I know Bob Clark’s original Black Christmas is considered a perfect, timeless classic - a pre-slasher that defined all the future slashers. And I guess those who say so are correct, at least in part. Because that side story with the cop, John Saxon, is terrible boring and just a filler to make the movie come up in a proper length. That might be why I like Glen Morgan’s colorful remake so much, it just ignores the boring things and goes directly for the jugular. Not saying it’s a masterpiece, but the gay man in me really appreciates the tackiness, the John Water-esque supporting characters, the gore and spectacular set-pieces. Okay, off to the story!
We first meet Billy at the asylum, sitting and preparing for his revenge. He once poked out the eye on his sister, killed his mother and stepfather and ate their flesh in the shape of gingerbread cookies. A nice guy, in every way possible. Did I mention he’s yellow also? Anyway, he escapes back to his old house that’s now a sorority house with a few girls who haven’t gone home to their vacations yet, but still ready to celebrate Christmas Eve! Let me tell you it will be a very bloody Christmas this year…
Alright, this is not a classic – but it’s so much fun! First of all, Morgan literary prays that awful thing called American Christmas (which is even worse than Christmas in Europe – not by much, but still…) with its hysterical contrived “cozy” atmosphere, colorful decorations, fucking Santas and saints in every damn corner and a constant snowing outside. It’s like a John Waters Christmas, right from the fifties – but with nudity, gore, sex and a lovely heretic attitude toward this overrated holiday!
Yeah, I know all of you love it and it’s a great way for you to meet up with your family and relatives, eat good food and get gifts. I respect that, as long you won’t force the Christmas spirit upon me! Back to the movie: the original is famous for its lack of explanations, but the remake delivers everything – and more – on this. This is what makes the original powerful and extra scary. We don’t know why or who. It’s just some crazy bastard killing people. But you couldn’t do that twice. I really enjoy the wonderful white trash back story, with Karin Konoval (brilliant!) as Billy’s psychotic and alcoholic mother. This story is intertwined with the modern story, as flashbacks and storytelling devices and it works great. Andrea Martin, from the first Black Christmas, is fun and eccentric as the house mother Mrs Mac. It would have been fun to see Margot Kidder back in the saga, but hey, you can’t get everything!
The 2006 Black Christmas has everything except maybe that timeless quality some people crave. But the thing is that I think it’s better now than when I saw it the first time, eight years ago. It’s aged to the better, feeling quite fresh and tasteless in a cool way. The gore is good (but often very fast scenes of carnage), there are some very creative visual solutions and most of the actors seem to be in on what they’re doing. A macabre, twisted version of Christmas – the way I prefer it!
"I know Bob Clark’s original Black Christmas is considered a perfect, timeless classic - a pre-slasher that defined all the future slashers. And I guess those who say so are correct, at least in part. Because that side story with the cop, John Saxon, is terrible boring and just a filler to make the movie come up in a proper length."
WHAT!!!!!?????
YOU ARE DEAD WRONG, YOUNG MAN!
hahahhahahahhahahh.....yeah, some nerd rant at christmas time don´t you just love it...?
No, I like those scenes with Saxon.
"Alright, this is not a classic – but it’s so much fun!"
Yeah, it does sound fun.
"I respect that, as long you won’t force the Christmas spirit upon me!"
I won´t do that to you, promise.
"Back to the movie: the original is famous for its lack of explanations, but the remake delivers everything – and more – on this. This is what makes the original powerful and extra scary. We don’t know why or who. It’s just some crazy bastard killing people. But you couldn’t do that twice."
You could be right about that.
"It would have been fun to see Margot Kidder back in the saga, but hey, you can’t get everything!"
Yeah.....a damn shame.
"The gore is good (but often very fast scenes of carnage), there are some very creative visual solutions and most of the actors seem to be in on what they’re doing. A macabre, twisted version of Christmas – the way I prefer it!"
I haven´t seen this one, I found Sorority Row(2009)entertaining so I might see this one as well, good review and thanks.
Posted by: Megatron | December 25, 2013 at 20:49