AmericanPsycho2011

(18 May 2013)

This Was Really Bad!

This is one of the worst slashers I've seen in a while. I have neverseen the original Black Christmas and I probably won't ever see it.There are so many problems with this one.*Spoiler Alert* - The death scenes are stupid and repetitive. It's mostly putting aplastic bag over someone's head and stabbing them with icicles. Some ofthe deaths were creative.- The acting is horrendous but that is what you and I should expectfrom most horror films.- There was so much gore and it wasn't needed. Some of the deaths theyweren't creative with were off camera or blocked by objects such as acar windshield covered in snow and just had blood spraying everywhere.- The character development was pretty poor. You don't know much aboutthe girls but you are explained throughout the film how the killers gotto where they are, where the originated from, what their childhoodswere like, etc. At least I get to know the killers' backgrounds.- The movie wasn't scary or suspenseful. It was very predictable. Youcould tell when everyone was going to die. It made the movie boring.*End Spoiler* I give this movie 1 star out of 10. This was really bad!

RICKHUNTER27

(18 May 2013)

Awesome Mix

Original Black Christmas is one of my favorites and I was veryskeptical of yet another remake movie. Nonetheless, I was anxious tosee it and went opening day. The new version, to me, was the perfectmix of scary and campy. Over the top just enough to be fun, but notcome off as stupid. Characters enter the scene as if in an AgathaChristie murder mystery with lines like "Where is my sister!?!" Lots ofeye gouging gore and the return of original cast member Andrea Martin,now playing the house mother of the sorority. I was surprised how thewriters made this into a Christmas version of "Halloween", even down tothe killer's theme music. If you want a fun horror movie that doesn'ttake itself too seriously, but is worth the $7.50 admissions price, gosee this before it leaves theaters.

Robert W.

(18 May 2013)

Kind of a dud, a rushed remake but it's good for some laughs

Black Christmas is nothing to write home about. I think I have seen theoriginal cult classic but it has been absolutely years so I was kind oflooking forward to checking out this remake in hopes it might have somedecent surprises. I won't crap too much on this film because I didn'tfeel like I wasted any time watching it. For what it was worth it wasdecently entertaining slasher gore flick with no real purpose or storyother than to have a killer stalk a sorority house and despite theirattempts to give the story some depth it never really works. Even withsome decent performances on the part of the main cast, it wasn'twritten well enough to do much of anything. It's a forgettable but atleast watchable campy, horror flick. Director Glen Morgan is quite newto direction, his previous film being Willard which also tanked (I haveyet to see it), but this is still no excuse for Mr. Morgan as he hasproduced and written for some much better films including FinalDestination one and three and several episodes of The X-Files. Grantedthe budget of Black Christmas was quite small although still nearlytwenty times what the budget of the original film was.Katie Cassidy plays the as close to the lead girl in the film as thefilm has. She's the main scream queen so to speak. She does a decentjob of running around the house scared for her life but nothingoutstanding. She isn't given an incredible script to work with.Michelle Trachtenberg who I do think is a gifted actor in such roles asBuffy The Vampire Slayer, House, and Ice Princess is barely alert asthe snotty and annoyed Melissa Kitt. Kristen Cloke, Crystal Lowe, LaceyChabert (also a decent actress), and Mary Elizabeth Winstead are therest of the sorority victims and other than being this they servelittle purpose to any plot or reason to the film. Besides a light storysurrounding the main girl (Cassidy) there is hardly any characterdevelopment other than watching the girls get taken, phone call to thehouse, and then murdered in some twisted way. One brighter spot to thefilm is the performance by Oliver Hudson who plays Cassidy's estrangedboyfriend. He is a stronger player and has more personality in generaland is more watchable. Since he's dating the main character he isalmost certain to live. Veteran Canadian comedienne Andrea Martin playsthe Sorority house mother and just seems vapid and annoying with noreal purpose.So after covering all this how can I say the film is watchable?? Wellfrom a horror fan perspective there is plenty of death scenes andplenty of blood and the phone calls are a nice touch, if not entirelyunoriginal. The hoarse whisper of "They're my family now" adds acertain aspect to the creepy factor. And I give them props forattempting a decent back story on the killer and his sister and openingthe film up for plenty of bad sequels which I am all for when it comesto Horror films. Black Christmas might even make you jump but it'spredictable, rehashed and slapped together in every sense of the word.True Horror fans might get a kick out of it but everyone else willlikely hate it and find it a waste of time. 5/10

kreamykonez97

(17 May 2013)

Killer Trannies Kick Ass!

