In honor of the upcoming celebration of the (enter your holiday), I present the third occasionally-annual reminiscence of what is possibly my favorite Christmas horror movie:
I really don’t get all of the hate for this movie. Is it because the original was so “adored”? I tried to sit through it once and it was so boring I eventually just gave up. Is it because of the super gory content? Is it because of the subject matter? Is it because Billy ate an eyeball? Is it because of all of the focus on eyeballs? I don’t know, but I think this is funny, very bloody, well shot, well acted and doesn’t try and take itself too seriously. I liked the way they told the story, I really dug the way they did the flashbacks and I also really enjoyed the actors and the characters; I especially enjoyed Oliver Hudson as a total dick, well before his dopey, hilarious, Rules of Engagement role. We also get Michelle Trachtenberg, Mary Elizabeth Winstead and even Andrea Martin, who appears to be a returnee from the original, as the House Mother. I guess I could complain that the ending went on a little too long, but other than that, this is the perfect Christmas movie to be playing on that living room TV while the family unit sits around eating a goose.
Yellow skinned Billy Lenz was born in 1970 with jaundice, to a loving dad and the worst mother in the history of mothers. On his first Christmas, his mom smashes his Baby’s First Christmas ornament in her hand and sprinkles it all over the baby. On his fifth, his mom and her lover kill the dad in front of Billy’s eyes by placing a garbage bag over his head and hitting him with a hammer (that’s Billy’s motif later on when he begins his serial killing ways, you see). Having witnessed this, his mom locks him in the attic for the next 15 years, only coming to see him every now and then to, um, er, um, have sex with him (I guess I can see how some people might not like this), and even, um, uh, well, has his kid, ahem. As you can imagine, he eventually has had enough, kills his mom and step-dad, makes cookies with their flesh and is subsequently committed to the local insane asylum.
15 years later, his old home has been converted into a sorority house and we are introduced to a group of lovely young ladies preparing to split for the holidays (and Hudson). There’s really no use citing any of the character’s names, since none of them are around very long, but sure enough, on this fateful night, Billy has finally escaped from the sanitarium, makes his way home and the young women begin becoming things of the past through various very gory ways. There’s even kind of a fun twist with all of this. If you watch this and roll your eyes because how could one person be in two places at once – well – there’s a nice surprise in store for you. I have to say, I really liked that scene when they are all in that space between the wall.
Ultimately, what we think is the end actually isn’t and the real end kind of drags on for awhile, but I think this movie is a lot of very gory fun. I have a feeling that the original isn’t much like this at all, which is probably why this movie is rated so low on IMDB. What can I say? I liked the shit out of it : )
I’m kind of allergic to remakes, but this looks quite fun. You should give the original another go, though. It’s one of the best early slasher films and well worth a watch, even just to see where so many subsequent slashers got their inspiration from.
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Sounds good Nik!!
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I guess if they had to remake it, it’s good that they fixed the perceived issue with the first one, which is that the killer was so underexplained.
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Have you seen this one??
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Not yet, but I intend to because you’ve mentioned several times that you liked it. I’ll get around to it!
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SWEET!
(I have “Funeral Singers” in my possession but haven’t got to it just yet)
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It’s comforting to know that one can never watch All the Movies, there are so many I’m finding all the time.
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We have a never ending supply of subject matter!
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For god sake! That damn banner keeps getting me!
Movie Sounds Good 😀
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LOL!!!!!
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Wait, what…you haven’t seen the original?
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I know – I bow my head in sorrowful shame.
In my defense, I did start watching it once but I was probably – um – er – erm – um – higher than the Sears Tower and got bored with it – I have been publicly shamed about that fact since XMAS so it’s queued up in Netflix and that will be remedied before XMAS 2013 : )
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Festive horror, sounds fun Eric.
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I always liked this one. I can always give it a re-watch quite easily.
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Yes sir!!
#yessir
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A fun holiday slasher, and a decent remake too! The Silent Night, Deadly Night remake was fun as well!
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Yes and yes! Two solid flicks!
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I’ve never seen this but it’s definitely on my list because I LOVE tortured and twisted Christmas movies and books!
#loveeric
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I love this one! Let me know what you think!
#lovekim
P.S. I have an all new, never before seen post coming out Monday : )
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I will Eric! Can’t wait!
#hugs
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Woooooooooooooooooooo Hop!!
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You know it!!!
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Actually, we went to Breckinridge a few years ago and I wouldn’t mind going back…
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That sounds fun!⛷🏂
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Tortured and twisted, it seems we are seeing another side to you Kim. Mistress of the dark maybe?
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MOWAHAHA! 😈 I like “Mistress of the Dark”,
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It sounds very cool and full of power.
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Now I just need a cool and mysterious looking costume!
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I’m sure you’ll find one.
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I’ve seen this movie be really ripped into by people so it’s refreshing to see a positive take on it. You’ve been missed Eric, you bad ass blogging brother.
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I wouldn’t say I hate this but given the choice I would rather watch the original. Bob Clark’s version just had a raw edginess to it that felt like an exploitation film and had the early ‘slasher’ film style.. I would say that fans of the first version probably don’t like the glossy finish of the new one.
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I need to try the old one again…. Unstoned —- but I’ve never smoked grass.
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Sounds super gross but not that bad! Have an amazing Christmas Eric!
#christmasies
#eyeballsies
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Merry Christmas, Anna!!!!!!!!!!!
#makingmerriesies
#squishies
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Now I definitely need to check this film out again! And the original!
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Yes sir!! Squish squish squish!
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I enjoyed the original but this actually has me interested in a remake for once. Its a christmas miracle!
I hope you are well mate
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I hope you like it – I’ve been doing OK – how about you, friend??
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Not bad mate, its bloody hot down here!
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Happy horrormas, dear Eric! We watched this last night and well… I’m conflicted. I like the classic awful college kids getting picked off one by one but I thought there was TOO MUCH back story about Billy and his mother was a bit TOO awful. I’m sure it’s easy to mess a kid up without going quite so overboard.
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HAPPY XMAS, dearest fn!! I hope you’ve had a good one!!
Fair enough! I quite liked this thing : )
Yours,
ei
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Happy Christmas Pappy G!
Love,
Kidney
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HAPPY HAPPY XMAS!!!
Love,
Sugar Pappy!
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I sure think I need to be adding this to my watch list, thank you PSC!
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WHOOOOOOOP!
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