Info
• Katie As: Kelli Presley
• Other Cast: Michelle Trachtenberg, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Lacey Chabert, Kristen Cloke and Andrea Martin
• Directed by: Glen Morgan
• Written by: Glen Morgan and Roy Moore
• Release Year: 2006
• Genre: Comedy | Drama | Fantasy | Romance
• Rating: 15 (usa) / 15 (uk)
• Filming locations: Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Sypnosis
In the 70’s, the boy Billy is born with yellow skin due to a liver disease and his dysfunctional mother rejects him. Later he witnesses his mother and her lover killing his beloved father and burying him in the basement of their house, and he is locked in the attic alone along his childhood. When he is a teenager, he is sexually abused by his mother and she has a baby girl called Agnes. During Christmas, the deranged Billy escapes from his imprisonment, kills his mother and stepfather and blinds one eye of Agnes. He is declared insane and his sister is sent to an orphanage. In the present days, Billy escapes from the Clark Sanatorium to spend Christmas with his family. Meanwhile, his former house is the Delta Alpha Kappa sorority house in the campus of the Clement University, and the housemother and the sisters Kelli Presley, Dana, Lauren Hannon, Megan, Heather, Megan Helms, Melissa and Eve Agnew are preparing the house for Christmas party in a stormy night while Clair Crosby is in her room writing a card to bury the hatchet with her sister. When three sisters vanish, the others receive weird phone calls and believe something is wrong, but they find that they are trapped in the location.
From the Gallery
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Trailer
Trivia & Facts
• Andrea Martin, who played Phyllis in Black Christmas (1974), said in an interview that she hadn’t thought about “Black Christmas” for 32 years and it “came out of the blue” when Glen Morgan offered her the role as the house mother in the movie.
• Glen Morgan approached Mary Elizabeth Winstead about the movie at 4 AM in the airport after finishing Final Destination 3 (2006) with her. After being hesitant at first after only just finishing a horror movie, she agreed to the role of “Heather” because she is a fan of the 1974 version.
• All the girls did their own stunts.
• During one scene the famous “leg lamp” from A Christmas Story (1983) can be seen in the background. This may be a reference to Bob Clark, the director of the original Black Christmas. He also directed A Christmas Story in 1983.
• After this film’s critical and financial failure Bob Clark began work on a straight up sequel to the original film with Clark as director and Olivia Hussey and John Saxon reprising their roles of Jess Bradford and Lt. Ken Fuller, respectively, with Jess being the new house mother of the sorority house. His untimely passing however prevented this idea from ever coming to fruition.
• Glen Morgan and the Weinstein brothers Harvey and Bob reportedly often clashed during filming due to their insistence that the film be more gory which Morgan did not approve of. One egregious example is the cannibalistic tendencies of the killers (such as Billy making flesh cookies out of his mother’s skin), which was not in the original script and only shoehorned into the film just to make it gorier.
• The film was marketed as a “Final Destination” movie in Japan.
• The “ugly duckling” sorority sister Eve played by Kathleen Kole was a model at the time of her being cast in the movie. This is her only film credit.
• The film was shot in Canada and was shot in 29 days
• Michelle Trachtenberg became interested in serial killers during production and would often do research on them while on breaks. She eventually went on to producing a Tubi original true crime show Meet, Marry, Murder Hosted by Michelle Trachtenberg (2021).
• Mary Elizabeth Winstead stated that during breaks she would often read message boards and comments on the idea of the original film being remade and be entertained by the hate and outrage.
• The fake snow that was used in the film would unfortunately get sticky and very gluey whenever it rained during filming.
• The hospital at the end of the film is the same hospital used on the show Supernatural (2005) also starring Katie Cassidy.
• Most of the sorority sisters in the film were named after famous singers who made memorable Christmas songs: Kelli Presley (Katie Cassidy) – Elvis Presley (1935-1977), Melissa Kitt (Michelle Trachtenberg) – Eartha Kitt (1927-2008), Dana Mathis (Lacey Chabert) – Johnny Mathis (1934), Clair Crosby (Leela Savasta) – Bing Crosby (1903-1977), Leigh Colvin (Kristen Cloke) – Shawn Colvin (1956) , Megan Helms (Jessica Harmon) – Bobby Helms (1933-1997), Heather Lee Fitzgerald (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) gets two names: Brenda Lee (1944) and Ella Fitzgerald (1917-1996). Lauren Hannon (Yan-Kay Crystal Lowe) and Eve Agnew (Kathleen Kole) appear to be the only sorority sisters who were not named after singers. Barbara MacHenry (Andrea Martin) doesn’t count because she is named after a character from the original film.