BLACK XMAS 2006 (KATIE CASSIDY, MICHELLE TRACHTENBERG, OLIVER HUDSON,ROBERT MANN) DIRECTED BY: GLEN MORGAN ~ THE RUNDOWN: Morgan takes a bigol' Christmas sh*t on the first one and goes all out, decking the hallswith boughs of 'gory' in this 80s-style throwback. ~ Finally, enoughwith that PG-13 horsesh*t; the WHEN A STRANGER CALLS remake this yearwas atrocious, as well as the pathetic WICKER MAN remake. Thank GodGlen Morgan has some class! The critics may not ever like him but the03 WILLIARD remake was quite possibly the best remake of any genresince Carpenter's THE THING, and, for what it is, BLACK XMAS is a grandsuccess. Sure, the acting's generic, the plot's muddled, and it doesn'tcome close to capturing the creepy, suspenseful aura of the originalthat influenced HALLOWEEN; for example, the prank calls in this one arecomical. But, my God, that old bore-fest is about as appealing today asa Hilary Duff movie. You see, the genius of this BLACK XMAS is that itdoesn't try to recapture what made the first one, for that would be animpossible and not so practical task. Morgan instead takes the set-upof the first one and gives horror fans a nice, very-watchable Holidaytreat in the tradition of SLUMBER PARTY MASSACRE and Friday THE 13TH.With Bob Clark serving as executive producer, the dark humor of thefirst one is still present and really acts as the prime impetus for themovie's success; I mean, seriously, this movie has it all: child abuse,killer trannies, skin diseases, sex, and enough blood to fill Santa'sslay...all the stuff sickos aren't seeing enough of these days inmainstream horror. And there's some great one-liners in here too. ~We're in the age of remakes, there's no doubt about it. But, how shouldfilmmakers go about doing these remakes? Well, there's lots ofdifferent ways to go about them. But, what the hell's the point ofsimply using the original and then just changing bits here and there atwill, like in the 06 OMEN remake this past year? And what the hell'sthe point of doing a Van Sant shot-to-shot remake? I mean, who do theseguys think they are? and why are they wasting their time? Thesequestions are of course hypothetical, but it seems to me the best wayto go about a remake is taking the original's premise and thenre-imagining it for the purpose of entertainment - accomplished nicelyhere. All in all, as an avid fan of horror, this movie left me with azesty, refreshing taste in my mouth. Although, from an objectivestandpoint, there's no innovation here, and, yes, this movie couldquite easily be perceived as absolutely pointless. But, still, killertrannies kick ass! ~~ UPCOMING REVIEWS: 'LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE', 'THEILLUSIONIST'.

meniscus_g_princess

(17 May 2013)

Just as craptacular as the original

Just when you think it cant get any worse then the original, they comeout with the remake.... I had higher hopes for this remake, althoughdon't get me wrong I didn't have THAT high of hopes, with today's ideaof "horror" movies i knew better then to think it'd be good, but Ithought it would be at least better then the sad excuse for anoriginal, but instead it was more random and lacking in plot orcharacter development, the only thing better was that they explainedbilly more so. Granted it is hard to make a horror movie based around akiller in a house a good plot to sell seeing as there are so many outs,(which was another thing that drove me nuts, no believability), butcome on, why cant we have a horror movie with SMART people, someone tosay 'hey lets go to the neighbours' or 'if we stick together outside ofthe house it'd be WAY safer then in the house where the guy can hide inany nook and cranny' or putting 2 and 2 together when they hear thestory of billy, get obscene phone calls, their friends go missing ANDonly THEIR power outta the WHOLE block is out.. gimme a break... I knowstupid people make horror movies more exciting, but SMART people makehorror movies less frustrating AND then it forces the writers to brewup something clever in order for the killer to get these smarterpeople. I think they needed a better screening process when readingscripts and before financiers decide to give money to these waste oftime and $$ movies... Don't waste your time, obviously my skin was ontoo tight... *see movie tagline*

cmoore0013

(16 May 2013)

Nice try, but not that great.

