On Christmas Eve, a small group of sorority girls started getting obscene phone calls from the previous of owner of the house, Billy, and one by one the girls start getting stalked and killed off. Could it be Bill returning to his childhood home or could it be some random maniac?
Black Christmas or Black X-Mas is a somewhat remake of the original Bob Clark classic slasher, Black Christmas. The 2006 film is directed by Glen Morgen and in my opinion his work besides the “Final Destination” series is under looked and doesn’t get the respect the films deserve especially Black Christmas. I would actually say that it is not really a remake and it can stand on it’s own as a film. Except for a few homages to the original and the title, it’s a different film compared to Bob Clark’s film and if the original never existed then I think more people would enjoy it.
I love the gory kills, one liners from the girls and sorority mother, the fact that most of the girls fight back, the cool twist towards the end about the killer, the fact Andrea Martin is return back from original now playing the sorority mother, and much more. I would put this film in my top 10 or top 15 favorite modern slashers, and it’s definitely a Christmas horror favorite I watch every year. To me it’s a perfect modern fun slasher film.
If you want to re-watch it to get a second opinion if you didn’t like it the first time or if you haven’t seen the film yet then go in open minded and look at it as a totally different film from Black Christmas (1974).
Happy Holidays everyone!!
–Justin Rhine
I think this film definitely works better if you are able to separate it from the groundbreaking original. The original Black Christmas is a classic that is overlooked in my horror circles when all of the acclaim is given to John Carpenter’s Halloween. This remake is pretty dumb when it comes to story but I admire the “gore-galore” attitude of it. It feels more like a remake of every 80’s sorority slasher than it does a tribute to the original. I would never call it a “good” movie and I would watch the original over this one any day but for mindless trash, a slasher fan can do much worse.
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.