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Rating: 3.5 stars

Tags

xmas remake slasher 2013 2013-revisit 2013-dec

All movies seen on 12/07/2013

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Black Christmas (2006)

Directed by Glen Morgan

Horror | Holiday

Most recently watched by sleestakk, sensoria, schofizzy

Overview

As the residents of sorority house Pi Kappa Sigma prepare for the festive season, a stranger begins a series of obscene phone calls with dubious intentions…

Rated R | Length 92 minutes

Actors

Katie Cassidy | Kristen Cloke | Andrea Martin | Crystal Lowe | Michelle Trachtenberg | Oliver Hudson | Robert Mann | Mary Elizabeth Winstead | Lacey Chabert | Dean Friss | Karin Konoval | Cainan Wiebe | Jessica Harmon | Leela Savasta | Christina Crivici | Kathleen Kole | Howard Siegel | Peter Wilds | Ron Selmour | Michael Adamthwaite | Peter New | Christian Sloan | Alycia Purrott | Juan Riedinger | Aaron Pearl | Peggy Logan | Jill Teed | Peggy Jo Jacobs | Jerry Wasserman | Derek McIver | Evan Adams | Jody Racicot | Anne Marie DeLuise | Greg Kean | Kent Kubena | Wendy Buss

Viewing History (seen 3 times)

Viewing Notes

So… about this movie…

I’m a huge fan of the original BLACK CHRISTMAS. It’ll be watched before the end of the holiday season. Probably on Xmas Eve. One of my favorite films of all time. So when this remake came out seven (!) years ago I, of course, hated every minute. I’ve refused to watch it since because it is just a bastardization of my beloved holiday horror classic. Recently I read that someone put it on an underrated horror list and I figured I’d give it another shot. After all, my tastes might have changed slightly and I have had a new outlook when it comes to remakes.

So I sat down with my cup of hot tea on an icy December night and hit play…

What did I think? Well, I didn’t hate it.

I tried hard to just let it be and not think of Bob Clark’s masterpiece but that’s impossible. I still tried to let it live on as its own entity. After all, if you’re going to go through with a remake we don’t just want a shot-for-shot like Van Sant’s PSYCHO abortion, I want something new added. What this remake adds is, mainly, gore. I don’t have a problem with that at all. Some of the FX gags left me nodding in appreciation.

What I don’t like is they subtracted so much more than they added. They took away the fear of the unknown that makes the original so effective. You know nothing about the killer. Why he’s there or what his ordeal is on those horrifying phone calls. We see his backstory, along with who exactly Agnes is, and while it’s creepy for the moment, just knowing those facts make it leave you when the credits roll.

As someone who’s watched horror films since he was in diapers, I’m not usually fazed. I can appreciate scares and all that like everyone else, but I don’t have nightmares or leave the lights on. Never have. But the 1974 film genuinely creeps me the hell out. I don’t know anything about this psycho and that terrifies me! I’ll sit huddled on my couch, wide-eyed, as the haunting phone rings over the closing credits. All of that atmosphere is replaced with the gore, quick cuts and some interesting angles.

There are some creepy cool moments though. The eyeball through the floor, and some of Billy’s passageways through the house. Although I couldn’t help thinking this is what would happen if Webster hand gone rogue and hunted down the Papadopouloses. Ha!

In the end, I actually found some merit in this film I had surely written off years ago. I’ll watch it again and maybe it’ll grow on me in the future. I’m just glad that the original is still there, on my shelf, waiting for its annual viewing.

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