The legendary Mickey Rooney recently passed away at the age of 93, but I have to confess that I have not seen a great deal of his films. However, he is the source of one of the all-time weirdest examples of a Hollywood icon starring in a trashy B-movie. In 1984, a horror film called Silent Night, Deadly Night was released, which told the story of a young man going on a killing spree while dressed as Santa Claus. Many people, including Siskel & Ebert, were absolutely outraged by the sight of Santa Claus committing murders in a slasher flick, and the PTA protested the film and tried to have it removed from theaters. One of the movies’ harshest critics was Mickey Rooney, who wrote this…
Of course, the controversy only helped turn Silent Night, Deadly Night into a box office hit and it spawned four sequels (one of which contained perhaps the most infamous “bad movie” moment of all time). Seven years after the release of the original film, in one of the most ironic casting decisions in history, Mickey Rooney continued to express his immense rage at the whole situation by… starring in the final sequel, Silent Night, Deadly Night 5: The Toy Maker! Not only that, but his role was that of an evil toymaker named Joe Petto (Geppetto… Joe Petto… get it?) who commits several murders while dressing in a Santa suit. In case you’re wondering, Mickey Rooney was not run out of town for this…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87L2mtG73xo