I want you to answer honestly something with me, please. If you feel inclined to share, please leave your thoughts below in the comments. What makes something or someone scary? Is it the origin story of that boogey man. Perhaps, they grew up in a loveless home where he was physically or verbally abused. May they were a victim of bullying. Somewhere along the way, they decided to turn and embrace the violence that had been unleashed onto them all their life. Or is it scarier to not know the bedrock of what makes a man or woman into a killer?
While the mid to late 70s and early 80s gave us some of the most iconic horror films to date. Ushering in the age of Leatherface, Michael Myers, Jason Voorhees and Freddy Krueger – just to name a few. Somewhere along the way, filmmakers in the early 2000’s, begged the question – what if we could humanize these characters? What if we could tell you where the evil began? Is it still scary in that regard? Joker posed this question in detail when it dropped this past October. Though, we went through this weird phase where every major horror franchise got a modern day interpretation. The men behind 2003’s Willard & The X-Files dared to modernize the first mainstream slasher in Black Christmas.
This version of Christmas is a bit different than its source material, still relatively the same in its core. The film tells the story of a group of sorority sisters who are snowed in with a serial killer on the heels of Christmas break. While its source material was bold and unsettling, this version of the classic story is bold and unsettling for a different set of reasons. Writer-director, Glen Morgan, dares to expand the lore and mythology. While the mystery of the killer was the heartbeat to its 1974 counterpart, here it is expanded with backstory. The killer in Billy Lenz (Robert Mann), a victim of child abuse and witnessed to his father’s murder among other things, has escaped to return home to his childhood home. The addition of this backstory for the killer, also lies into some of the more disturbing elements of the movie.
Though, here is the thing about 2006’s Black Christmas, the more unsettling nature of the film exists just to be that. A back story that dares to play in the sand box of The Hills Have Eyes. Though, I will say even for the bizarre nature that is this remake, it does present a layer of colors that truly pop. It’s worth mentioning that the film’s antagonist suffers from a rare disease in which colors his skin yellow. The addition of this character element with the Christmas time setting gives Black Christmas a borderline Sin City visual aesthetic. The cinematography by Robert McLachlan is astonishing. Truly crafting a mesmerizing environment. At its core, we are presented with a core cast of Katie Cassidy, Lacey Chabert, Mary Elizabeth Winstead and Michelle Trachtenberg. Much like its source material, only a few of these ladies get fleshed out, but they are entertaining nonetheless watch. Black Christmas does boasts some truly fantastically creative death sequences – perhaps even being the heartbeat of this film.
Overall, Black Christmas (2006), is a visual spectacle. Brilliantly using its Christmas time backdrop to blend with warm cinematography from Robert McLachlan, that feels like a love letter both to the source material and to Sin City. At its core, the cast is fairly strong with the occasional two-dimensionality. Though, an addition of a bizarre backstory for this film’s killer takes the movie into some truly unsettling places. Worst of all, they simply exist just for shock value. Black Christmas is white noise virtually to the genre. The once groundbreaking name has been tarnished with this version of the story. However, the horror elements of the film remain strong. Embracing modern day gore to add a layer of creativity and true identity. Unsettling, busy, bizarre – Black Christmas will have you requesting a receipt.
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Music by Beggars. Black Christmas 2006 is property of Dimension Films and MGM Pictures. We do not own nor claim any rights. Promo by Grave Girls.