Missable, but watchable Christmas horror fun.4.5 out of 10.

When I was a kid, I was obsessed with this series. Obviously, I liked the original the best, but I had to have them all. How did we go from a psychotic kid in a Santa Claus suit to a witch cult, and now toys that kill you? (The irony is that Mickey Rooney stars in this film, yet when the original was released, he was one of the many people to bash it. Either he's a big hypocrite, or he was in desperate need of money when he filmed this)Derek Quinn receives a present late one night that says 'Don't Open Til Christmas' While opening it, his stepfather finds him and sends him back to bed, so he can open it himself. It's a red Santa ball that soon begins to attack and kill him. Derek witnesses this and can't talk because of the shock. Weeks later, the Toymaker sends him more devilish gifts that come alive. Who is doing this, and for what purpose? If you like horror themed Christmas movie, you might like SILENT NIGHT DEADLY NIGHT 5: THE TOYMAKER!!!

The original notorious holiday slasher Silent Night, Deadly Night was audacious and thoughtful enough to merit its eventual status as a twisted classic of sorts, but the follow-up installments in this shockingly lengthy franchise have either been awe-inspiring in their awfulness or had nothing to do with the original film. This fifth (and, let's hope, final) outing straddles the line of both of those categories, and indeed the only resemblance The Toymaker bears to the first SN, DN is that the alleged horror takes place at Christmas time.Even keeping in mind the diminished expectations anyone familiar with the entire franchise is bound to have going in to this installment, this is a uniformly stupid movie, and thanks to the tedious pace and relentlessly silly effects, this clunker practically dares the viewer to make it to the end, and provides very little pay-off for the brave souls who do.Billy, the axe-wielding Santa who launched the series, is a distant memory here, and the action is instead centered around the malevolent titular Toymaker, who specializes in crafting homicidal toys. That gimmick is relied upon to carry this entire film, which would be fine if the deeds of the murderous playthings were well-orchestrated. But right from the first attack, during which a lethal Santa ball wraps its tentacle-like arms around the neck of an unsuspecting dad, the cheesy nature of Screaming Mad George's bargain basement FX elicit more laughs than scares, and when the victim ultimately meets his demise because he knocks over a conveniently placed fireplace poker and impales his own skull onto it, we aren't given any real indication that the deadly toys are actually effective in their intended tasks.Things continually get worse from there, and by the time a young boy is put into the hospital because of an accident caused by rocket-charged roller blades, it's well assured that the killer toy concept at play here is going to fall well short of the comparatively engaging material explored in the Puppet Master series.The plot, such as it is, centers around the wife and son of the previously mentioned impalee as they struggle to deal with dad's tragic demise. However, when a boyfriend from mom's past shows up unexpectedly, and her reaction to his re-appearance is having groping, unbridled sex with him in the conveniently deserted parking garage of her office building (a mere couple of weeks after her husband's been put in the ground, mind you), we sort of lose track of her as the grieving widow we're set up to root for.The Toymaker also apparently has a son, and the one twist the film attempts to throw into the works is pretty much telegraphed the moment these two appear on screen together. Of course, this happens about five minutes into the movie, which probably isn't the optimal time to squander the one surprise in store for the audience. I'm sure the film-makers thought they were being clever by naming these characters Petto and Pino, but their monikers only serve to make the true nature of their relationship even more patently obvious, so the "shocking" climactic reveal of the "hidden" truth lands with the same resounding thud the rest of the film does.If any part of the movie sticks with you after the credits roll, it's bound to be the onslaught of a toy army that targets an amorous babysitter and her tighty-whitey-wearing horndog boyfriend while the two are canoodling. A vague attempt is made here to insert some humor into the proceedings, and the prodding fingers of a plastic animatronic arm elicit a few polite chuckles, but since this is a movie that has already provided its fair share of unintentional laughs at this point, it's ultimately a bad call to pile on more comedy when at least a modicum of the gore and horror implied by this film's inclusion in the SN, DN franchise would have been a more welcome presence. Thankfully, the one decent splatter effect in The Toymaker arrives soon after, and since it's really the only piece of actual brutality in the film, it does have an admittedly potent impact.The climax, if you can stomach this movie long enough to make it there, features an anatomically barren cyborg dry-humping our main heroine while squealing, "Mommy, I love you!" So, whatever else I say about Silent Night, Deadly Night 5, at least it has that going for it. Whether or not you feel that indelible image is worth 85 minutes of your life is pretty much your call.