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Late To The Party: ‘Black Christmas’ (1974)

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I’d like to start this out by saying that I actually have seen Black Christmas, just not the 1974 classic. My experience with the classic holiday slasher is with the 2006 remake Black Xmas. Having experience with the ’06 remake, and thinking it was a passable slasher flick led me to believe I would have a basic grasp for what to expect from the 1974 classic. Fun fact, I was wrong.

The first thing that stood out to me that was vastly different, and executed much better, in the ’74 version was the threatening phone calls that happen periodically throughout the film. In the remake of Black Christmas there are only a few phone calls, and they are for the most part brushed off and ignored. With the original however, the phone calls didn’t feel like some drunk fraternity member messing with one of the local sorority. The calls have weight and bring forth some serious dread.

Threatening phone calls aren’t the only thing the sorority sisters have to worry about though. With one of their members missing, and a local girl also going missing only to be found dead later, the phone calls only fuel the tension flowing throughout the sorority as members slowly begin to disappear without a trace.

If I had only one real gripe about the movie overall, it’s that it takes a little to long for the movie to find its primary protagonist. Black Christmas follows all the sorority sisters that are still present as they go through their day to day while being stalked by an unknown killer which helped to make the movie feel more alive, but made it difficult to latch onto characters if any one of the women could be axed off any minute.

Credit: Black Christmas (1974)

Until the third act there wasn’t a clearly defined final girl which is a staple of slashers. That can be forgiven since Black Christmas is one of the earliest slasher films, so you can’t be too harsh with it for lacking a few familiar elements one would expect with a slasher.

Easily my favorite thing that the original Black Christmas pulled off that the ’06 remake chose to completely ignore, was that the identity of the killer is never explicitly given. During the film’s opening an unknown intruder attacks and kills one of the sorority sisters, only to drag her corpse off to the attic where she will remain for the remainder of the flick. The house mother also receives the same treatment after she meets her gruesome end with an oversized hook before being dragged off to the attic with the killer.

Image Credit: Black Christmas (1974)

The psychological aspect of never knowing just who the killer really is, and the fact that two bodies are never discovered was for me at least, one of the most effective endings to a slasher film that I have experienced. I would personally rank the final moments up there with John Carpenter’s classic Halloween. 

I’m very happy that I was finally able to experience Black Christmas, and as a lover of the slasher genre it was interesting for me to see the beginnings of the tropes that I would learn to love as they evolve over the years. If you’re looking for a horror movie to enjoy during the Holiday season look no further than 1974’s Black Christmas.

Image Credit: Black Christmas (1974)

A classic for a reason, I plan on loading up this classic every holiday season alongside Krampus to bring a little fear and gore to the Holidays.

Feature Image Credit: Chris Fischer

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Another Creepy Spider Movie Hits Shudder This Month

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Good spider films are a theme this year. First, we had Sting and then there was Infested. The former is still in theaters and the latter is coming to Shudder starting April 26.

Infested has been getting some good reviews. People are saying that it’s not only a great creature feature but also a social commentary on racism in France.

According to IMDb: Writer/director Sébastien Vanicek was looking for ideas around the discrimination faced by black and Arab-looking people in France, and that led him to spiders, which are rarely welcome in homes; whenever they’re spotted, they’re swatted. As everyone in the story (people and spiders) is treated like vermin by society, the title came to him naturally.

Shudder has become the gold standard for streaming horror content. Since 2016, the service has been offering fans an expansive library of genre movies. in 2017, they began to stream exclusive content.

Since then Shudder has become a powerhouse in the film festival circuit, buying distribution rights to movies, or just producing some of their own. Just like Netflix, they give a film a short theatrical run before adding it to their library exclusively for subscribers.

Late Night With the Devil is a great example. It was released theatrically on March 22 and will begin streaming on the platform starting April 19.

While not getting the same buzz as Late Night, Infested is a festival favorite and many have said if you suffer from arachnophobia, you might want to take heed before watching it.

Infested

According to the synopsis, our main character, Kalib is turning 30 and dealing with some family issues. “He’s fighting with his sister over an inheritance and has cut ties with his best friend. Fascinated by exotic animals, he finds a venomous spider in a shop and brings it back to his apartment. It only takes a moment for the spider to escape and reproduce, turning the whole building into a dreadful web trap. The only option for Kaleb and his friends is to find a way out and survive.”

The film will be available to watch on Shudder starting April 26.

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Part Concert, Part Horror Movie M. Night Shyamalan’s ‘Trap’ Trailer Released

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In true Shyamalan form, he sets his film Trap inside a social situation where we aren’t sure what is going on. Hopefully, there is a twist at the end. Furthermore, we hope it’s better than the one in his divisive 2021 movie Old.

The trailer seemingly gives away a lot, but, as in the past, you can’t rely on his trailers because they are often red herrings and you are being gaslit to think a certain way. For instance, his movie Knock at the Cabin was completely different than what the trailer implied and if you hadn’t read the book on which the film is based it was still like going in blind.

The plot for Trap is being dubbed an “experience” and we aren’t quite sure what that means. If we were to guess based on the trailer, it’s a concert movie wrapped around a horror mystery. There are original songs performed by Saleka, who plays Lady Raven, a kind of Taylor Swift/Lady Gaga hybrid. They have even set up a Lady Raven website to further the illusion.

Here is the fresh trailer:

According to the synopsis, a father takes his daughter to one of Lady Raven’s jam-packed concerts, “where they realize they’re at the center of a dark and sinister event.”

Written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan, Trap stars Josh Hartnett, Ariel Donoghue, Saleka Shyamalan, Hayley Mills and Allison Pill. The film is produced by Ashwin Rajan, Marc Bienstock and M. Night Shyamalan. The executive producer is Steven Schneider.

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Woman Brings Corpse Into Bank To Sign Loan Papers

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Warning: This is a disturbing story.

You have to be pretty desperate for money to do what this Brazilian woman did at the bank to get a loan. She wheeled in a fresh corpse to endorse the contract and she seemingly thought the bank employees wouldn’t notice. They did.

This weird and disturbing story comes via ScreenGeek an entertainment digital publication. They write that a woman identified as Erika de Souza Vieira Nunes pushed a man she identified as her uncle into the bank pleading with him to sign loan papers for $3,400. 

If you’re squeamish or easily triggered, be aware that the video captured of the situation is disturbing. 

Latin America’s largest commercial network, TV Globo, reported on the crime, and according to ScreenGeek this is what Nunes says in Portuguese during the attempted transaction. 

“Uncle, are you paying attention? You must sign [the loan contract]. If you don’t sign, there’s no way, as I cannot sign on your behalf!”

She then adds: “Sign so you can spare me further headaches; I can’t bear it any longer.” 

At first we thought this might be a hoax, but according to Brazilian police, the uncle, 68-year-old Paulo Roberto Braga had passed away earlier that day.

 “She attempted to feign his signature for the loan. He entered the bank already deceased,” Police Chief Fábio Luiz said in an interview with TV Globo. “Our priority is to continue investigating to identify other family members and gather more information regarding this loan.”

If convicted Nunes could be facing jail time on charges of fraud, embezzlement, and desecration of a corpse.

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