My Review of Black Christmas (2019)

 

Written by Sophie Takal And April Wolf

Directed by Sophie Takal

Kris: "You messed with the wrong sisters."

You know the way sometimes the word "woke" can be weaponised as a negative for a piece of media that's usually more diverse? Yeah, I hate when that happens but every once on a while a piece of media somewhat warrants the negativity.

This reboot being one of them. We already got a surprisingly decent remake back in 2006, so was there a need for a version of this horror movie that seemed to be written for the 2010s Tumblr crowd? Apparently so.

Let's get on with this, shall we? To make this movie different but infinity far less interesting than 1974 or 2006, the 2019 version decided that Billy Lens wasn't a compelling enough antagonist to terrorise a bunch of sorority sisters. Nope, a misogynistic cult led by Professor Gelson (Cary Elwes) was the way to go here. That and some dead Hawthorne bloke and possessive goo from a bust.

It's as nonsensical as it sounded with the protagonists in questions being the least compelling ones we've had with this series. There was Riley (Imogen Poots), Kris (Aleyse Shannon), Marty (Lily Donoughue) and Jesse (Brittany O'Grady). Oh and token nice guy, Landon (Caleb Eberhardt).

Alongside Gelson as the ringleader, the frat guys also had the massively antagonistic Brian (Ryan McIntyre), who previously attacked Riley. About halfway through the movie, there's an awfully done sing song about Brian's rapey tendencies by the girls at a Christmas pageant.

Then there's Helena (Madeleine Adams). She's the "traitor" of the group, foolishly misled by the boys into subservience, only to be killed by them. Yeah, the entire film flatlines because the poor handled "men vs. women" commentary that previously didn't do and were ultimately better for not doing. 

- The Cult members were giving serious Ghostface vibes but nowhere near as interesting.

- There's a mid credit sequence with Claudette the cat that I'll admit was funny enough.

- Standout music: The Larks Christmas To New Year and Rose Graham Black Christmas.

- Chronology: 2019 Christmas time, with Hawthorne college being the main setting.

I'm going to be brutally, if I never watch this version of Black Christmas again, it'll be a godsend. The movie just straight up sucks, horribly handles it's message with most of the cast barely phoning it in. Just stick to the other versions and give this one a miss.

Rating: 3 out of 10 

My Review of Black Christmas (2006)

 

Written And Directed by Glen Morgan

Billy: "She's my family now!"

Last week, I watched the original version of this movie from 1974 and last night, I watched the first remake/reboot from 2006. My expectations weren't exactly high but funnily enough, I was pleasantly surprised with this one.

Again, the villain would be Billy Lenz (Robert Mann/Cainan Wiebe) and once again, the setting would be a sorority house over the Christmas period, albeit with new protagonists. That in itself was a benefit to the movie as I think trying to do another version of Jess and company wouldn't have worked.

Our main Final Girl was the rather assertive and generally nice, Kelli Presley (Katie Cassidy). Instead of spending time with her boyfriend, Kyle Autry (Oliver Hudson), she wanted to spend it with her "sisters" and House Mother, Barbara MacHenry (Andrea Martin). Of course, Billy had other ideas.

With the girls being cooped up during a snow storm, we got to briefly know this batch of women. There was Melissa (Michelle Tratchenberg), Heather (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), Dana (Lacey Chabert), Clair (Leela Savasta) the rather oddball Eve (Kathleen Kole) and Megan (Jessica Harmon). They're not the most developed of characters but neither are that too awful as characters either. It's more middle ground with them overall.

Anyways, the body count rose throughout the movie with each of the girls (and Barbara) getting gruesomely killed off while Clair's half sister, Leigh (Kristen Cloke) also found herself in the mix while Billy's backstory involving his abusive mother, Constance (Karin Konoval) and younger sister, Agnes (Dean Friss/Christina Crivici) was also revealed in gruesome detail.

The twist involving Agnes was a nice enough departure from the original movie and the added backstory for Billy actually helped the movie a lot more than expected. The final few minutes though are reminiscent of another horror sequel that came out five years after this movie. If you know you know.

- A different ending that played homage to the original film was scrapped in favour of the one we ended up with. Andrea Martin was Phyllis in the 1974 movie.

- This was actually released on Christmas Day in the US but ten days earlier in the UK.

- Standout music: Dance Of The Sugar Plum Fairy by Pyotr I. Tchaikovsky and Carol Of The Bells by The Roger Wagner Chorale.

- Chronology: Billy was born in 1970, Agnes in 1979, Billy went mad and killed his mother in 1991 and the current Christmas was in 2006.

My expectations weren't high for this version of Black Christmas but I actually enjoyed this as much as the original. It changed enough to give it an identity of it's own in a good way while also retaining the essence of the original and expanding on the lore of Billy as a villain. 

Rating: 7 out of 10 

My Review of Black Christmas (1974)

 

Written by Roy Moore 

Directed by Bob Clark 

Billy (to Jessica): "Just like having a wart removed."

To think, it's been fifty years since the release of this movie. Fifty years and two remakes later. It's also a first time watch for me and yes, I hope to catch up with the 2006 and 2019 versions this month as well if possible.

Somewhat based on the urban legend of "the babysitter and the man upstairs", this movie took place within a sorority house. A group of sisters being tormented by a heavy breather on the other end of the phone.

A heavy breather who when he wasn't been lewd and sexually threatening also was going about killing these sisters, one by one. Our protagonist of the piece was a young woman named Jessica Bradford (Olivia Hussey). She was the one mostly interacting with the killer on the phone.

Of course, Jessica had other issues besides being stalked by a killer. There was the fact that she had fallen pregnant by her boyfriend, Peter Symthe (Keir Dullea). She wanted to have an abortion and Peter was dead set against the idea. Peter's overzealous attitude towards Jessica also led to the belief that he was the killer, only for the last scene to disprove that theory.

As for other characters, they're there as fodder. There's some screen time afforded to house mother, Mrs Mac (Marian Waldman) and bitchy sister, Barb Coard (Margot Kidder). Both are given rather brutal deaths by the killer while John Saxon has a decent supporting role as Lt. Kenneth Fuller. 

What about the killer? For a guy who spent the movie tormenting and killing as many women as he could, very little was actually revealed about him. We just know by the end of the movie, he wasn't actually caught and his name was Billy (Nick Mancuso). Though not in the movie itself. It's an interesting to keep the level of ambiguity for the character.

- The iller is credited as The Moaner and along with Nick Mancuso, both Bob Clark and Albert J. Dunk also played the character.

- The movie was inspired by a series of murders that happened in the Westmount area of Montreal in 1943.

- Standout music: Some eerie score music from Carl Zittrer as well as Christmas carols used during Billy's attack on Barb.

- Chronology: Christmas time in the 1970s.

Black Christmas certainly maintained an eerie atmosphere throughout. The ambiguity with the killer and his fixation on Jessica definitely upped the tension and while other characters weren't as fleshed out, this movie certainly has earned its cult status among horror fans.

Rating: 7 out of 10