Silent Night, Deadly Night 5: The Toy Maker (1991)

Silent Night, Deadly Night 5: The Toy Maker (1991) is the fifth movie in the Silent Night, Deadly Night franchise. The film was also featured in an episode of Svengoolie. It stars William Thorne, Jane Higginson, Van Quattro, Tracy Fraim, Conan Yuzna, and veteran screen legend Mickey Rooney as The Toy Maker. Ironically, Rooney publicly condemned the first "Silent Night, Deadly Night" film in a written letter to the producers, only to later appear in this film. Additionally, both Neith Hunter and Clint Howard, who both had roles in Initiation: Silent Night, Deadly Night 4, reprise their roles in cameo appearances.

Plot
Late one night in December a young boy named Derek Quinn (William Thorne) wakes up and, hearing the doorbell ring, goes downstairs and finds a Christmas present addressed to him sitting on the porch. Taking the present inside Derek is found by his father Tom (Van Quattro) who reprimands him for being up so late and opening the door, sending him off to bed. Instead of listening to his father Derek watches from the stairs as the curious Tom opens the gift (which had begun rattling around). Finding a musical orb shaped like Santa Claus in the box Tom activates it, causing the toy to begin strangling him with retractable cords; as Tom struggles to pull the toy off he slips and falls onto a fireplace poker, his impaled body being found by his wife Sarah (Jane Higginson) a few moments later.

Two weeks later Sarah takes Derek, who hasn't spoken since his father death, to a toy store owned by the elderly Joe Petto (Mickey Rooney) and his odd son Pino (Brian Bremer) not realizing they have been followed by Noah Adams (Tracy Fraim). After Derek rejects all the toys Joe shows him (and one called Larry the Larvae that Pino tries to give him) he and his mother leave, prompting Joe to begin angrily yelling at Pino, belittling him and blaming him for all the store's recent failures. While running from his father Pino bumps into Noah and drops the larvae toy, which Noah picks up and buys along with some other toys. At his home Noah begins taking apart the toys he bought from Joe when he is confronted by his angry landlord Harold (Gerry Black). Late paying rent Noah, to smooth things over, gives Harold the Larry the Larvae toy in exchange for a one day extension. While driving home Harold is killed when Larry the Larvae crawls into his mouth and bursts out his eye, causing his car to crash and explode.

The next day Sarah takes Derek to see Santa (portrayed by Noah, who takes his friend's shift) at the mall, finding another gift on the porch on the way out. While Sarah and Derek are gone Pino sneaks into their house, using a key he had hidden years earlier when he and his father lived there. When Sarah and Derek get home early (due to Noah's odd behavior towards Derek) Pino flees from the house. After confronting Joe about Pino's intrusion (and stating that she will call the police the next time it happens) Sarah decides to let Derek open the present dropped off earlier, but Derek refuses to touch it. Leaving Derek alone Sarah is visited by her friend Kim Levitt (Neith Hunter) and while the two talk Derek sneaks outside and throws the present in a garbage can, where Kim's adopted son Lonnie (Conan Yuzna) finds it. While Lonnie unwraps the gift and finds roller skates in it. Joe, in a drunken rage, begins beating Pino, accidentally killing him by knocking him down some stairs. While using the skates Lonnie is hit by a car and left hospitalized when rockets hidden within the skates cause him to lose control.

While Sarah visits Lonnie and Kim at the hospital Derek is visited by Noah, who is shooed away by the babysitter Meredith (Amy L. Taylor) who tells Noah where to find Sarah when Noah keeps badgering her from outside. In the parking garage of Sarah's workplace Noah, revealed to be Sarah's old boyfriend and Derek's real father, confronts her and the two reconcile. At the Quinn house Joe (dressed as Santa) breaks inside and has a horde of toys attack Meredith and her boyfriend Buck (Eric Welch) while he abducts Derek, taking him to the toy store. Shortly before taking Sarah home Noah tells her about Joe's past, saying he was arrested years earlier for booby trapping toys he gave to children after his pregnant wife died in a car crash; pulling into the driveway Sarah and Noah find the hysterical and bloody Meredith, who tells them Buck is dead (having had his head cut off by a circular saws attached to a toy car) and that Joe took Derek.

Sarah rushes to the toy store (followed by Noah) and starts looking around upstairs, arming herself with a knife. In the basement Noah is attacked by Joe with a remote control plane and an acid squirting water pistol and is knocked out. Hearing the noise Sarah goes downstairs, finds the real Joe's dead body and tries to run, only to be stopped by the Joe dressed as Santa. The imposter Joe removes his face (showing robotic components underneath) and puts on another, revealing himself to be Pino. Pino explains to Sarah that Joe created him to replace his own dead son, but he could never live up to his father's expectations (as he was not "a real son") and was continually broken and rebuilt by Joe in his drunken rages. Pino goes on to say that he wants Sarah to be his mother (sending killer toys to try and kill Derek) before beginning to dry hump her while frantically screaming "I love you mommy!"

Sarah manages to stab Pino in the head with a screwdriver, causing him to begin malfunctioning. Grabbing the knife Sarah dropped earlier Pino begins trying to stab Derek, who he had placed in a large sack. Derek is saved when Noah breaks into the room and starts fighting Pino, distracting him long enough for Sarah to halve him at the waist with an axe. Barely functioning Pino cries for his father before grabbing Sarah's leg, causing her to stomp his head into pieces. As Sarah, Derek and Noah leave the eyes of a one of Joe's partially assembled robots spark ominously, like Pino's and his creations.

Cast

 * William Thorne as Derek Quinn
 * Jane Higginson as Sarah Quinn
 * Van Quattro as Tom Quinn
 * Tracy Fraim as Noah Adams
 * Neith Hunter as Kim Levitt
 * Conan Yuzna as Lonnie
 * Mickey Rooney as Joe Petto
 * Brian Bremer as Pino Petto
 * Gerry Black as Harold
 * Clint Howard as Ricky
 * Thornton Simmons as Other Santa
 * Catherine Schreiber as Mother
 * Zoe Yuzna as Brandy
 * Jennifer Pusheck as Elf
 * Billy Oscar as Dad
 * Cathy Yuzna as Stroller #1
 * Gary Schmoeller as Stroller #2
 * Amy L. Taylor as Merideth
 * Eric Welch as Buck
 * Richard N. Gladstein as Driver Dad
 * Jan Linder as Nurse

Release
The film was released on VHS by Live Home Video in November of 1991 and was released on DVD December 1, 2009 by Lionsgate in a box set with Silent Night, Deadly Night 3: Better Watch Out! and Silent Night, Deadly Night 4: Initiation. The film was also once featured in an episode of Svengoolie.