Silent Night, Bloody Night

A 1972 American slasher film directed by Theodore Gershuny, starring Patrick O'Neal, Mary Woronov, and John Carradine. The plot follows a series of murders that occur in a small New England town on Christmas Eve after a man inherits a family estate which was once an insane asylum. As the body count rises, the town's dark secrets are revealed through a series of eerie phone calls and flashbacks. The film was produced by Lloyd Kaufman (later of Troma Entertainment) and is considered a precursor to the slasher genre that would explode later in the decade. Although a copyright statement appears in the credits, the film was never registered for copyright, placing it in the public domain.