2011-11-06

Social mood and the movies: Santa will kill you!

In 1984, a movie titled Silent Night, Deadly Night starred an axe murderer dressed as Santa Claus.
After his parents are murdered, a young tormented teenager goes on a murderous rampage dressed as Santa, due to his stay at an orphanage where he was abused by the Mother Superior.
The movie was picketed by parents and chased out of the box office. Reviewers as well as the public were critical:
To protest the film, critics Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel read the credits out loud on their television show saying, "shame, shame, shame" after each name.

With the advent of the Internet, media has factured and many independent producers can make unpopular movies and release them through other channels. However, a newer Santa slasher film has received very positive reviews. Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale (2010)
It's the eve of Christmas in northern Finland, and an 'archeological' dig has just unearthed the real Santa Claus. But this particular Santa isn't the one you want coming to town. When the local children begin mysteriously disappearing, young Pietari and his father Rauno, a reindeer hunter by trade, capture the mythological being and attempt to sell Santa to the misguided leader of the multinational corporation sponsoring the dig. Santa's elves, however, will stop at nothing to free their fearless leader from captivity.
The reviews at Rotten Tomatoes are 90% positive, with the audience (at Rotten Tomatoes) rating at 71% positive.

According to socionomics, horror movies are more popular during periods of declining social mood. 1984 was in the midst of a major bull market, 2011 in the midst of a major bear market. Has this influenced the public's attitude towards a slasher Santa? Or, since many people probably haven't heard of this newer movie, is it just a result of changes in the entertainment industry? I for one doubt there would be as much protest had the movie run a big marketing campaign, but that is speculative. Note that in the early 1980s, horror movies were still popular. Also from the page about Silent Night, Deadly Night:
Opened on the same weekend as A Nightmare on Elm Street, and briefly out-grossed the latter by around $161,800 before profits fell about 45% by the second weekend.
However, one can view this as a hangover from the previous era, as industries and social mood do not shift on a dime, but change trend. Perhaps the failure of the slasher Santa signaled the waning of horror. Robert Prechter noted that horror as a genre was waning in 1985 in his Popular Culture and the Stock Market (PDF; sign up for free account with Socionomics.net to access).

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