I knew this new remake of the 1974 classic, Black Christmas wouldhardly be decent. Well, it IS decent, but it's far from the hairraising original.My hopes got higher when I heard of the cast. I must admit that thecast is spectacular. Glen Morgan has rounded up a cast of the mostbeautiful and talented youth actresses in the industry. Katie Cassidy,Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Crystal Lowe, Lacey Chabert, MichelleTratchenberg, and veteran funny lady Andrea Martin(who played Phyll inthe original)headline the cast.However hard they try, the competent cast can't overcome the overallsilliness of the movie. The narrative lacks the terror of the original.There is no suspense and besides a few jump scares, it's virtuallyscareless.The deaths are ridiculously over the top. The opening goes over well,with a nice update of Clair(Leela Savasta)'s death from the original.However, as the film progresses, the deaths get dumber and dumber,climaxing in an awful finale. It really is one of the most patheticclimaxes I've seen in a long time, completely lacking thrills. The onlygood moment comes from a sly homage to Happy Birthday To Me, in theform of a Christmas tree surrounded by the corpses of the girls.I know a good film was in here, and apparently, I'm right. The scriptwas re-written many times, not to mention the many re-shoots and testscreenings that managed to mess the movie up royally.I'll give it points for trying and being entertaining. Some of thecomedy is good too. Wait for an uncut DVD!

(13 May 2013)

Perfect Reaction

I got this movie for my husband for Christmas...he had been wanting to see it and I am NOT a fan of these kinds of movies, but he wanted it so I got it for him. It was the perfect reaction because he never would have thought I would buy it. I did watch it with him, and while I didnt care for it, he LOVED it...but this is no surprise! It is exactly what it says it is...

(12 May 2013)

I like this movie

This review is from: Black Christmas (Unrated Widescreen Edition) (DVD) I liked this movie. It wasn't as good as the original but it I thought it was good and I really liked the way they gave you the background on the killer.

(12 May 2013)

I would have given it zero stars....

I would have given this movie zero stars but you have to rate it. This remake is an absolute insult to a classic horror film. Come to think of it, it's and insult to horror movies. Where to start....I wont. I wont waste your time like this movie wasted mine. To sum it up, I'd rather sit through a 24 hour marathon of Richard Gere romance movies than spend 30 seconds watching any of this junk.

doughnutboy20

(12 May 2013)

A classic in its own right!

This remake of Black Christmas was fantastic! Where do I begin? well...It had everything the original had and more, apart from the classicBilly!! phone scene. Which they would have never used anyway, becauseits part of what made the original great (they probably won't have gotaway with putting it in anyway). Yes I know you can't have BlackChristmas without the phone scene (I thought that at first), but itdoes work for this film. Anyway that's the only criticism out of theway. Firstly the cast, I hadn't really seen any of the cast before. On theDVD cover, it said that one of the actresses was in 'When a StrangerCalls' and another was in 'Grindhouse'. Not that i'd recognised them,and probably wouldn't if I saw them again. But the point is, all thecast were great. I liked how all the characters were very different andhow you couldn't really tell who was supposed to be the main character(AT ALL!) That really kept you guessing till the end, because youcouldn't really figure out who was going to get it next. Where as inmost of these films, you figure out who the main character is withintwo seconds of starting the film (I suppose thats why you picknobody's.The story was interesting and different, not just regurgitated theoriginal story with special effects, which you see a lot today. Theidea of a ringer was circled around a lot in the film, but with so manysuspects, it worked. Then to find out it was him and his sister Agnes,was a great twist. The flashbacks were a clever addition to the film aswell, Showing how he grew up and what made him like that. Plus alsomanaging to get the 'BILLY' phrase into the film, by showing where itoriginated from (his mother saying it to him). I also find that withthe flashbacks the film was explained much more, which you never reallygot with the first one (a sort of prequel and remake in one.)The film had much more gore than the first film, with some verygruesome special effects. But this just adds to what you get this filmfor. The ending was clearly well thought out, for it having so manyalternative endings. I think they choose the right one in the end(though they were all good and interesting to watch), because this filmtend to focus more on the Agnus side of things and fitted better to thefilm.All in all this may not be Oscar winning material, but it certainly isa masterpiece of horror (one of my favourite horror films anyway)and acredit to the original film.

