In an excellent YouTube essay, noted Christmas enthusiast Patrick H. It's an excellent recent addition to the growing canon of Christmas horror movies.Įxcess alliteration aside, let's discuss Robert Zemeckis for a moment. "The Advent Calendar" mines that status quo for the darkest elements of the human experience. Humanity is bombarded with ads telling it to get their family "what they want this holiday season" and children breathlessly anticipate gifts they crave under the tree. While horror films generally have a "be careful what you wish for" thesis, few of these are set during a holiday synonymous with wish fulfillment. That winds up being fine because Derouand's performance more than makes up for it as the film trots out sleek and beautifully executed set pieces. The story of a paraplegic former dancer named Eva (Eugenie Derouand) gifted a sinisterly magical advent calendar, the film is the closest audiences may get to a Christmas-themed "Saw." To its detriment, Ridremont's movie is more interested in introducing generally awful people into Eva's life who meet horrific ends than it is in exploring Eva's grief over losing the use of her legs. Neither reimagining of "Black Christmas" can compare to the original, but taken as a triptych? They become an almost anthropologically enjoyable watch. But without getting into spoilers, the specters of macho hostility and gaslighting feel just as deadly (if not more so) in this version. Don't worry: Sophia Takal's take is still full of costumed malevolent. For few films is this truer for than 2006's "Black Christmas," which was written off as a 1970s retread but is slickly directed by Glenn Morgan ("Final Destination," "The X-Files"), offers a gorehound's paradise, and serves as a summit for some of the decade's more notable teen-movie superstars to be memorably axed off.Ģ019's "Black Christmas," in contrast, inverts the focus of Clark's original chiller, honing in on the terrors women face on a daily basis more than those of evil, masked psychopaths. As outlined by the "Aughtsterion" podcast (which you can listen to here), horror films of the mid-2000s (lovingly referred to by the show as "tank-top horror") are due for critical reappraisal. That encroaching doom coupled with genuinely cringe-inspiring family dynamics makes "Silent Night" the most cerebrally scary Christmas horror film ever, and a must if you haven't seen it.Ģ006's "Black Christmas," for example, offers a gory slice of post-Bush-era nihilism. As it increasingly goes from cringe comedy to terrifying existential reckoning, it becomes clearer that tomorrow isn't happening. Christmas precedes Easter, a holiday that's all about Christ's resurrection, but there is no resurrection promised for any character in "Silent Night." Camille Griffin's movie knows that part of the reason we gather is to celebrate life and the promise of tomorrow. Technically, the holiday celebrates the birth of Christ, and "Silent Night" is about dinner party guests (played by Kiera Knightly, Matthew Goode, Sope Dirsu, Kirby Howell-Baptise, and more) who are about to spend their last night on Earth. "Silent Night," by contrast, plumbs Christmas for its traditions and thematic resonance. Most films on this list get their thrills from rendering merry and family-friendly imagery grotesque and only for adults. What's particularly strong about "Silent Night" is its Christmas setting.
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