DVD review (region 2)
Directed by Glen Morgan
Starring Katie Cassidy, Michelle Trachtenberg, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Lacey Chabert
Release date 19 November 2007

A group of teenage girls find themselves trapped in their sorority house on Christmas Eve, while a psychopath takes them out one by one – and we don’t mean for dinner…

In 1974, Bob Clark (who later went on to make us chortle with Porky’s) released a small film, which would have a major impact on the horror scene in years to come. Widely regarded as a classic, the original version of Black Christmas paved the way for slasher films such as Halloween and Friday the 13th.

Fast forward thirty-two years.

Last year’s remake gathered together some of the hottest actresses in the US, although unfortunately not hot as in “in demand”. The remake focuses not only on the plight of the victims, but also on the back-story of the villain (a suitable creepy Robert Mann). The backstory adds nothing, but to be fair, neither do the performances of any of the actresses.

The special effects team excel at the gouging and removal of eyes, and some of the set pieces are reasonably effective (the scene where Michelle Tractenberg’s character is dragged kicking and screaming by her now-empty eye sockets is particularly well done). But the inclusion of copious amounts of gore and blood does not make up for the lacklustre direction or two-dimensional characters.

The film has neither the originality of the 1974 version, nor the intelligence of the 1990s batch of slasher films, and it is difficult to see what attracted the studio to invest in this pointless remake. Avoid. Lee Harris

VERDICT: 4/10
If you’re after an effective slasher film, buy the 1974 original, and see where the sub-genre began.