Most popular slasher films of the 1970s and ’80s spawned endless series, but “Black Christmas” (1974) – a formative slasher, bridging the gap with the moody mystery genre – didn’t spawn another entry until 2006. It’s too bad it’s a remake rather than a sequel, because the original raised so many questions about Billy Lenz, the killer who famously makes calls “coming from inside the house!”
‘X-Files’ meets … comedy?
But the remake form was inevitable, as 2003-10 also saw remakes of “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre,” “Halloween,” “Friday the 13th” and “A Nightmare on Elm Street.” The internet gave name recognition to those classics, but they weren’t yet instantly streamable. Hollywood thought these could be hits a second time around, for “a new generation.”
In addition to using the great premise laid down by Roy Moore in 1974, “Black Christmas” (2006) has a good pedigree out of the gate with writer-director Glen Morgan, architect of many classic “X-Files” and “Millennium” episodes along with James Wong (who produces here).
“Black Christmas” (2006)
Director: Glen Morgan
Writers: Glen Morgan (screenplay), Roy Moore (1974 screenplay)
Stars: Michelle Trachtenberg, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Lacey Chabert
But apparently the studio meddled. “BC06” has a weirdly jaunty undertone via its score and an obsession with how indifferent the sorority girls are toward each other. In the original, the group isn’t exactly tight, but here it’s like someone is trying to make a darkly funny social comment.
Morgan’s craftsmanship
In isolation, the horror stuff is expertly crafted. Morgan uses skewed framing to show us this isn’t a normal yarn, even by slasher standards. The sorority house – architecturally similar to the original’s (and deliciously lit in green and red for the holiday) – is like a small hotel.
It’s believable that Billy (framed so we can almost see him) can sneak around between the walls and levels, perhaps in passages he has carved out since he was a kid confined to the attic.
Peepholes litter the house, and it doesn’t stretch logic as much as you’d think. “BC06” is strangely watchable, like we’re the voyeur. Appropriately, Billy is the most sympathetic character – despite being a mass murderer who rips out his victims’ eyeballs and eats them like grapes.
‘Home’ for the holidays
“BC06” botches a core tenet of storytelling: making us care about the victims. This is despite hiring Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Lacey Chabert and Michelle Trachtenberg. They’ve been scene-stealers in other projects, but here they are interchangeably blank sorority sisters.
Kristen Cloke’s Leigh comes the closest to being memorable; she plays the older sister of missing Clair, replacing the concerned father in the original.
The tonal lightening-up comes not only from the music but also from the performance of Karin Konoval as Billy’s mother in flashbacks. It’s the wrong tone, but it’s the movie’s most memorable turn. She’s a rare matriarch who dominates her husband and Billy, whom she hates because he has a condition that gives him yellow skin.
Billy inevitably turns out evil with such a mean mother. Keeping things interesting, though, Morgan borrows a page from his “X-Files” classic “Home,” about a messed-up isolated family. The mother later raises Billy’s sister, Agnes, whom she thinks turned out fine.
Mostly naughty, but kind of nice
After a while, I realized the flashbacks comprise a parallel story to the slasher action, taking up equal screentime. That’s fine, because it’s more macabre. But it must be said that neither thread is scary – creatively gross, yes, but not scary.
The 1974 original was chilling because it made a pact with the viewer: Use your imagination to fill in the gaps about who Billy is and where he might be at a given moment.
Morgan’s instinct to tell Billy’s story is not wrong. That’s what a followup chapter should do (although again, I wish it was in sequel form). But that means it needs to get scares or mood from elsewhere.
The score and Konoval’s broad performance undercut Morgan’s work at every turn, making the film into a black comedy without humor and with only superficial horror.
I won’t say “Black Christmas” 2006 is a lump of coal, though. Slasher die-hards and Morgan fans might find it a watchable curiosity.