Recently I was unfortunate enough to watch Silent Night, Deadly Night II and it was worse than I imagined. Almost everything about the feature film was horrible, with the one shining light being actress Elizabeth Kaitan. She was absolutely stunning and one of the only cast members to have a somewhat believable performance. This led me to seek her out and see what her career was like before and after Christmas horror’s biggest blunder.

Elizabeth Kaitan was born in Hungary in July 1960. She moved with her family to New York at the age of eight and began pursuing a career in acting when she was eighteen. She attended the New York Academy of Theatrical Arts and was a print model to pay for her tuition. Shortly after graduation she began booking featured extra gigs and small parts in various genres of film including Waitress! (1981), Trackdown: Finding the Goodbar Killer (1983), horror film Silent Madness (1984), and Savage Dawn (1985) with Karen Black and Lance Henriksen. Her first big break came in the form of playing the supporting role of Jennifer in Silent Night, Deadly Night II in 1987. Although I hated the movie as a whole, this seems to be the start of her more noteworthy credits.

After Silent Night, Deadly Night II Elizabeth Kaitan began steadily booking scifi roles and the occasional horror title. She booked so many in fact that I don’t even know how she had time to sleep! The many titles – in which she played the lead or supporting actress – include Slave Girls from Beyond Infinity (1987), Assault of the Killer Bimbos (1988), Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood (1988), Necromancer (1988), Aftershock (1989), Dr. Alien (1989), Roller Blade Warriors: Taken by Force (1989), Nightwish (1990), Hellroller (1992), Virtual Encounters (1996), Petticoat Planet (1996), and The Exotic House of Wax (1997).

During all of these gigs she also booked a recurring, supporting role in the Vice Academy franchise. Kaitan played the part of Candy in Vice Academy 3 (1991), Vice Academy 4 (1995), Vice Academy 5 (1996), and Vice Academy 6 (1998). Also, she appeared as a featured extra in the comedic box office hit, Spy Hard (1996) with Leslie Nielson. Kaitan’s last on screen character was a cameo in 1999’s Veronica 2030.

So, where is Elizabeth Kaitan now?

She quit acting, actually, in 2000. Despite leaving the career behind, she managed to find happiness and love in a variety of other ways. She married an LA County Sheriff’s Deputy and current works as a secretary for a controversial conservative politician. I guess that’s why a return to acting is out of the picture for now, even though so many women are returning to independent films. Still, you can catch her commentary and archive footage in documentaries His Name was Jason: 30 Years of Friday the 13th (2009) and Crystal Lake Memories: The Complete History of Friday the 13th (2013). Maybe one day she’ll have a one-off appearance in a film. It would be interesting to see her back on her throne as a scifi queen once again.