CMUltra

(07 May 2013)

We needed one more "Alternate" in the Bonus Features

I know by now that when you watch a teen slasher movie you cannot sethigh expectations. If I go into it expecting the usual formula (aderanged killer separates the hapless youngsters and kills themone-by-one in horrible ways) then it should be fine. Somehow, though,Black Christmas managed to disappoint me anyway.I don't, for example, expect the acting to be stellar. Honestly, evenif there are a few skilled actors hidden among the T&A the typicalslasher script is not going to lend itself to them flexing any dramaticmuscles. But, please. Oliver Hudson played the Kyle character solaughably wooden that it was really annoying. And, what happened toLacy Chabert? She was touted at one time as being "one of the mostpromising young actresses" but we find her in this dismal mess as notonly one of the generic victims, but also one that gets offed halfwaythrough the movie. No, even by slasher standards, the performances areuniformly horrible.Ah well, there's the gore right? That's the real reason to watch aslasher flick. Strike two for Black Christmas here. And I watched the"Unrated" version. I can only imagine how tame and unimaginative thetheatrical "R" version must have been. The one big thing seemed to bethe eyeball. Everyone had their eye plucked out, or poked out or evenshoved through the back of their head. But, if you're going to makethat your central gore theme, at least know the eye. They're actuallypretty delicate organs, easily punctured and drained. In BlackChristmas they were plucked out and waved about on ridiculously fakelooking stalks or, as mentioned, shoved through heads, all the whileremaining perfectly intact. The eyes held up so well that the killerused them as Christmas tree ornaments. There was a scene in Alias(Season 4 I think) where, because the writers understood the nature ofthe eye, Marshall's plucking of one caused far more discomfort withoutthe viewer actually seeing any of the gore than all of Black Christmas'fake splatter combined.Okay, well, how about the story? Your slasher flick needs a killer witha background so twisted that, in retribution, you can only imagine theterror he or she is going to visit on the victims. Strike three, andBlack Christmas is out. Billy Lenz is never going to have to worryabout being mentioned in the same breath as Vorhees, Myers or Krueger.He was a kid whose mother, with her boyfriend, murdered his father. Sheknew Billy witnessed them burying the father but we didn't see her doanything violent to him. She made him stay in the attic and even wentup to have sex with him. Eh… that's twisted but not in the way to spawna slasher-flick villain. Oh wait, Billy was also born with a rare liverdisease that made his skin yellow. This didn't really matter as most ofhis scenes were far too darkly lit to notice. Okay but he did have adaughter/sister from his union with mom. She also turned into aslasher-flick villainess. *yawn* It's all really just weak. Includingthe movie's catchphrase, hissed repeatedly by both killers, "(Insertvictim's name here) is in our family noooowwww!" Okay. Whatever.After the credits finally rolled we hopped over to the bonus featuresas I always like to watch the theatrical trailer after I've seen amovie. I don't like to watch them beforehand, as trailers now tend togive away plot points. That wouldn't have been an issue here of course,but I enjoy seeing the trailers to see what key elements they decidedwould be the most useful in convincing folks to see the movie. Inoticed in the bonus features that they included an "Alternate Ending".I didn't bother watching it but it made me wish they had included alink to an "Alternate Movie". A better one.

(06 May 2013)

Bloody Christmas!!

This is just an overblown, all out horror film. It has characters you dont care about, a plot done a thousand times before and some very tacky dialogue, but despite all of that, its a fun film. Its not tring to take itself too seriously and has rather gruesome death scenes. Its enjoyable from start to finish without having to think too much about it. If its a pointless, silly and gruesome horror movie you're after, then Black Christmas does just that.

