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The first two Silent Night, Deadly Night films get all the glory — to the point where casual horror fans may be surprised to learn that three more installments were produced in the franchise. The 1984 original generated highly publicized controversy by showing its killer dressed as Santa Claus in advertisements, while the 1987 first sequel gained cult status for its over-the-top campiness and liberal reuse of clips from its predecessor.

The series was then relegated to straight-to-video territory with 1989’s Silent Night, Deadly Night 3: Better Watch Out, 1990’s Silent Night, Deadly Night 4: Initiation, and 1991’s Silent Night, Deadly Night 5: The Toy Maker. While the third installment continues the killer Santa plot, the storyline was abandoned for the latter two installments, which each tell an unrelated tale set during Christmastime.

Diverging from the franchise’s headline-making narrative may have been a death knell — look at how long it took viewers...

Let’s get the story straight or at least as straight as I can remember it. One cold winter’s eve I sat down with a four pack of Burton Baton from Dogfish Head and drank the whole damn thing plus an Insanely Mad Elf and probably some vodka. Maybe more beer. In fact I find it highly unlikely that in the time where I was a freak booze hound with a penchant for micro brews with an abnormally high amounts of alcohol and sugar that I wasn’t pouring at least one more six pack down my gullet. Why do I “confess’ this? Because when I was imbibing the spirits of the season I was watching Silent Night, Deadly Night parts 3, 4 and 5 for the very first time and while I enjoyed 4 and 5 (you know how I feel about 3), part 4 has come to be somewhat of a guilty pleasure of mine.

Ananda Films

SAN FRANCISCO -- Director Clark Brigham's first feature, which had its world premiere at the San Francisco International Film Festival, is a small domestic drama, shot in San Francisco, about the conflicts between father and sons. Unfortunately, the filial relationship is the weakest aspect of Brigham's movie (co-written by Brigham and Richard Taylor), in large part because of an overwrought, self-indulgent performance by Tommy Hinkley as the patriarch. Audiences may still be drawn to the film for some good performances by The Young Adults in the cast, and for Brigham's fine hand in the romantic scenes.

Seventeen years ago, Jake (Scott Cooper, "Gods and Generals") fled from his mother (Theresa Russell) and his cheating, bullying father (Hinkley) after a violent confrontation between Dad and Jake's friend and painting mentor, Marco (Craig Sheffer). Now Jake has returned to the city, renting a loft from Catherine (Gabrielle Anwar), and spending his time painting, bartending and lurking around his parents' house, debating whether to let them know he has returned.

The story takes some clumsy turns, and the dialogue can be godawful, but there's a wonderful candle-lit scene between Anwar and Cooper that glows with a sexy, romantic aura. Cooper has a scruffy ease that carries him through even the worst patches of the movie (he looks like a less beefy Ben Affleck), and Anwar possesses a frazzled grace. The two characters make sense together even when the movie doesn't. Sheffer does what he can with his small, poorly conceived part.

The lighting isn't always good, and a sequence with Catherine's two toddlers goes on so long it feels like home video. But a director who can elicit performances like Cooper's and Anwar's may be capable of far better things in the future than this torpid tale of generational clash.

Richard E. Grant distressed the parents of several child actors on the set of his latest movie Little Vampire, The (2000) by encouraging the tiny stars to set fire to their wind. The actor stars in the tale of a family of Scottish vampires saved from death by their human friends - with co-stars Tommy Hinkley and Jerry Maguire (1996) star Jonathan Lipnicki. Grant kept on set spirits high by trying to set fire to his flatulence in a bid to amuse the cast of children - but the actor's on-set fun led to panic as the four child actors tried to mimic Grant's antics. Hinkley says, "The kids just loved watching Richard set fire to his farts. It became a bit of a problem when they started copying him. There were some concerned parents out there."...

George Clooney was given a death threat when he promised to buy a close friend a motorbike - by the pal's angry wife. Clooney, who befriended his eight close male pals in the early 1980s when he first arrived in Hollywood from Kentucky - with just $300 in his pocket - frequently pays for their luxurious holidays and bought each pal an exclusive motorcycle for Christmas. But the Three Kings (1999) star was blocked from buying pal Tommy Hinkley one of the speedy bikes when his wife, TV star Tracey Needham, urged him to forget the plan. Hinkley says, "Tracey just said that she would allow me to do a lot of things but she put her foot down over the bike. She just said there is no way. She told George if he bought me a bike she would kill him. So that was that."...