• It was rumored at some point during production that the film would be rated PG-13 until Dimension Films confirmed that the film would indeed be rated R. Coincidentally, the second, in-name-only remake, Black Christmas (2019) was rated PG-13, which caused fan backlash.
• The film caused an uproar of controversy from Christian groups because of the studio’s decision to release the film on Christmas Day. Several groups, including Liberty Counsel and Operation “Just Say Merry Christmas”, called the film “offensive, ill-founded and insensitive”. L.A. Weekly columnist Nikki Finke also questioned the filmmakers’ decision to release the film on Christmas. Dimension Films defended the timing, saying, “There is a long tradition of releasing horror movies during the holiday season as counter-programing to the more regular yuletide fare.” Film historian Michael Gurnow, of The Horror Review, countered Liberty Counsel’s complaint, writing, “such crimes occur throughout the year, including Christmas (as recently as a year prior–in McLean and Great Falls, Virginia to be exact).”
• Michelle Trachtenberg and Katie Cassidy would go on to collaborate again on Gossip Girl (2007) and The Scribbler (2014).
• In the beginning of the film Ms. Mac asks who is not present for the secret Santa gift exchange. Two of the names mentioned are Chelsea and Greer. Chelsea Morgan is Glen Morgan’s daughter from his marriage to Cindy Morgan who is also Kristen Cloke’s stepdaughter. Greer is the name of Kristen Cloke and Glen Morgan’s youngest child.
• One of three slasher remakes in which Katie Cassidy appears, the others being When a Stranger Calls (2006) and A Nightmare on Elm Street (2010).
• While considered a massive box office bomb at the time, it still grossed $3 million more than the 2019 remake. Although the 2019 version also cost 4 million less to make.
• 20 of Black Christmas (2006) actors have appeared on Supernatural (2005): Yan-Kay Crystal Lowe, Katie Cassidy, Leela Savasta, Jessica Harmon, Karin Konoval, Robert Mann, Cainan Wiebe, Howard Siegel, Ron Selmour, Michael Adamthwaite, Peter New, Christian Sloan, Aly Purrott-Armstrong, Juan Riedinger, Aaron Pearl, Jill Teed, Jerry Wasserman, Derek McIver, Anne Marie DeLuise, and Greg Kean.
• Both the original Black Christmas (1974) and When a Stranger Calls (1979) were inspired by the urban legend “The Babysitter and the Man Upstairs”. Katie Cassidy stars in both this remake and When a Stranger Calls (2006) .
Alternate versions
• The European version features different and more violent kills and the complete hospital showdown has been re-cut completely.
In the European version Billy dies on an operating table as doctors try unsuccessfully to revive him.
Leigh (Kristen Cloke) is taken to the morgue to ID Agnes and finds Clair’s (Leela Savasta’s) remains in the body bag marked for Agnes. Leigh returns to Kelli’s (‘Katie Cassidy”s) room to find Agnes hiding in the bed pretending to be her. Agnes attacks Leigh and snaps her neck. Kelli returns from getting X-rays done, is attacked by Agnes and kills her by shocking her to death with a defibrillator.
Kelli is picked up by her parents and leaves the hospital and the camera zooms in on a PEACE ON EARTH sign hanging on a door.
In the US version Billy drops down through a ceiling tile after Agnes is killed and chases after Kelli. Kelli breaks the window to her room and runs out into the hallway with Billy close behind. He fights with her before ending up falling over a railing and being impaled on the star on top of a Christmas tree in the lobby below.
• In the UK version Melissa’s death is entirely different. Instead of breaking free from the garbage bag and eventually getting an ice skate through the back of her head, she gets bagged and her right eye is gouged out. She is then dragged by the empty socket down the hallway and killed (off-screen).
• The unrated DVD adds the following scenes:
1. There is an extra shot of Agnes under Clair’s bed in the opening scene.
2. When the security guard is killed in the nut house, there’s an extra shot of Billy climbing up from under his bed, and another shot of blood dripping from the guard’s neck.
