| Billy Chapman | |
|---|---|
| Silent Night, Deadly Night character | |
&sq=&lang=&file=File:Billy_Chapman_Silent_Night_Deadly_Night.jpg) Billy Chapman (portrayed by Robert Brian Wilson) | |
| Created by | Paul Caimi Michael Hickey |
| Portrayed by | Robert Brian Wilson Danny Wagner (age 8) Jonathan Best (age 5) |
| In-universe information | |
| Full name | William Chapman |
| Gender | Male |
| Occupation | Toy store employee |
| Family | Jim Chapman (father, deceased) Ellie Chapman (mother, deceased) Ricky Caldwell (brother, deceased) |
| Relatives | Unnamed grandfather |
| Nationality | American |
Billy Chapman is a fictional character in the Silent Night, Deadly Night franchise. Created by writers Paul Caimi and Michael Hickey, the character serves as the protagonist and antivillain of the first film, Silent Night, Deadly Night (1984), and is featured in flashbacks in the sequel, Silent Night, Deadly Night Part 2 (1987).[1]
In the first film, Billy is first introduced at age five, when he witnesses his parents' murder on a country road on Christmas Eve by a hitchhiker in a Santa Claus costume. The event leaves him with a pathological aversion to Christmas.[2] Billy is placed in an orphanage under Mother Superior, and experiences abuse there throughout his childhood that compounds his mental state. At age eighteen, Billy acquires a job working at Ira's Toy Store; however, as Christmas arrives, he finds himself under increasing psychological duress, and eventually murders his co-workers at an employee Christmas party. Billy then embarks on a murder spree on Christmas Eve, killing numerous people he encounters. On Christmas Day he arrives at the orphanage where he was raised to enact revenge on Mother Superior, but is stopped by police who shoot him to death.
The character was largely received by critics as offensive due to the violent acts he commits on Christmas, and the film was widely protested upon its theatrical release in 1984.[3]
- ^ Grant, Stacey (December 12, 2015). "Why Silent Night, Deadly Night Is the Best Christmas Horror Movie You've Never Seen". MTV. Archived from the original on December 16, 2015. Retrieved January 9, 2017.
- ^ Crump, William (2013). The Christmas Encyclopedia (Third ed.). McFarland. p. 378. ISBN 978-1-476-60573-9.
- ^ Rockoff 2011, p. 156.