WHATS OLD IS NEW AGAIN (and sometimes again) (and maybe again)
With Christmas just three weeks away, seems like now is a good time to compare/contrast the original and remake films of Black Christmas. To be fair, I grew up with the original and have always loved it. So don’t @ me if I seem a little biased (even though it is a superior film - spoiler alert!) and this compare/contrast is a bit longer than I anticipated. You might want to get a drink before starting. I’m just saying...
Quick summary of the story, just in case you’re new: a small group of sorority girls, still at school for Christmas break (because they aren’t going home or their families don’t want them or they just haven’t gotten organized enough to leave) are stalked and killed off by a psychopath.
So let’s start with the remake this time around.
THERE WILL BE SPOILERS. OH YES, THERE WILL BE SPOILERS.
2006
The core story remains the same, but we get a few added elements. The character of Claire is fleshed out in the sense that we get to meet her sister, Leigh, a woman Claire hasn’t had a good relationship with since she was young, and now wants to change that. The Billy story is also built up, as in the characters tell us exactly who he is, what happened to him and why, what he did, where he is now, and what he’s up to.
So glad they did that so I didn’t have to figure it out for myself....
There’s also a new character, Agnes. She exists in the original, but only when Billy says her name. In 2006, they give her flesh and blood, and make her just as nutzoid as Billy. Her origin story is disturbing, to say the least, but it fits in with the new feel of the remake - over the top, in your face, fast-paced crazy.
One of the aspects I enjoyed about the remake is the inclusion of flashback scenes. Not the story within them, really, but I like that kind of format. There are three of them, and each one brings us more and more backstory for Billy, and his formative years. By the time the third flashback comes around, Billy is broken and unredeemable.
Another thing I like is the character of Leigh, (technically Claire’s half-sister, but it’s really not important except as filler). You see and feel how much she really wants to reconnect with Claire, and when she goes missing, Leigh is heartbroken and angry, very determined to find her baby sister - alive. I actually cried a few times when Leigh was emoting. Kristen Cloke, the actress playing Leigh, did a fantastic job.
I did also appreciate those Easter eggs. The glass unicorn, the ice skates, the actress who played Phyl in the original film portrays the house mother in the remake. Those are nice touches brought to an otherwise empty film.
Other than those few points, the rest of the movie was mostly crap. Like I mentioned, I like flashback style. But for this, the writers used it to spoon feed us Billy’s backstory: his birth defect, his mom’s hate, the abuse, his mom sexing him up to produce Agnes (which, by the way, if the mom hates just looking at Billy, why would she fuck him??), etc. I appreciate it more when the writers don’t treat the audience like a herd of mouth breathers, and let them figure stuff out on their own through more subtleties.
I also don’t like the idea that the sorority sisters know who Billy is because again, Billy’s backstory is completely spelled out. Just like Top Dollar laments about Devil’s Night becoming an institution, that’s what Billy is here. It doesn’t make him scarier, or even sympathetic, when you explain away his psychopathic tendencies. Or turn him into a tradition by a group of young women whose house mother doesn’t even know the truth of his life, which was conveniently explained by the townie boyfriend.
One thing that really irked me was the forced drama and irony. It’s true that the NEC (National Electric Code) wasn’t made mandatory by federal law until 1972, so maybe in this particular old house, the main fuse breaker would be outside. But UNDER the porch because…reasons? Give me a fucking break. The whole incest angle; the blizzard and power outage; Billy and Agnes having ‘eye’ issues and then they both have severe eye trauma; impaled on a Christmas tree….JUST STAAAAHP.
I don’t mind violence and quality kills. Anyone who’s read any of my reviews on Cinema Head Cheese or Slack Jaw Punks knows I’ve watched a lot of that, and enjoyed it. I grew up in the eighties, for crying out loud. But that’s all this movie is - ninety minutes of a hack and slash, full tilt boogie, manic frenzy. There’s no time dedicated to building tension, relationships, characters, or atmosphere. It’s attempted with the flashbacks, but fails. The girls in the house are complete fodder, and I wanted them to die (except Leigh). The red herrings were A PLENTY, but didn’t add anything. We knew from the beginning that Billy wasn’t killing anyone at the house so the big reveal of Agnes doing it felt added on - like, ‘oh, by the way, his sister was nuts, too, and was released from the hospital a few months ago, but we lost track of her. Sorry to interrupt. You can go back to being murdered now.’
Laaaame.
I understand where the writers were going with this. Broadening Billy’s story, trapping the girls alone in a storm with no help coming, relying on teamwork to aid their chances of survival. Perhaps they tried to update this for a new audience by adding in new bits and updated technology, to make this movie their own. But it doesn’t feel new - for a remake or for any kind of film. It simply seems they added more kills and spilled more blood, sped up the pace, and dipped the killer in the yellow goo of twisted family dynamics. It’s not interesting; it’s not original; it’s not good.
1974
So what makes the original Black Christmas superior to the remake? Sit down, kiddies, and grab some cookies and milk.
