Black Christmas

Black Christmas

DVD Rating: **

Reviewed by: Amber Wilkinson

Read Paul Griffiths's film review of Black Christmas

Watching the navel-gazing first few minutes of the 27-minute featurette May All Your Christmases Be Black, you begin to wonder not only what you are doing here but what director Glen Morgan is doing here, too. He is the ultimate Eeyore when it comes to horror films it seems. He talks about having to add Jack-in-the-box scare scenes "which I hate". So why take the helm of a horror movie then?

There is also a lot of picking over the bones of his previous film Willard (he feared he'd never direct again... some might wish he hadn't). This is all well and good, but of virtually no relevance to people who want to hear about Black Christmas. Thankfully, however, the rest of the feature does deal with the film in some detail, talking about the operation of the camera and how focus-puller Dean Friss came to play the role of Agnes.

Copy picture

The second featurette - What Have You Done? The Remaking Of Black Christmas - is equally disappointing, in that there are no clips from the original film shown at all. Although the crew talk a bit about the cast - particularly how Andrea Martin came to be in both films - it all feels very lightweight and, though slickly made, offers little substance.

There are eight deleted/extended scenes, which are largely for completists only and, sadly, don't have any accompanying directorial commentary to indicate why they were left out.

Rounding out the package are three additional versions of the ending - the one shown in UK cinemas was different to that in the US. It may be my British sensbilities but I still think the one we got is the best of the bunch.

Ultimately, a set of extras which isn't as nice as it first appears - a bit like getting a pair of old socks wrapped in very pretty Christmas wrap.

Reviewed on: 22 Nov 2007
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Black Christmas packshot
Remake of the original festive 1974 slasher horror flick.
Amazon link

Region: 2

Ratio: 2.35:1

Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1

Extras: May All Your Christmaes Be Black - A Filmmaker's Journney, alternative endings, deleted scenes, What Have You Done The Remaking Of Black Christmas


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