ChiefGoreMongral

(05 May 2013)

Gore Mongral's Movie Reviews: Black Christmas (2006)

Black Christmas tells the tale of Billy a killer that has gotten loosefrom his sanitarium to kill some young ladies who are now living in thehouse he lived in up until his arrest. We are shown through flashbacksthat are throughout the first half why Billy is the way he is and whyhe continues to do what he does. We also have our attractive young castas well as a cast member from the original Black Christmas (Andrea"SCTV" Martin) playing the role of the dorm mother who all in one wayor another end up being fodder for Billy and his homicidal rages.The original Black Christmas is a solid Slasher from the 70's that doesa better job as a whole compared to the new movie, especially thetwisted phone calls made by Billy, the new version just cannot match itin tone or bizarreness. However what it lacks in those areas in makesup for in raw carnage as this movie has some nice gore set pieces .There are some kills that if lingered on longer or shown in itsentirety as oppose to just a bucket of red stuff being thrown on theground simulating someone just got killed that would have made this aneven more intense, for violence and gore sake, film.Make no mistake this film is not perfect as the story meanders in partsand only gives us side stories that go nowhere as well as a cast thatyou want to see die as most of them come off as preppy skanks!!! That'sfine to me as no emotional attachment to the characters makes me wantto see them die in a more violent way anyway. Also as in most Slasherswe get the cast making stupid decisions in the least opportune timesresulting, in most cases, their demise. For some the pacing will botherthem as the beginning starts off well but in the middle a lot ofnothing happens making way to a 20 minute free-for-all in the end thatresults in most of the cast dying in that short time frame.Taken in portions this film delivers for the most part as a Slasher butthe average film fan will laugh this one off as a terrible movie or betoo grossed out to watch the movie in its entirety. I would give thisone a recommendation to Slasher fans even though this one has thatmodern teeny bopper feel in parts it makes up for it in its visceralkill sequences that I hope are extended on DVD. All other movie goerswill want to see "Happy Feet" or some other festive movie.In closing go into this one with your Slasher hat on and nothing elseand you should be mildly entertained. All others forget it: Score:5/10: Average, A bland middle act hampers this one but fans of slasherfilms should find the kills are nice. Fans of Thrillers will not beamused as there is nothing thrilling here just out and out violence.All others will want to disregard this one. Here's hoping for an uncutDVD!!!

(04 May 2013)

"I'mmm dreaming of a Black Christmas...

...just like the one I wish I hadn't watched." I'm not for or against remakes. I actually enjoyed the 2003 remake of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and appreciate them both in different ways. If it's done right, a horror film will really get to you when you genuinely care about the characters and are forced to watch them be dispatched in some gruesome way. Well in this new film, you don't care about the characters. You may actually be glad when they meet their tragic end so you don't have to be subjected to the terrible performances anymore. The other problem I have with modern horror films is the constant need to explain the "backstory" of the villain. To me, that alone ruins the entire mood of the film. Bob Clark who directed the original Black Christmas proved that what is unknown can be just as effective and thrilling than having everything spelled out for you. It's laughable that people actually get paychecks for producing this crud. And the writing was so bad you would think it was their very first time writing for a film. It's not creative, imaginative, witty or smart at all. The director I have no respect for at all. Not that it's all entirely his fault, but a good part of it. If you want some new horror directors to impress you, try Neil Marshall who directed "The Descent," or Alexandre Aja who brought us "High Tension," and "The Hills Have Eyes," remake which was pretty good as well. I wish Aja had directed this and perhaps they would have hired some decent writers and actors. Maybe then I would have liked this more. Sadly, it can't go any higher than two stars. And that's a shame. I would have loved to see a proper "update" to this film. However, the original Black Christmas will always be a classic in my book. Andrea Martin who starred in the original makes an appearance here as the house mother (brilliantly played the first time by Marian Waldman). Martin should have stayed away from this mess. And these barbie-doll types we call actors don't even compare to Olivia Hussey and Margot Kidder who turned in some great performances in the 1974 version. There was so much more depth to the characters. But again, the actors in the remake have to get through the crappy writing so they don't get much of a chance to impress us. Save your money for the original.

mr_jrdn

(03 May 2013)

Who wrote this? and why?

