Black Christmas

If Black Christmas gets anything right, it's the colorful Christmas inspired lighting and photography. It's hard not to feel a little festive as the camera moves in and around the hallways of this sorority house covered with all sorts of colored lights as jaunty Christmas music plays in the distant background. It's only a shame this well crafted atmosphere isn't in service of a better movie.

Black Christmas is a remake of the 1974 film of the same name that involves a psychotic killer sneaking into the attic of a sorority house over Christmas break and tormenting the inhabitants with obscene and terrifying phone calls before killing them one by one. This is, more or less, the same set up for this film except, where the original featured a cast of interesting and well developed (certainly by slasher standards) characters, this film features an attractive group of young women who mostly look so much alike that you can't remember who's dead and who's not.

The killer, Billy, is unwisely brought out of the shadows and given a full sob story about an abusive mother who loved his sister more than she loved him, which caused him to go on a homicidal rampage many years prior. For some reason, he has a thing for plastic bags and ripping eyes out so, if you're into that, you're in luck - that's how he dispatches of pretty much every character in the film except for one death where a stray shard of ice does the dirty work for him.

It's hard to figure out what the creators of this film had in mind. It's long been rumored to have had serious studio interference, but the tone is all over the place. Is this supposed to be quite so campy? In the end, it doesn't work as a slice of slasher cheese, a full blown comedy, or a serious horror film.

In this mid 2000's remake of Bob Clark's classic Black Christmas, we get an in depth look at Billy and Agnes and follow their murderous holiday massacre at a sorority house.

The film opens with a sorority sister upstairs at the house wrapping presents. In a homage to the original film, she is murdered with a plastic bag over her face by an unseen assailant. We then learn that Billy Linz is locked away in a mental institution for murders he committed in the sorority house years prior, before it was owned by the local university. The backstory told is that in the 70's, his mother was a murderous abusive woman who sexually assaults him leading to her getting pregnant with his child - Agnes. Billy takes revenge on her by killing her and also taking Agnes' eye.

Fast forward to present time which we see Billy escaping the psych ward and heads to the sorority house. Agnes is already in the attic and the two reunite to murder the house filled with sorority sisters. With an intense snowstorm brewing, and roads closed, the murderers start knocking people off one by one. It'll be up to the remaining ladies to bring an end to their reign of holiday terror.

This version of Black Christmas uses a ton of comedic dialogue in the script, and a lot of it works! The sorority girls are constantly snarking at each other or making some sort of quick witted quip about something. The gore is intense, in almost an extremely unpleasant way to sit through. There is mostly eye gouging and eye stabbing death scenes, which make me cringe. The original didn't rely on blood at all to tell an effective creepy story, and this one didn't either in my opinion.

Black Christmas gives us a mid 2000's ensemble cast, with high end stars at the time like Katie Cassidy, Mary Winstead, and Lacey Chabert. The acting was very good and a main reason why I enjoyed the movie. A standout was Crystal Lowe who was tasked with pretty much taking over the constantly drunk Barb character played by Margot Kidder in the original movie. Andrea Martin is back as well, this time playing the house mother. Her version of Mrs. Mack isn't as intoxicated or crude, but necessary nonetheless. It was nice to see her again.

I give this remake a lot of credit because of how hard it tries. Glen Morgan wanted to try and stick to some themes and iconic moments done by Clark in the 1974 entry. Yes, it wasn't nearly as effective but the try is there. This is why I prefer this remake to the latest 2019 instalment which is just name only. This remake isn't nearly as tense or terrifying as the 1974 masterpiece. Instead of shadows and a dramatic musical score, we get a ton of gore and the same nutcracker song playing in the background.

Overall, I have to say I enjoy this movie and it's a traditional watch around the holidays. It's humorous at times with characters that are well written for and does try and answer some questions from the original movie, continuing with the Billy/Agnes storyline.

7/10

In 1974, Bob Clarke's Black Xmas kick-started the teenage slasher sub-genre. The seasonal slasher went on to leave an impression on John Carpenter, who years later gave us Halloween. So, do I expect to be disappointed with a remake of such an iconic cult classic? It is hard to get excited over teenage slasher films these days, but Glen Morgan reinstalled that excitement. Billy Lenz has just been released from a mental institution and is looking to find his childhood home where he was abused by his mother. However, the house is now occupied by the sorority sisters. With the students unaware of the troubled history of the house and a deranged killer seeking revenge, it's a race against time for the college girls to survive. An aspect of this movie that makes it stand out is that it delves into Billy's backstory and it gives the film more depth. The sorority sisters each have something different to bring to the table, this makes it easier to get a bond with the characters. As the producers were responsible for films such as Final Destination, I was hoping for gory scenes and I received them. Overall, yes, it is predictable at times, but it is worth the watch and has a decent twist at the end.

After the shock caused by the utter trash, labeled as the 2nd remake of Black Christmas, i recently rewatched the 2006 one and it holds up surprisingly well. The characters aren't memorable or reletable, but the typical 2000s slasher tropes work very well, the gore is more then sattisfying the twist is okayish.

Its very well worth a watvch, if you know what to expect.

I had very high expectations for this film. I thought that this might be the one "Re-make" that is the exception because of the involvement of the original film maker, Bob Clark, serving as assistant producer. BOY was I wrong!!! There are some exceptional murder sequences in this flick but that is not enough. Once again, as is the case in so many "Re-makes" the storyline has been almost completely changed! The producers do not seem to realize the elements that made the original film scary in the first place which are now missing! Such as the fact that, in the original you were never quite sure who the killer was and they never revealed it. Now not only do they reveal it, but they add an entire background that is so laughably unbelievable that it dilutes the film's ability to frighten the viewer. The over-the-top gore sequences alone do not make for a frightening movie and the "twist" ending is quite laughable! What they add to the ending of this movie is utterly ridiculous and absolutely unnecessary! Aside from exceptional gore effects, the only other saving grace is the presence of Andrea Martin from the original film as Mrs. Mack but they should have really tried harder to make the characters from the original more like those in the original...and the phone calls, a crucial element to the terrifying experience of the original, are absolutely laughable! Skip this one and watch the original.