A chilling early entry in the holiday-horror genre, Silent Night, Bloody Night unfolds on Christmas Eve in a quiet New England town. When Jeffrey Butler returns to sell the long-abandoned family mansion—once used as a psychiatric hospital—his arrival awakens horrifying secrets that the town’s leading citizens have spent decades trying to conceal.

Filmed in 1970 and released in 1972, Theodore Gershuny’s eerie mystery predates such influential slashers as Black Christmas and Halloween. Its shadowy cinematography, disturbing telephone calls, killer’s-eye point-of-view shots and haunting Gershon Kingsley score create an atmosphere of isolation and dread. Featuring several members of Andy Warhol’s circle in its surreal flashback sequences, the film has become an overlooked cult favorite and an important precursor to the modern slasher movie.

Rated R.