'Black X-Mas' (or 'Black Christmas') is directed by Glen Morgan and stars Katie Cassidy, Mary-Elizabeth Winstead, and Andrea Martin. The film is a remake 'in name only' of the classic 1974 Bob Clark film about a mysterious stranger stalking a young sorority house during the Christmas break. When I first went into this film back in 2006, I absolutely loved it. I was 17 years old at the time so you can imagine my judgement back then (I did like 'Hostel' at that point after all). However, that's not to say I have done a complete 180 and now hate 'Black X-Mas', in fact I'm quite amazed after re-watching it how much I felt it held up as a little slasher gem.
It definitely gives you that vibe of the old slashers from the 1980's and thank God for that. I don't know everything about the behind the scenes, but I'm assuming that they did not wish to completely copy the original film and instead going for a splatter film that captures the holiday feel. Just a warning to those who may find it a bit more squeemish than your average horror film, 'Black X-Mas' is surprisingly mean-spirited and brutally gory for a mainstream film, especially for the mid 2000's. The reason I give the warning is due to the majority of violence involving eye gouging and even eating of eyeballs, so yeah just a warning for you.
The story is the same, but different at the same time. You get the basics of the original: A stalker hunting down and killing each young woman or anyone in the way one by one until a showdown however now you get a backstory of the killer and an actual definitive ending and even if both are quite silly and somewhat stupid at points, I do think it fleshes out this particular film for the better. I do always hate it when slasher films have to give a large amount of time to giving motivation to the killer, as we would see a year later with 'Rob Zombie's Halloween'. I don't care what circumstances led to the guy being crazy for the most part, I just want the basics and then he stalks and kills.
The ending I also mentioned as being a mixed bag, however this is a different scenario entirely. The ending to the original film while not outright horrible and it is really effective and creepy, but it's extremely frustrating because the film just ends and I won't spoil it any further for you (you'll have to wait until next week for that review). Here however, you do get a final confrontation between the heroine and Billy and it ends with one of the most epic and ridiculous final shots I've seen in a slasher and I hate to admit it, but I kinda liked it.
The cast here is one of the best in a modern horror film, with some of my favorites including Mary-Elizabeth and I always love seeing Andrea Martin return in anything. The girls for the most part actually don't annoy me and those that do are quickly picked off so you don't have to endure them for long. By far the worst character here is the red-herring boyfriend, who is a complete asshole and they make him so unlikeable that its impossible to not know he isn't the killer (especially when we see the killer escape from the mental institution at the same time this guy is smooching his girl). The killer himself is not the most creative killer, nor are his kills (again it's mostly just eyeball stuff) and for some reason he was yellow because of jaundice (I'm sure those truly afflicted with this disease took offense to making a serial killer deformed in such a way.)
Where the movie's flaws truly lie are in the various misleads and reshoots throughout the film's production. The original theatrical trailer featured sequences that were shot behind the director's back for the sole purpose of the trailer and was not to be found in the final print. Scenes such as a snowblower dragging someone into it with Christmas lights look amazing and to see it not appear in the film is really aggravating. The film's reshoots, whether to include less or more gore, change certain character arcs, or to add three different endings just prove that the studio had little to know faith in Glen Morgan and they should have just let him do what he does and left him alone. The result is some severe cutting around and choppy editing, lost scenes, alternate death scenes for the UK, alternate endings etc. Speaking of the endings, I get 'Scream 4' syndrome from them and think that the Weinsteins just threw shit at the wall. The endings just don't end, they go on forever with the characters being constantly attacked when you just want a breather and in the end you're just too annoyed and tired to care anymore.
'Black X-Mas' has a lot of problems and really isn't a remake, similar to 'House of Wax' earlier that year. However, like 'House of Wax', if you love 80's slasher films then you'll find something to enjoy about it, even if you won't like to admit it. The production troubles caused more problems for the film than it should have but I still get a kick out of it, and it beats the hell out of most films coming out at the time. I'll take this over 'SAW' any day. Check it out for yourself, and remember that Billy's watching you.
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