''Silent Night'' is a 2021 apocalyptic

black comedy film Black comedy, also known as black humor, bleak comedy, dark comedy, dark humor, gallows humor or morbid humor, is a style of comedy that makes light of subject matter that is generally considered taboo, particularly subjects that are normally ...

written and directed by Camille Griffin. The film stars

Keira Knightley Keira Christina Knightley ( ; born 26 March 1985) is an English actress. Known for her work in independent films and Blockbuster (entertainment), blockbusters, particularly Historical drama, period dramas, she has received List of awards and no ...

Matthew Goode Matthew William Goode (born 3 April 1978) is an English actor. He made his screen debut in 2002 with ABC's television film '' Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister''. His breakthrough role was in the romantic comedy '' Chasing Liberty'' (2004), f ...

Roman Griffin Davis Roman Griffin Davis (born 5 March 2007) is an English actor. He is best known for his title role in the film ''Jojo Rabbit'' (2019), for which he was nominated for a Golden Globe. Early life and career Davis was born on 5 March 2007 in London ...

Annabelle Wallis Annabelle Frances Wallis (born 5 September 1984) is an English actress. She is known for her roles as Jane Seymour in Showtime (TV network), Showtime's period drama ''The Tudors'' (2009–2010), Grace Burgess in the BBC drama ''Peaky Blinders (T ...

Lily-Rose Depp Lily-Rose Melody Depp (born 27 May 1999) is a French and American actress. Born to actors Johnny Depp and Vanessa Paradis, she began her acting career in film with a minor role in ''Tusk'' (2014) and pursued a career as a fashion model. She ap ...

Sope Dirisu Sope Dirisu (, ; born 1991) is an English actor. He made his film debut in 2016 with '' Sand Castle'', ''Criminal'', and '' The Huntsman: Winter's War''. Since 2020, he has starred as Elliot Carter / Finch in the Sky Atlantic series '' Gangs of ...

Kirby Howell-Baptiste Kirby Howell-Baptiste (born 23 October 1987), credited mononymously as Kirby since 2023, is an English actress. She has appeared as a series regular on '' Downward Dog'' (2017), ''Killing Eve'' (2018), '' Why Women Kill'' (2019), and as Death o ...

Lucy Punch Lucy Alice T. Punch (born 30 December 1977) is an English actor. She has appeared in the films '' Ella Enchanted'' (2004), ''Hot Fuzz'' (2007), '' You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger'', '' Dinner for Schmucks,'' (both 2010) and ''Into the Woods'' ...

, Rufus Jones and Davida McKenzie. The film features a group of friends who reunite for one final Christmas right before an ambiguous apocalypse will wipe all of humanity out. ''Silent Night'' had its world premiere at the

Toronto International Film Festival The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF, often stylized as tiff) is one of the most prestigious and largest publicly attended film festivals in the world. Founded in 1976, the festival takes place every year in early September. The organi ...

on 16 September 2021, and was released on 3 December 2021 in the United Kingdom by Altitude Film Distribution and in the United States by

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RLJE Films RLJ Entertainment (formerly Image Entertainment) is an American film production company and home video distributor, distributing film and television productions in North America, with approximately 3,200 exclusive DVD titles and approximately 340 ...

Plot

Married couple Nell and Simon host a yearly

Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating Nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a Religion, religious and Culture, cultural celebration among billions of people Observance of Christmas by coun ...

dinner at their country estate for their former school friends and their spouses. This Christmas is a special occasion with everyone dressing in formal wear and the children being allowed to swear. It is gradually revealed that because of an imminent environmental catastrophe in which a gigantic rolling poisonous gas cloud (which follows minutes after numerous smaller green tornadoes that are generally considered as heralds of the upcoming danger) is killing most life forms, the British government has issued suicide pills for a quick and easy death before the cloud hits Britain. The suicide pills were delivered to the entire population, except for the homeless and illegal migrants. Nell, Simon, and the rest of their friends have made a suicide pact to take the pills and give them to their children. However, while James agrees with his friends over the decision, his young wife Sophie has recently discovered she is pregnant and is still unsure whether to take the pill. There are several confrontations during the night: Kitty is given a doll that resembles her, and she hugs her father, but refuses to hug Sandra even though she begs her to; Art finds the act of gift giving ridiculous, so he lashes out at the adults and runs from the room; Sandra tells James she had loved him when they were in school and wondered why they never had sex; Tony gets visibly upset at her admission and claims he has never made a mistake, at which point Bella says they once had sex before he got together with Sandra; Alex feels left out during the festivities, which causes her to drink too much and pass out in her bed. Nell, Simon and their children

