Christmas Horror

Lili’s Pick: Deep Red

Lanie’s Pick: Black Christmas (1974)

As bah-humbug as we’re feeling this season, we knew we had to watch some Christmas movies, even if it killed us—hence, this week was all about Christmas horror. Dario Argento’s Deep Red has long been on my list, and, having been so thoroughly impressed by the new 2019 Black Christmas, a visit to the original was paramount. The holiday season can be chaotic even outside of a pandemic, from seeing family you hate to receiving terrible gifts, so watching these two horror movies just felt appropriate—if not exactly perfect for our abysmal circumstances. Deep Red, with its unfortunate and confusing dubbing, was unexpected and thrilling with its groovy soundtrack and creative use of the color red. As cheesy and predictable as 70s horror films can be, this one left me delightfully puzzled at every twist and turn. There’s a certain style and flair to this film that seems inimitable, unlike Black Christmas—a film who’s style and plot was only improved through its revamp of a reboot. The original film really was the perfect blueprint for the makings of an even more gratifyingly feminist tale, so I’m very happy that its ideas were expanded upon in the 2019 remake. I say this with extreme adoration, though, as the 1974 Black Christmas really went above and beyond my expectations for a story about a sorority murderer. From Andrea Martin’s effortless charm to Margot Kidder’s convincing alcoholism, from Marian Waldman’s free-wheeling house mother to Olivia Hussey’s sore-thumb of a British accent, this campy horror show provided me all of the Christmas spirit that I needed. Kudos to the 2019 rendition for placing more of an emphasis on the pervasiveness of rape culture within college and for actually giving the sisterhood a fighting chance against their killer, but we have the original Black Christmas to thank for starting this conversation at all.