Following the success of last fall’s ‘Halloween’ reboot/sequel, Blumhouse is reaching back to the 1970s for its next revival– 1974’s ‘Black Christmas’. Sophia Takal is directing and co-wrote the screenplay with April Wolfe. Takal is an award winner for her indie films ‘Green’ and ‘Always Shine’. She just directed the “New Year, New You” episode of Blumhouse’s Hulu series ‘Into the Dark’. Coming from Blumhouse, the film will obviously be made for cheap, but it will also be made fast. The film will open in six months exactly, on December 13!
Imogen Poots (‘Roadies’) will head up the cast. Aleyse Shannon, Brittany O’Grady, Lily Donoghue, and Caleb Eberhardt also star.
The original ‘Black Christmas’ followed a group of sorority girls on holiday break, as they are stalked and killed by a stranger. It was directed by Bob Clark, who went on to helm a very different Yuletide classic, ‘A Christmas Story’. (Along the way, he also made the original teen sex romp ‘Porky’s’ and its sequel ‘Porky’s 2: The Next Day’.) ‘Black Christmas’ included Olivia Hussey (‘Romeo and Juliet’), Keir Dullea (‘2001: A Space Odyssey’) and Margot Kidder (Lois Lane in the ‘Superman’ movies) among its cast.
The film is notorious for its ambiguous ending, and for the famous “the call is coming from inside the house” bit that has become a horror staple. The movie was originally released in the US under the name ‘Silent Night, Evil Night’, because Warner Brothers thought ‘Black Christmas’ would make people think it was a blaxploitation film. (It WAS 1974!)
‘Black Christmas’ has already been remade once in 2006. That version, sometimes referred to as ‘Black X-Mas’, was directed by Glen Morgan and features a cast that included Katie Cassidy, Michelle Trachtenberg, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Oliver Hudson, and Lacey Chabert. That remake drew negative publicity for opening on Christmas Day, with religious groups protesting. It bombed, only earning $16 million during its entire run.
Once again, Blumhouse’s remake of ‘Black Christmas’ will slash its way into theaters on December 13, 2019.
Source: Variety
