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Bookmark this pageBlack Christmas (2006)
Director: Glen Morgan
Movie review
From Time Out London
A harbinger of the slasher cycle kick-started by ‘Halloween’ four years later, Bob Clark’s 1974 ‘Black Christmas’ coined most of the familiar conventions. This twisted remake retains the original’s Yuletide setting and basic set-up – housebound sorority sisters terrorised by obscene phone calls and violent attacks – but also attempts a postmodern riff. By incorporating the first film’s psycho killer mythology into the remake’s narrative fabric, writer-director Glen Morgan’s script both reprises and comments upon Clark’s cult horror classic. Sadly, by substituting clever-clever plotting, expository flashbacks and a shoal of red herrings for the original’s creepy, cumulative suspense, Morgan loses focus and deflates the tension. To compensate, he simply ups the gore and nastiness quotient, with a particular emphasis on the removal and display of eyeballs. There are some enjoyably knowing subversions of the ‘slay ride’ formula and a few nice touches, notably the casting of one of the original girls (Andrea Martin) as the sorority house mother. But a modern horror movie featuring a non-ironic shower scene is far less knowing than it pretends to be.Author: Nigel Floyd
Time Out London Issue 1895: December 13-20 2006
Cast & crew
Director: Glen Morgan
Cast: Katie Cassidy, Michelle Trachtenberg, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Lacey Chabert, Andrea Martin full cast
Rated: 15
Duration: 84 mins
UK Release: Dec 15 2006
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