Review of Black Christmas (2006) by Gustav V — 31 May 2011

Black Christmas is a confused, contrite remake of the classic 1974 Yuletide horror movie which featured Margot Kidder. The 2006 version is more graphically violent in a way which adds nothing substantial to the plot. The Black Christmas remake delves into the killer's background and motivations which is a classic mistake -the demented murderer was more frightening when we didn't understand him. As both Stephen King and George Romero have pointed out, the less we understand about a monster or source of evil, and the longer a film takes to reveal him/it, the scarier the killer/evil is. The reason for this is that the filmmakers can never reveal anything that rivals what our imaginations conjure, and so the revelation is always slightly anticlimactic.

Black Christmas (2006) contains some contrivances, such as an impalement on the star of a Christmas Tree and another impalement by a sharpened candy cane. These death scenes are pretty silly and possibly meant to be tongue in cheek. They are reminiscent of the monologue in Gremlins (1984) in which Kate (Phoebe Cates) relates that her father died on Christmas when he dressed as Santa Claus and broke his neck climbing down the family's chimney. The family had no idea until they the lit a fire and started to smell dad's decomposed body cooking away in the chimney. (The scene was removed from later releases of the movie at the insistence of Warner Brothers executives because it confused audiences who were too unsophisticated to realize it was a joke.) Whether we are supposed to believe the far-fetched deaths in Black Christmas or not, they detract from the horror element and make us wonder why the movie cannot decide whether it is serious or campy.

To the film's credit, the corny death scenes seem to be an attempt to recreate the grotesque-but-funny larger than life effect pioneered by the old E.C Comics Erie and Creepy Christmas Editions of the 1970's. Regrettably, Black Christmas falls short of the effort due to the inconsistency of its delivery. At any rate, the happy ending of the 2006 version completely undermines the impact of the original which was not only horrifying, but believably so in a way that made you want to check your house and make sure your doors were locked before going to bed.

Good for some nervous laughs if you have nothing better to do, have seen It's A Wonderful Life 67 times, want something more cynical and can't find a copy of Shepperton Studios' 1974 very dark and lively Scrooge with Albert Finney.