Black Christmas (2006 film)

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This article is about the 2006 remake. For the 1974 film, see Black Christmas (1974 film).
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Black Christmas

Poster for Black Christmas
Directed by Glen Morgan
Produced by James Wong
Odgen Gavanski
Bob Clark
Mark Cuban
Glen Morgan
Todd Wagner
Written by Glen Morgan
Starring Katie Cassidy
Michelle Trachtenberg
Mary Elizabeth Winstead
Crystal Lowe
Kristen Cloke
Lacey Chabert
Oliver Hudson
Andrea Martin
Distributed by Dimension Films (USA)
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (USA)
TVA Films (Canada)
Pathé (UK theatrical)
20th Century Fox (UK DVD)
Release date(s) Flag of the United States
December 25, 2006
Flag of the United Kingdom
December 15, 2006
Running time 1 hours. 40 mins.
Country Canada/USA
Language English
Budget $9,000,000
Gross revenue $20,517,977
Official website
Allmovie profile
IMDb profile

Black Christmas is a 2006 remake of the 1974 film of the same name. It is directed by Glen Morgan. The movie is rated R in the US, 18A in Canada and 15 in the UK for strong horror violence and gore, sexuality, nudity and language. The film score was composed and conducted by Shirley Walker. [1]

Contents

[edit] Plot

The movie tells the story of Billy, a young boy who was abused by his mother as a child. His mother killed his father one Christmas with a claw hammer right before Billy's eyes and kept Billy in the attic, while she started a "new" family with her lover. One night, Billy was raped by his mother, and she became pregnant with a daughter by him. After 15 years, Billy escaped the attic and brutally murdered his mother and her lover while his sister/daughter, Agnes, looked on.

Cut to present day, a group of eight sorority sisters - Kelli (Katie Cassidy), Melissa (Michelle Trachtenberg), Lauren (Crystal Lowe), Heather (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), Dana (Lacey Chabert), Megan (Jessica Harmon), Clair (Leela Savasta), Eve (Kathleen Kole) and their house mother, Ms. Mac (Andrea Martin), who now live in Billy's childhood home, find themselves being harassed by threatening mystery phone calls during Christmas break.

The plot follows the Slasher genre, as each character is brutally murdered and has a bag put over their head by the unseen killer, until just Kelli and Leigh (Clair's sister) remain. When they think they have escaped, Kelli finds the killer, revealed to be Billy's sister Agnes, making a Christmas tree out of Kelli's friend's heads. Meanwhile, Billy returns and in the ensuing fight, Billy and Agnes are apparently killed while Kelli is rushed to the hospital with Leigh who suffered minor injuries.

In the hospital, Billy and Agnes are revealed to be alive, kill the morgue attendant and escape. Agnes kills Leigh by snapping her neck, but when Agnes attacks Kelli, Kelli kills her by electrocuting her and she pushes Billy over a balcony and impales him on a Christmas tree.

This is US Ending. In the UK ending only Agnes attacks Kelli in hospital and Billy dies earlier from burns.

The DVD release contains three alternate endings. The first shows Leigh visiting Kelli in the hospital and the two discuss family. Then, Kelli's phone rings and as she goes to answer, it reads "Kyle Audry's Cell." The camera zooms out of the window, and fades out on the hospital... leading the audience to believe that Billy and Agnes are still alive. The second shows Leigh getting called out of the hospital room with Kelli, to the coroner's office to identify the body as Agnes seeing as how they were the only two to have seen her. However, when the body bag is opened, Clair's body is inside. Leigh has a bit of a meltdown and runs back to Kelli's room where the movie proceeds as the original theatrical cut until Kelli's parents pick her up after she zaps Agnes with the EMP. The third and final alternate ending is an extension to the second. It shows Kelli being brought into the room where the doctors tried to save Billy's charred body. Kelli witnesses his dead body and is escorted out by her parents, but when it cuts back to Billy's hospital room where the worker from the morgue comes to take the body, he is told the morgue already took the body. The two men run out of the room in newly acquired realization and the camera scans to the smoke detector where you see Billy's eye staring through the slits.

[edit] Cast

[edit] Criticism

The film drew backlash from Christian groups because of the studio's decision to release a bloody slasher film about Christmas on Christmas Day. Several groups, including Liberty Counsel and Operation Just Say Merry Christmas, have called the film offensive, ill-founded and insensitive.[2] Additionally, L.A. Weekly columnist Nikki Finke also questioned the filmmakers' decision to release the film on Christmas.[3] Dimension Films defended the timing, saying "There is a long tradition of releasing horror movies during the holiday season as counter-programing to the more regular yuletide fare."[4] Dimension's own Scream, originally released on December 20, probably being the most successful example. Furthermore, genre critic Egregious Gurnow, of The Horror Review, countered Liberty Counsel's complaint[5] on several counts, foremost of which is the critic's citation that the organization's views upon the feature, are naively idyllic and aesthetically limited, especially from a cultural perspective in that they forbid the notion that such atrocities as murder don't politely take a sabbatical during the holiday season.

[edit] Trivia

 Trivia sections are discouraged under Wikipedia guidelines.
The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones.
  • In the 1974 original, the killer doesn't have a name or back story. In this version, the killer does.
  • Actress Andrea Martin who portrayed Ms. MacHenry in the remake also played the role of Phyllis Carlson in the original 1974 version of Black Christmas.
  • There are several things in the movie trailer that were not in the movie that made some fans upset. They were shot for the teaser and not for the film.
  • It was rumored that actress Mary Elizabeth Winstead was hesitant to accept the director's offer to be in another horror movie, as she was just coming out of a lead role in Final Destination 3 and did not want to be a typecast. In the end, director Glen Morgan convinced her to play the part of Heather, though, informing her the character she would play would be quite different from her character in his previous film.
  • Actress Lacey Chabert hurt her ankle on the first day of filming.
  • Beau Musika was meant to play a young Billy, but due to him having to leave for Australia, he was givin a uncredited role.
  • The UK version of the film is somewhat different than the US version, including different phone calls and a different death scene for Melissa (Michelle Trachtenberg) .
  • Michelle Trachtenberg role in "Ice Princess" Help inspire the death of the US version with the iceskate hitting her head, but the uk version they killed her like the others.

[edit] References

  1. ^ MPAA Ratings Updates
  2. ^ Christian Groups Fume Over Christmas Horror Film. Retrieved on 2006-12-18.
  3. ^ Faith-Based Horror Film for Christmas?. Retrieved on 2006-12-18.
  4. ^ Black Christmas not merry for religious groups. Retrieved on 2006-12-19.
  5. ^ Horror Bob Presents: The Horror Review - Why I Can’t Discuss Glen Morgan’s New Film, [Censored] [Censored], Because Liberty Counsel Says It’s Rude: Race, Religious Tolerance, Ethics, and Aesthetics and the 21st Century Holiday Horror Film. By Egregious Gurnow (2006)

[edit] External links

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Works by James Wong and Glen Morgan
Television
Films