
For film fans- especially slasher film fans, it seems- we don't like when producer types fool around with our favorite films. I mean, they still do it, because they know even if we don't want a remake or new sequel, we'll still go see it. We've all been there and done it. We can't stand the idea of some flick we saw at just the right time in our life, one that has personal meaning and recalls better times, being remade by "Greedy producers who are out of ideas." Some take to keyboards while others swear they're not spending a dime to watch it, and then it comes out and we almost always break and buy a ticket, all with the secret hope that the remake generates some of the beloved memories and thrills of the original.
Bob Clark's Black Christmas has always been revered by slasher fans. It is one of the OG titles of knife-kill cinema that helped the genre find its identity and it is an honestly terrifying experience. (God help you if you're watching it late at night, in the dark, and something creaks behind you!)
When it was announced it was being remade in 2006, many a damn mind was lost. Glen Morgan's remake knew it couldn't top the original, so he exaggerated everything and explained Nasty Billy's backstory. The sleaze oozed from the silver screen and while most horror fans didn't care for it, many slasher fans appreciated it for what it was, and enjoyed the silly slasher excesses.
The 2019 Blumhouse remake was met with even more resistance. Written by Sophia Takal and April Wolfe, and directed by Takal, most fans hated it as soon as they saw it was rated PG-13. Takal's film told a "Me Too!" story about young Riley (Imogen Poots) surviving a sexual assault and the backlash of accusing one of the college's lead football players for the assault. (The college just wants to brush it under the rug.) While the movie degenerates into some silly Boys vs. Girls supernatural hokum, the central story of Riley publicly facing her attacker, with her sorority sisters supporting her, delivered a strong female character on par with Olivia Hussey's Jess in the original. (The film has been universally panned, but it would be nice to see if time catches up with it and acknowledges the strength, and normal weaknesses, of this character.)
Now we get to a new remake of sorts. The recent trend in retro novelizations gives an author a chance to rewrite the original film. Characters and situations can be expanded upon, new, or lost scenes not in the film but in the original script, can be reinstated and any rough patches the original production had trouble with (usually because of limited funds) can be rectified.
Basically, a writer can sit at their laptop, and with the unlimited budget of their imagination, can make a well-known story pulsate with new ideas.
Which brings us to Armando Muñoz' new retro novelization for Bob Clark's Black Christmas.
Muñoz has spent the last couple of years adapting some excellent top rate slashers to new novelizations, but here he's given the reins to what is the top choice in many fans' lists of "top ten" greatest slasher movies of all time.
He has proven that he can take a solid slasher and flesh it out into a new version of the original. His tie-ins for Silent Night, Deadly Night and Happy Birthday To Me are perfect examples of how he can take long established favorites and breathe fresh life into them. (SN, DN is a wonderful example of taking an existing sleazy story and really make it sleazy!)
With Black Christmas, Muñoz mines the ample opportunity to explore all the characters and really lets us see what makes them tick. All the characters get a background upload, with Barb becoming a more sympathetic character than one gets from the movie. Mrs. Mac is also given some more backstory, with details about her life in Vaudeville and her years as the Phi Kappa Sigma house mother.
Jess Bradford receives the most additional background, and everything Muñoz adds, as we read, jells with what we know about the character from Hussey's performance in the film. (He also uses Jess's unwanted pregnancy to talk about women's rights to their bodies without the reader feeling they've been hit over the head with it.) It only solidifies her character as a genuine hero. ("Final Girl" is not a big enough title for Jess. She's a straight up "Hero.")
The other character that gets more backstory is our maniac, Billy. I won't spoil anything, but Muñoz has added an extra layer that genuinely makes the character as scary here as he is in the movie. (Muñoz explores the method of Billy's madness, and it is chilling.)
There are some new scenes and a new character to add to the body count, but Muñoz sticks close to the script. He layers the story with additional info that builds to a suspenseful climax that we all know, but here, everything old is made new again.
Armando Muñoz recreates the terror of the original film for a new generation of slasher fans. It is topped off with an introduction and remembrances from our friend (and ill-fated Clare Harrison) Lynne Griffin.
The publisher, Stop the Killer, also released a Black Christmas card game. They specialize in creating board and card games for classic slasher movies.
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