Black Christmas tells the story of Billy Lenz, a young boy who was abused by his mother as a child. Billy’s mother cheated on her husband and eventually killed him. She then permanently placed Billy in the attic while she started a new family with a new lover.
In the 70’s, the boy Billy is born with yellow skin due to a liver disease and his dysfunctional mother rejects him. Later he witnesses his mother and her lover killing his beloved father and burying him in the basement of their house, and he is locked in the attic alone along his childhood. When he is a teenager, he is sexually abused by his mother and she has a baby girl called Agnes. During Christmas, the deranged Billy escapes from his imprisonment, kills his mother and stepfather and blinds one eye of Agnes. He is declared insane and his sister is sent to an orphanage.
In the present days, Billy escapes from the Clark Sanatorium to spend Christmas with his family. Meanwhile, his former house is the Delta Alpha Kappa sorority house in the campus of the Clement University, and the housemother and the sisters Kelli Presley, Dana, Lauren Hannon, Megan, Heather, Megan Helms, Melissa and Eve Agnew are preparing the house for Christmas party in a stormy night while Clair Crosby is in her room writing a card to bury the hatchet with her sister. When three sisters vanish, the others receive weird phone calls and believe something is wrong, but they find that they are trapped in the location.
Black Christmas (abbreviated as Black X-Mas) is a 2006 American-Canadian slasher film written and directed by Glen Morgan and starring Katie Cassidy, Michelle Trachtenberg, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Oliver Hudson, Lacey Chabert, Kristen Cloke, and Andrea Martin. The film takes place several days before Christmas and tells the story of a group of sorority sisters who are stalked and murdered by the house’s former inhabitants during a winter storm. It is a loose remake of the 1974 film of the same name. The film was produced by Morgan and James Wong through their production company Hard Eight Pictures, along with 2929 Productions and Hoban Segal Productions.
Director Glen Morgan signed on to write and direct the film after the release of his 2003 remake of Willard, and intended to expand on themes and ideas left either dormant or ambiguous in the original 1974 film. Morgan’s script developed the introduction of an identifiable villain as well as an additional plot twist. The film was shot on location in Vancouver, British Columbia, in 2005 on a budget of USD$9 million. The film was co-distributed by Dimension Films and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. According to director Morgan, he and producer Wong had numerous disputes with Dimension executives Bob and Harvey Weinstein regarding the tone of the script as well as the film’s conclusion, which resulted in numerous re-writes and re-shoots.
In December 2006, upon anticipation of its release, the film garnered criticism from religious groups due to its depiction of graphic content in a holiday setting, as well as the distributor’s decision to release the film on Christmas Day in the United States. The film opened in the United Kingdom on December 15, 2006, and, premiered in Los Angeles, California on December 19. Despite backlash from some religious organizations, the film received a wide theatrical release in North American theaters on Christmas Day 2006, and went on to gross $21 million internationally.
Trivia
Filming began January 2006 in Vancouver, Canada.
Andrea Martin also played “Phyllis” in the 1974 version of Black Christmas. Margot Kidder, who played Barb in the old version, was another choice for the role of Mrs. Mac.
Katie Cassidy, during an interview, said this will be her last horror film for a while.
Glen Morgan approached Mary Elizabeth Winstead in an airport at 4 AM for the role of Kelli, but she said she didn’t want to get stereotyped as a horror heroine, so she accepted the role of Heather instead because she was a big fan of the original.
Reshoots began on August 29th in a mental facility in Vancouver.
The Film Opens on Christmas Day.
The characters are much like originals: Kelli Pressley (Katie Cassidy) is like Jess Bradford(Olivia Hussey). Lauren Hannon(Crystal Lowe) is like Barbie Coard(Margot Kidder), and Clair Crosby is like Clare Harrison(Lynne Griffin).
Black Christmas (2006)
Directed by: Glen Morgan
Starring: Michelle Trachtenberg, Lacey Chabert, Andrea Martin, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Jessica Harmon, Katie Cassidy, Kristen Cloke, Crystal Lowe, Karin Konoval, Oliver Hudson
Screenplay by: Glen Morgan
Production Design by: Mark S. Freeborn
Cinematography by: Robert McLachlan
Film Editing by: Chris G. Willingham
Costume Design by: Gregory Mah
Set Decoration by: Mark Lane
Art Direction by: Tony Wohlgemuth
Music by: Shirley Walker
MPAA Rating: R for strong horror violence and gore, sexuality, nudity and language.
Distributed by: Dimension Films
Release Date: December 25, 2006
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