Exclusive: Death Waltz Recording Co. Releasing 30th Anniversary Silent Night, Deadly Night Vinyl Soundtrack

John Squires |

Nov 12, 2014

This year is the 30th anniversary of many classic horror films, one of them being Silent Night, Deadly Night. A highly controversial slasher about a killer Santa, the 1984 film is one of the very best in the body count sub-genre, the visuals as memorable as the delightfully twisted soundtrack.

Here on Dread Central today we’re incredibly excited to break the exclusive news that UK label Death Waltz Recording Company is releasing the Silent Night, Deadly Night soundtrack tomorrow on 30th anniversary vinyl, the two-disc affair including Perry Botkin’s score as well as a full album of original Christmas songs.

Morgan Ames, responsible for the soundtrack’s songs “Warm Side of the Door” and “Santa’s Watching,” recorded eight other horror-tinged Christmas songs for the movie, as the plan was to release a tie-in album. It of course never ended up happening, and Death Waltz presents those songs for the very first time with this release.

The double LP is limited to 400 worldwide, one disc on transparent red and solid white split-color vinyl and the other on transparent red and transparent green split-color vinyl. There will also be a very limited edition for record stores, one disc on clear green vinyl and the other on clear red.

With original artwork by Nick Percival (below), the release comes packaged with a booklet featuring liner notes by composer Perry Botkin, co-executive producer Scott Schneid, and writer Michael Hickey. The booklet also features a host of original reviews including many newspaper clips calling for the film to be banned upon its original release.

“Botkin’s score is both chaotic and tragic; crashing sounds of distorted percussion are punctuated by both synth and acoustic piano, reflecting the sheer damage that has been done to Billy’s mind,” company owner Spencer Hickman told us. “The end result is both emotional and terrifying, even more so with the selection of original Christmas songs as composed by Morgan Ames. But a word of caution: If you don’t have Silent Night, Deadly Night on the turntable this Christmas, we’ll have to tell Billy that you’ve been… naughty. Consider yourselves warned.”

Check out the full track listing below, along with a Dread Central exclusive preview of some of those tracks. Be sure to bookmark Death Waltz Recording Company’s website, as the 30th anniversary double LP will be released TOMORROW, November 13th!