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with Nell's mother, who is abroad, to say goodbye. She sees the gas coming, so hangs up and takes the pill. The conversation leaves their eldest, Art, distressed. He begins to speculate that the government and the scientists are wrong. Art approaches James and Sophie with his fears. Sophie then reveals to him that she is pregnant thus she does not want to take the pill. Art tells his parents he will not take the pill; this culminates in him running away after a discussion. Art soon discovers a family, including a baby, on the side of the road. They are dead, and there are several packs of the pill in the car. Shocked, Art begins to scream as the small green tornadoes twist around him; his screams allow Simon to find him and he carries him home. After returning home, the group realizes it is past midnight and time to take their pills. They divide into their separate rooms to say goodbye. Art passes out and Nell holds him, while Simon gives his children the pills. The boys ask for drinks to take the pills, so Simon gets them fizzy drinks. Meanwhile, James pressures Sophie to take the pill saying he will not unless she does too, and they eventually take them. Bella attempts to wake Alex to take her pill and makes her take it while she is very drunk, but she wakes and vomits the pill. Bella tells her they have five minutes and while in the kitchen they dance and Bella uses the diversion to stab Alex. Both die soon after. Tony, Kitty and Sandra all lie in a bed to await death when Kitty remembers her doll and runs to get it while Sandra again begs her for a hug. When Kitty returns, she sees her parents are dead and she crawls between them, finally hugging Sandra. Nell notices that Art has bled through his eyes, nose, and ears. Frightened, the whole family rapidly take their pills, and lie next to Art. The following morning, it is seen that everyone is dead. The final shot focuses on Art, who suddenly opens his eyes.

Cast

as Nell, the gathering's host *

as Simon, Nell's husband *

as Artur (Art), Nell's and Simon's older son * Hardy and Gilby Griffin Davis as Hardy and Thomas, Nell's and Simon's younger twin sons *

as Sandra, Nell's sister * Rufus Jones as Tony, Sandra's husband * Davida McKenzie as Kitty, Sandra's and Tony's daughter *

as James, Nell's and Sandra's childhood friend *

as Sophie, James's wife *

as Alex *

as Bella, Alex's wife

Production

It was announced in January 2020 that Camille Griffin would make her feature debut with the film, with Keira Knightley, Roman Griffin Davis, Matthew Goode and Annabelle Wallis set to star. Lily-Rose Depp, Kirby Howell-Baptiste, Davida McKenzie, Rufus Jones, Sope Dirisu and Lucy Punch were cast the next month, with filming beginning on 17 February. The film's score was composed by

Lorne Balfe Lorne Balfe (born 23 February 1976) is a Scottish composer of film, television and video game scores. A veteran of Hans Zimmer's Remote Control Productions, Balfe's scoring credits include the films '' Megamind'', ''Penguins of Madagascar'', ...

Release

It had its world premiere at the

on 16 September 2021. Prior to,

and

acquired U.S. distribution rights to the film. It was released in the United Kingdom and United States on 3 December 2021.

Reception

The site's critical consensus reads, "Spending time with these characters can be a lot to ask, but ''Silent Night'' peers into the abyss with admirable aplomb." On

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

, the film holds a rating of 52 out of 100 based on 22 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".

References

External links

* * {{Matthew Vaughn 2021 films 2021 black comedy films 2021 directorial debut films 2020s Christmas comedy films 2020s Christmas horror films American black comedy films American Christmas comedy films British black comedy films British Christmas comedy films American Christmas horror films Films about families Films about suicide Films set in country houses Apocalyptic films Films produced by Matthew Vaughn Films produced by Trudie Styler Films scored by Lorne Balfe Marv Studios films 2020s English-language films 2020s American films 2020s British films English-language black comedy films English-language Christmas comedy films