Stars: Clint Howard, Maud Adams, Tommy Hinkley, Allyce Beasley,

Review:
I have to worry when Clint Howard gets top billing.

I realize that a movie that begins with a case of spontanious combustion isn't going to take me on a great cinematic journey. It wasn't a shock to realize that Silent Night Deadly Night 4: Initition does begin with a case of spontanious combustion and no, it doesn't take me on a great cinematic journey. But what did I expect from the third sequel to Silent Night Deadly Night?

Like it's three predessesors, SNDN4:I throws out the Santa slasher idea in favor of an ill-conceived angle of it's own. Not a bad idea because a movie about a killer in a Santa Claus suit is not exactly an idea that you can expand upon (nor would you want to).

It begins with a cute busy body named Kim who tries to figure out why a woman caught fire and jumped out a window. Unlike the rest of us who would have assumed that it was an ill-fated audition for Fear Factor, she concludes that spontanious combustion may have been responsable.

Setting out on her quest she is seduced by a coven of mysterious women (psychologically seduced that is) who have designes to get into her very soul when they introduce her to a sinister cult worshipping insect. Wait, it gets worse.

Pulled into their sinister women's group (One of whom is played by Alyce Beasley, Agnes from "Moonlighting") she becomes more and more aware of what they plan to do. Stick around, you'll love this. Dear Kim's own body is about to be groomed as an incubator for the bugs as her body is infested with giant, flesh-eating insectivores. When she becomes the Queen of this hive (or whatever) she will eventually give birth to their new queen. Somehow I was waiting for the Orkin Man to kick down the door.

All of this comes to Kim while she is being fed the information that she will be their goddess. You can almost hear the women of the cult snickering under their breath as they try and explain her new regal life while struggling not to reveal all the bug stuff.

If this plot sounds a little familiar then your instincts are intact. Yes, it's a cross-breeding of Rosemary's Baby and Bugs. The former was a classic piece of cinema, the latter was a caustic piece of &*@$ and mixing them together didn't help.

So why did they make a film called Silent Night Deadly Night 4 when it has nothing to do with the first three films? Well if you read the plot I have just above you would know that this is not a plot that can be sold without a brand name and judging by the production values I would say it was probably a stretch to even afford that title.