I thought that this would be a good Christmas movie for a person whodoesn't really enjoy the holidays. Wow was I wrong! this movie had nooriginal plot. the horror scenes were badly staged and predictable, andmost of the dialog was forced. i spent the majority of the movielaughing at how fake and single sided the characters were! I feelcheated! 2 hours of my life that i will never get back! I wish I couldvote this movie a 0 out of ten, or less! Oh, and to spoil it: Fabio andhis/her inbred sister are the killers behind everything. The producersof this movie should be ashamed of themselves! Is it to hard to ask fora more original scary movie?

markhaazen

(02 May 2013)

Someone is creeping through the house........ and it no Santa Clause

I just recently saw this movie, after reading a lot of negativecomments about this movie. I can say this movie is absolutely not asbad as they say. Firstly you can not compare it to the original. Wherethe original showed no gore and was creepy, this one is moreentertaining and gory!! Okay it is CHEESY, but it is hell of fun!!Don't expect a solid story like SAW, but just open your minds and enjoythe ride to a fun slasher flick done 80's style. Just bare in mind that the UK version is different to uncut US version.At least one murder is completely different and the end is alsodifferent! So if you liked the movie, you maybe interested at giving alook at the American uncut version! Enjoy!

Martin or Alejandro

(29 April 2013)

The Perfect Thrill For the Holidays

Black Xmas was good but the movie had something missig, if you like killing and blood totally this film is for you but if you dont save your money, the plot was really good the acting was perfect the movie is a killing thrill is just for horror lovers.the classic was good the remake is perfect for the holidays enjoy this movie like we did past XMas with wolf creek or dakness enjoy the film is really good.

Jake Davis

(29 April 2013)

I just got back from a DECENT horror remake

I just got back from seeing a DECENT remake. I went to this film withlow intentions thinking it would be just another cheap scare horrormovie with the same cat-in-the-closet scares.I'll say this here and now i was mistaken. I will begin with the gore,okay WOW. The gore in this film is so RAW! One minute a girl is gettingher eyes ripped out then being eaten and all her juice explodes allover the poor thing, the next someones getting a sharp ice object inher eye! The only bad comment i have about this film is some of theaverage characters in it. The boyfriend of "Katie Cassidy" annoyed meto the extreme. Half the film you are thinking he is the killer thenext the killer is stabbing him in the face.Overall this was a good movie, i enjoyed it quite a lot.7/10

(29 April 2013)

Another Awesome Remake!!!

I love the remake of Black Christmas, for a couple of reasons. (1) It takes place on Christmas. (2) It's a slasher. (3) I saw this before I saw the original. I love this better than the original. I love the plot, it reminds me so much of my all-time favorite movie, HALLOWEEN! I love all the actresses, because they are all extremely hot! Some sorority sisters are snowed in on Christmas Eve at their house, and it happens to be the home of the psychotic killer, Billy Lenz. Their house mother, Miss Mac, who was in the original, tells them about what happened to Billy. I love when they show the flashbacks to Billy's abusive childhood, and how his mother raped him and kept him in the attic. They have a daughter named Agnes, and on one Christmas Eve, Billy finally took his revenge and killed his mother/lover's boyfriend, and killed her. It's awesome that he made Christmas cookies out of her skin. I also love the scenes at the asylum where Billy is kept in present day, but escapes and goes back home. Billy and Agnes have a Christmas slaughter and start killing the girls at their home. I also love that they took one of the girls' heads and made it the star on top of the Christmas tree. If you love remakes, horror, incest, cannibalism, and Christmas, you'll love BLACK CHRISTMAS!!!

ultra_tippergore

(29 April 2013)

I would watch "Silent Night Deadly Night" ten times again....

First, i haven't watch the original Black Christmas, so I'm not "ahater" a "crazy purist". Im just a guy who rented this movie, withouthigh expectations (mainstream horror, like mainstream movies in generalusually sucks). This movie is the story of a crazy dude in a killingspree on Chistmas, something like that. Its a simply slasher, but a badone. This movie lacks in every department. Its boring as hell, itsbeyond retarded. The problem is that its retarded and tries to beserious, its not a self conscious retarded movie. A waste of time. Themovie never ends, looks like a never ending movie (and its only 80minutes).