Silent Night, Fatal Night is a thriller directed under the able guidance of the American screenwriter and director, Peter Sullivan. When a famous writer, Mallory, is declared dead on social media, it sends her readers into mourning. Did she really die, or did she go missing? That is something we will find out soon enough! The cast of the film includes able actors like Alex Camacho, Matthew Pohlkamp. What turns will the American thriller film take? Who captured Mallory, and why? Many more questions are sure to pop up in the audience’s minds, which will eventually be answered.
Spoilers Ahead
Why Does Mallory Decide Not To Continue With Gideon Snow Mysteries?
Mallory, a famous writer of a thriller series, tells her agent Michael that she will not write any more parts of her Gideon Snow Mystery series. She tells him that she wants to explore something new and provide her readers with something new the next time. This, however, does not sit well with Michael, and he tries persuading her to keep continuing the series. He had a word with the publisher, Wendy, and she told him that if she did not write any more of the series, then they would go into a huge loss, and then she would have to fire him and he would have to pay back all the money for the publication of the previous books. He asks for some more time from Wendy so that he can persuade Mallory to continue with the series. He goes to Mallory and tells her that she should take a break from writing and spend some quality time in his penthouse in the countryside, as he hands her the keys to his house. She agrees to take a retreat but strictly tells Michael that no matter what, she will not get back to writing the series, as she believes that her readers deserve something better from her.
What Happens To Mallory?
When Mallory goes up to Michael’s penthouse to spend some time away from the chaos of the city, a disaster befalls her. She is captured by Michael, and he forces her into writing the novel. He tells her that she had no option but to write the novel, as he owed Wendy money for the previous publications of Mallory’s Gideon series. She pleads with him to let her go, but it is all in vain. She also offers to give him the money that he owes Wendy so that he can pay her back. He, however, tells Mallory that her book would be worth all the pain! He had locked her up just for his personal interest and forced her to finish the novel within a short frame of time. She tried her best to get rid of the clutches of Michael, as she tried drugging him, killing him, and calling out for help, but she could not succeed. The obsession that Michael had for her creativity could not be controlled even by Mallory herself! He went to the extent of torturing her just for the sake of her novel. He tied a GPS tracker around her ankle so that he would be notified if she tried walking out of the house. He had gone out of his way to hold her captive for over a month and force her to deliver the novel as per his liking.
What Does Michael Do To Hide The Kidnapping?
Once, when a hiker turns up at Michael’s house and asks him to let him rest for a while, he becomes suspicious of Michael’s activities. He sees a vanity bag in the living space and hears muffled screams from inside a room. When he insists on going into the room, Michael lets him in, and as he sees Mallory inside, Michael stabs him and buries him in a secluded area beside his house. He had spread the false news to the world that Mallory had died due to natural causes, leaving her fans devastated. He produces a fragment of the story to Wendy that Mallory had been writing and tells her that he had found them in Mallory’s files and was sure to find the entire manuscript for the new novel. Wendy is excited as she is ready to publish another new novel of Mallory posthumously, which would create a lot of reader influx! However, it becomes clear that right after Mallory was to complete writing her novel, he would kill her and dump her somewhere.
How Is Mallory Eventually Saved?
When the local policeman arrives at Michael’s house to investigate a missing hiker, Mallory tries calling out to him but fails as her mouth is shut with a piece of cloth. Mallory tries to escape several times but is unable to succeed. When she learns that Michael has gone out of the house to the town, she somehow manages to unlock her handcuffs and the GPS tracker off her ankle. Meanwhile, Michael realizes that he forgot to take his wallet and drives back home. Just when Mallory had been planning to escape, he caught hold of her and captured her again. Later, when Michael asks Mallory about the progression of her novel, she tells him that she has finished it and asks him to lend his ear while she reads the last part of the novel. While he listens attentively, she suddenly hits his head with the laptop and tries escaping. Just when Michael tries getting hold of her again, one of her fans, Carrie, arrives along with the policeman and saves her. When Mallory asks her how she knew about her kidnapping, Carrie tells her that in one of her interviews, she had told her that she usually takes a gap of one month after writing her books to start writing the next one. Carrie had gotten suspicious when Mallory’s manuscripts for the next novel started coming up right after she was declared dead. She thought that there was no gap between her last published novel and the manuscripts that were coming up. She had then started inquiring about Mallory, ending up at Michael’s house while looking for the truth!
Final Views
Silent Night, Fatal Night lacks a solid plot, as the crime that has been portrayed in the movie lacks a solid motive. Despite several loopholes in the film, the story is engaging and sends chills down our spines. The captivity that Mallory was in can be compared to the mother-son duo’s confinement in the film Room (2015). The years of trauma that they had to undergo can be compared to the trauma that Mallory had been facing while being held as a captive for one month without having any clue of what was to befall her fate. We anticipate the fate that is to befall Mallory and keep thinking about whether Michael is about to murder Malloy right after she finishes her novel. He, however, does not murder her, as there is a possibility of him being in love with her. Maybe he was planning to keep her captive for the rest of her life. His obsession with Mallory and her creativity has been brought out in the film. The 1-hour, 25-minute film is quite engaging, and I would suggest it as a one-time watch. The storyline is okay but could have been presented better, making Silent Night, Fatal Night attain greater depth.