I actually watched the original two days in a row to make sure I was hearing and seeing everything correctly, and my conclusions were based on stuff actually in the movie (or not in the movie, as the case may be).
Let’s start with the characters. Each of the ‘main’ sorority sisters embodies something relatable. Jess and her unplanned pregnancy; Barb and her drinking/distant family; Phyl is sweet and level-headed, but knows how to relax; Clare is innocent and virginal. I’m not saying everyone relates to all of them, but there are enough character traits grounded in real world aspects to make them believable. The house mother, Mrs. Mac, is rough around the edges, but she’s endearing and hilarious, and brings us the tension relief we need.
Even the more fringe characters - Clare’s boyfriend and father - are brought to life enough for us to identify with or sympathize toward. Jeepers, even the mom whose daughter goes missing halfway through the movie, unrelated to the girls (or is she?), totally steals the scene when her daughter’s body is found. And her scream is never heard, only seen. Chilling.
The story is amazing; it’s the epitome of stranger danger. Unknown assailant, for reasons unknown to anyone, including the viewer, sneaks into a sorority house, and starts killing off the girls still there during Christmas break. Through his disturbing phone calls, we can infer his name is Billy, and that he did some really awful things. He doesn’t come right out and say it, though. Using disjointed and mimicked voices, we can infer he hurt and/or killed a child named Agnes.
Did you notice I used the word infer a couple times? That’s where the beauty of the story comes in. Many aspects of it were left ambiguous, which gets the viewers involved in the storytelling. Aside from his very first phone call, he only calls the house after he kills someone. So what’s with the call that Jess answers where none of the main characters died? We find out later a high school girl has gone missing. Was Billy responsible for that? Was it a distraction to separate his victims from the safety of the herd?
And how does this guy know how to maneuver through the house so easily without getting caught? Most of us have assumed, or bought into the theory, that he used to live there as a boy, and he was locked in the attic by a hateful mother. After he kills her and his little sister, Agnes, he’s locked away in a nuthouse. But nowhere in the film is that ever discussed. There’s not even some random news report alerting the public to an escaped mental patient.
Interesting, no?
Right from the start, we’re put into the killer’s point of view (via a special rig created and worn by the cinematographer as he moved around the house). And though his phone calls might make us think he’s a complete psychopath, his voice at the end of the first call, once he stops screeching, simply says, “I’m going to kill you,” is too calm to belong to a true psycho. His methodical stalking, staying hidden, keeping quiet, watching and waiting for just the right moments to kill, speak more volumes of controlled killer than madman. I personally believe now that the death of the high school girl was part of his overall plan, which shows so much calculation and long-term planning on his part. And let’s not forget to mention, he’s calling the girls from the other phone line that’s in the house mother’s room. I mean, that is the most insidious dick move EVAR.
The deaths are good, but not over the top gore. That was the call of the director, Bob Clark, and I agree it makes the murders much more meaningful when the violence is toned down. It makes them more impactful emotionally, not just visually. And as Billy kills them, or just before, speaking to the girls as if they are Agnes, shows another layer of the onion that is his mental state.
Even as I type this, I’m starting to question exactly what Billy’s mental status is. Is he crazy? Is he delusional? Does he have split personalities? I JUST DON’T KNOW. And I love that.
Thankfully there’s only one red herring in all of this, and it is sort of believable, if you can put yourself in the movie. Imagine how you would feel, 100% certain your boyfriend couldn’t possibly be the killer because he was in the house when one of the calls happened, only to discover the calls were coming from inside the house, and you might understand how Jess could misinterpret his actions. Even the police fell for it, which is something else I like in the original. Seeing the police brought in, watching them chase their tails by simply doing their jobs, but still end up with the wrong guy, is terrifying. It’s almost like Billy planned it all to go that way from the start.
Did he? I DON’T KNOW.
The last thing I want to mention is the tension building. Because the story developed slowly, the kills are not complete mania with buckets of blood and squishing eyeballs (like the remake), plus the ambiguous nature of the plot all add to the audience’s discomfort. The music was composed by putting utensils and combs in the strings of a piano so it would sound weird when played. Plus the composer put pressure on the tapes to slow them down while they recorded, further warping the sounds. And it totally works! And the final shot, after the police are wrapping things up and Jess has been sedated, the camera focuses on the door to the attic where we see it open just a bit, indicating Billy is still in the house, and on the move again.
But when you think it’s over, and the camera pans away from the house while the credits roll, you can hear the phone ringing. Now, with the already established idea that Billy calls after he kills someone, many assume that he has now killed Jess after she’s been left alone and drugged, though without the visual proof, we are forever left wondering about her fate.
And all that is why the 1974 original Black Christmas movie is superior to the 2006 remake. I could have delved even further into the nuances of both films, more so on the original, but this is not a college thesis or research paper, so I will wrap this up. If you’re going to watch any incarnation of this flick, PLEASE watch the original. Trust me, I only want the best for you. And it’s the best.
HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!