Is the trailer for Black Christmas naughty or nice?

Looks like Blumhouse’s Black Christmas remake will be delivered just in time for the holidays, and a trailer was just dropped down the chimney this week.

Just a few months back (June to be exact), Jason Blum announced that Blumhouse Productions would be producing a remake of the 1974 horror classic Black Christmas. It’s the second remake of the film, with the first one releasing back in 2006.

This version stars Imogen Poots and Cary Elwes, and is set at Hawthorne College. As in the original film, sorority girls are being killed by an unknown stalker, but this time, they fight back.

I will admit to being a little concerned about the quick turnaround here. The movie was announced in June, completed filming in August, and the premiere date is December 13; I hope the speedy filming doesn’t translate to a sloppy production.

I am a rampant fan of the original Black Christmas, and while I didn’t love the 2006 remake, I did appreciate some things about it. I do consider myself somewhat of an expert on the original (which I saw as Silent Night Evil Night), since it was the film that made me love horror. So, I should be the perfect target audience for this new version.

Here are my observations upon watching the trailer (which can be seen at the end of this post):

• Right off the bat, the film features bright, colorful Christmas lights and decorations, just as in the first two Black Christmas movies. The decor is very visually appealing, and just screams “CHRISTMAS!” Also, Christmas music, yay!
• The three girls dressed in skimpy Santa-inspired dresses appears to be an homage to Mean Girls, I am sure that’s intentional.
• The killer seems to be much calmer and more measured than Billy was in the original, which is disappointing. Part of what made Billy so terrifying was his tendency to snap and start talking in different voices, you just never knew what to expect.
• I’m happy to see callbacks to at least two murders from the first two films. Clare’s death by plastic bag was terrifying in the 1974 version, and we see a girl with her face wrapped up in plastic in the trailer. There is also a brief image of a girl in a chair seen from the back, that could be an homage to Clare’s body in the rocking chair (a moment in the original that still gives me the heebie jeebies). Additionally, there appears to be a murder by icicle, as in the 2006 version.
• The men in robes, participating in what appears to be some sort of satanic ritual is new. That takes this movie in a different direction.
• My biggest issue is with the fact that too much is being given away in this trailer. We can clearly see the faces of at least three of the murder victims, meaning we will know going into the movie that these three girls will be dead. Also, Cary Elwes’ professor is clearly a bad guy. He may not be THE murderer, but he is definitely not a good guy, and I feel like that should have been a surprise.
• “Ho Ho Ho, b***h?” While I have no problem with an occasional comedic line in a horror movie, this one seems kind of over the top, which leads me to believe that the film will be more of a “grrrrl power” flick than a truly scary one. That’s disappointing.
• None of the characters here seem to equal Margot Kidder’s Barb in the original. She pretty much stole every scene she was in with her excessive drinking and brash attitude.
• I liked the teaser poster that was released a few months ago better than the bad girl poster currently in use. The bloody candy cane image was much more effective in my opinion.

Everything else aside, Black Christmas 2019 looks like it will at least be interesting. I liked Imogen Poots in The Green Room and the dead man who turns out to be a statue caught my attention. I don’t expect it to equal the original in any way, but I will see it.

What do you think of the first trailer for Black Christmas? Will you see the movie when it releases in December? Let us know what you think in the comments section.