Directed by: Glen Morgan.

 Starring: Katie Cassidy, Michelle Trachtenberg, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Crystal Lowe, and Lacey Chabert.

The instant slasher flick classic is back with a vengeance. With more gore than you can shake a stick at, the campy atmosphere and tone will never bore you to pieces.

When a crazed spree killer (Billy Lenz is the name) escapes from the local mental facility, an oblivious group of sorority girls are busy “burying the hatchet” on Christmas day. Little do they know the afflicted murderer is returning to the house in which the sorority resides. As each girl meets an untimely and  death, the few survivors are left to huddle in fear and concern for the missing sisters.

There is something about this movie that is just awesome. It is one of those cheesy slasher flicks you can watch over and over and never get tired of it. The pace of the movie is extremely well done. There is hardly ever a dull moment. If the movie isn’t showing the killer finding some immensely disturbing method of slaughtering his innocent victims, it is flashing back to the killer’s shocking and melancholy childhood. Expect a fast and wild ride for almost a full hour and a half with Black Christmas.

Black Christmas, however corny you may think it is, does provide a somewhat decent twist. Is there one killer? Is there more than one killer? Could someone be pulling a whole-hearted attempt at giving these girls a heart attack? I spent the duration of the movie pointing out suspect characters. I became infatuated with Eve being the killer’s sister AND daughter Agnes (yes, you read that correctly) but was disappointed to find Eve being just another pawn in the killer’s game.

I enjoyed the over-the-top gore and was chilled to the bone with Billy’s childhood story. There are definitely flaws in this movie (jabbing a guard in the head with a half-eaten candy cane?), but they’re the kind of flaws that are silly and still enjoyable. Billy’s skin tone was an awful neon yellow because of a liver condition at birth. This skin color was extremely exaggerated and bothered me a bit. If you’re expecting provocative dialogue or a meaningful/life-changing movie, I would skip this one. This movie is for true gore horror fans who bask in the campy and cheesy aspects of all slasher films.

***4/5 stars***

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