Black Christmas remake (again)

[Lon of the Dead]

I re-watched the original on Shudder recently -- not that I needed to, I've seen it dozens of times -- and it never ceases to amaze me just how well it holds up. Even now, nearly fifty years later and after countless clones and scores of imitators, it still feels original and evocative. I don't think Olivia Hussey gets enough props for her performance. Especially during the climax. The anguish in her voice when she's calling out for her friends, and then her scream when the killer grabs her by the hair -- she acted the hell out of that sequence.

[classic_horror_fan]

I re-watched the original on Shudder recently -- not that I needed to, I've seen it dozens of times -- and it never ceases to amaze me just how well it holds up. Even now, nearly fifty years later and after countless clones and scores of imitators, it still feels original and evocative. I don't think Olivia Hussey gets enough props for her performance. Especially during the climax. The anguish in her voice when she's calling out for her friends, and then her scream when the killer grabs her by the hair -- she acted the hell out of that sequence.

Yes, it does hold up to this very day, and will continue holding up through the future. It is so very well done with all of the actors and actresses putting on such amazing and convincing performances. The 1970s style artisnes and goriness, along with its classic appeal, are so timeless, it can be viewed over and over with getting old. Not too many sub-genres can have the same said about them.

[Primetimeloser]

Just got around to this yesterday since it went up on HBO Now. Posted this in the Facebook group as well. Honestly this just seemed like a heavy handed reskin of the social commentary we already saw in the original black Christmas.

Spoiler...

Threatening calls became ominous DMs

They stuck with the "its coming from inside the house" idea and just applied it to all of sorority row.

Inept cops leaving the sorority to fend for themselves became a cynical "The cops will never believe us!"

And, the most obvious, an unplanned pregnancy and a desire for bodily autonomy became a sexual assult and still was a desire for bodily autonomy.

The political and social commentary in the original Black Christmas was not subtle at all. This one was even less so given the current climate. Yeah being that blunt in this version led to some stilted writing but that seemed intentionally over the top to underscore how ridiculous the idea of the cult was. They spewed nonstop incel rhetoric and Helena is the embodiment of internalized misogyny and a super literal interpretation of a Pick Me. Both of these are there to show a worst case scenario of these ideas of they are left unchecked. Think of the prison riot scene in Natural Born Killers where the cartoonish violence was meant to show how silly glorifying violence is. It's the same concept here.

I won't call it a great remake by any means but its connections to the original are clear and it said what it wanted to say. I'd certainly take this over giving Billy a backstory and I'm normally a big fan origin stories.

[DarkSuperman]

Heard it was trash.

[Splat]

POSter told me everything I needed to know. Didn't even bother with the trailer. It's relevent for today's "I watch horror on Halloween only crowd"...

[Michael Myers]

As long as they continue to make money on these remakes

You could always download it in that case.