Black Christmas The Movie Review

« « The Dr Who Wallet; An Essential Toy for the Dr Who Fan | Shareholders Urge Disney Pixar To Commercialise Their Films » »

Friday, April 17th, 2009 Subscribe To Our Feed

This festive fright-fest was a nice surprise from what I was originally expecting. This is another horror remake [ from the folks behind 'Final Destination' great film ], but un-like so many others; it did manage to come up trumps; such as ‘The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.’ This is a remake of Bob Clarke’s 1974 classic slasher film, ‘Black Christmas’ ; which essentially came four years before John Carpenter’s ‘Halloween’. Some fans lay claim that it was the first slasher flick.

From the outside, this looks like yet another of your basic ‘there’s a psycho hacking up a bunch of pretty girls, who are running up the stairs instead of the door,’ and to a certain extent that is correct, it is the way this is conveyed which is fascinating and captivating to look at.

The story: crazed killer, Billy Lenz, escapes his psychiatric ward and is anxious to make it to his childhood home, where he was abused, by Xmas . Problem is, it is years later and the home is now a Sorority house. It’s Yuletide Eve and a who’s who of teenager / horror girl stars are there to greet him, including Melissa [ Michelle Trachtenberg, 'Buffy the vampire slayer’ fame ], Heather [ Mary Elizabeth Winstead, ‘Final Destination 3' ], Dana [ Lacey Chabert, 'Mean Girls' ] and Kelli [ Katie Cassidy, ‘When a stranger calls' remake. ] This movie is really good, it has a consistent sense of being studied that runs right through it and adds a sparkle to the scares, and the stress is kept high. The actresses, although spouting some nasty lines at times, also say some good ones. The acting is good, and because the majority of the leading ladies are stars, and many of them horror stars, the spectators does not guess which one is going to make it to the rolling credits.

The story-line builds well, and there is a mounting stress, as the killer first phones the girls, and then starts to do away with them. A similar storyline to the first ‘Halloween’, with a killer returning home for the holidays, there are also many similar P.O.V shots of the killer, watching the girls across the house. The Christmas theme bleeds in nicely with the plot, and it comes across in places [ particularly, the flash-backs to Billy Lenz's childhood ] like something, director, Tim Burton, would conjure up. The film gets darker and darker as we move through it, with some extraordinarily violent scenes, and the music by Shirley Walker is great; capturing horror and Yuletide all in one twisted melody.

Also, the application red and green lighting throughout [ owed to Christmas ] is awfully cool, and creates a great atmosphere. Due to it being set in a Sorority house, and this no longer being 1974, some of the dialogue just doesn’t cut it. I won’t imagine lots of these girls’ staying in the house with a crazed serial killer, because they can’t find their ‘sorority sister,’ believable in 2007 unhappy, but true.

There is, sadly, the obligatory shower scene, but it is used for scares, not thrills, and so works. Right from the start you can tell, this isn’t your common run of the mill slasher, it basically has a back story, and we do find ourselves caring for some of the characters, as an example, Kelli, played by Katie Cassidy is great ; and if you hated ‘Dawn’ in ‘Buffy the vampire slayer’ – you are gonna love this movie.

For more movie reviews and the latest movie trailers, visit cinemarv.com and while you are at it, you might also want to have a look at horror movies trailers.

Share and Enjoy: