In the darkness of winter’s shadow… he waits.

You may have heard that the original working title of Silent Night, Deadly Night, when writer Michael Hickey initially wrote the treatment for the film, was Slayride; that treatment was developed into a screenplay, purchased by TriStar, and the rest is history.

Oddly enough, there was another holiday horror film titled Slayride that was in the early stages of development around the same time, Untold Horror tells us this week.

Described as “a fantasy thriller” and “a chilling tale,” Slayride was teased with different pieces of sales art in 1981, 1983 and 1984; each piece of art noted that filming was to begin soon, though principal photography of course never actually did begin on the project.

“The film was developed by John and Anthony Gentile, a duo who had spent time on working on the film marketing of such films as Star Wars, Carrie, and Saturday Night Fever in the 1970’s,” Untold Horror tells us. “One has to wonder if 1984’s Silent Night, Deadly Night ended up putting the this seasonal slasher on ice.”

Slayride was to introduce a brand new horror villain, named Chanks…

“A boy’s childhood tale impacts the fragile mind of the adult he grows into who now becomes the “terrifying creature” of his own imagination. When “Chanks” abducts a child from an emotionally estranged couple, the race to save their son reunites them as a family, though the memory of “Chanks” lives on in a prophetic and all too chilling way.”

Check out those three pieces of sales art below, again via Untold Horror!