3. In Megan’s death scene, there is an extra shot that shows the weapon Agnes stabs Megan with.
4. The phone call scenes are more brutal.
5. There’s a completely new scene that shows Lauren’s death.
In the scene, Billy and Agnes sneak into Lauren’s room while Lauren’s asleep.
Billy starts touching her under the covers and Lauren wakes up and she sees the glass unicorn on her nigh stand.
She tries to stab Billy with it, but nobody’s there.
But then Agnes grabs Lauren by her throat and she stabs her with the unicorn in her eye. (off screen)
6. When Kyle is killed, there is a little more blood gushing out of his head.
7. At the ending, there is an extra shot of Leigh standing next to a closed door in the hospital hallway and we see Billy walking past it in the shadows, foreshadowing something bad is going to happen.
• The USA Region 1 DVD has deleted and extended scenes and three alternate endings.
Box office
• Budget – $9,000,000 (estimated)
• Gross US & Canada – $16,273,581
• Opening weekend US & Canada – $3,723,364Dec 31, 2006
• Gross worldwide – $21,510,851
Goofs
• System alert on Megan’s laptop during the blackout and the video stop frame it covers change their sizes once Kelly notices them.
• When Melissa checks on Lauren before Mrs. Mac and Heather are about to leave, you see that Heather’s bag is on her bed (Lauren and Heather are roommates), but when Kelli and Leigh rush in and Melissa is sitting down, the bag is gone.
• Clair’s hair position changes when she’s writing a postcard, from being tucked behind ears to being completely let down.
• There is a scene in which Constance is trying to get pregnant, but is disappointed by her lover’s repeat failure to perform. She decides to use 12 year old Billy instead to get her pregnant. As she leaves her lover on the stairs and approaches Billy in the attic, Billy is continually rocking in his rocking chair. It is clearly intended that the rocking motion is continuous, but the angle between the chair’s rockers and the floor boards varies depending on the view of the camera. When the camera is pointed back towards the attic door, the front of the rockers is angled about 20 degrees to the left of the floor boards. When the camera is showing various objects on the floor like pots and pans, the angle changes to more like 45 degrees to the left of the floor boards. Finally, when Constance stands nude in front of Billy to offer nookie, the angle changes again, this time to about 20 degrees to the right of the floor boards.
• When Billy’s father is killed and getting buried under the crawlspace, he is seen with the black bag over his head. When Dana is fighting in the crawlspace and is killed, she has scratched up part of his skeleton; however, there is no bag over his head.
• It is stated numerous times that the sisters would have a hard time escaping the house as it is hours away from safety. As per rules, all college sorority houses are situated on a college campus therefore they should have been able to reach safety.
• The bathroom floor is shown as paper-thin as the walls, with Billy making multiple holes in it to watch the girls showering, and there’s no way it would’ve been able to hold people’s weight on a regular basis.
• When Billy bashes his mother with a rolling pin, one of the handles breaks down and loudly flies away. However, when Billy throws a rolling pin on a table, it still has both handles intact.
• When Agnes pulls out the gardening rake to kill Dana under the crawlspace, it makes the stereotypical sound of metal against metal. However, the rake would need to be sheathed to make such a sound; furthermore, a rusty old gardening tool such as that can’t even be sheathed anyway.
• After Kelly breaks the window in her hospital room to escape. You can see a nurse in the hallway behind her, who could have helped. When the camera turns back, no nurse. Also, when she knocks down the nurse cart when running away, not even those nurses come to help her out.
• You can not see anyone’s breath when they go outside, even though it is supposed to be really cold.
• Michelle Trachtenberg’s character has her name spelled in the credits (M-e-l-i-s-s-a) differently from the way it appears on screen as part of a Caller ID (M-e-l-l-i-s-a).
Quotes
[after seeing a sex tape of Kyle cheating on her with Megan]
Kelli Presely: [crying] Get out! Get the fuck out! Am I gonna show up on there? Isn’t sex enough, Kyle? You need little visual trophies to get your thrill?
Kyle: [shouting] Why don’t you shut the fuck up?
Dana Mathis: Hey, hey, hey!
Ms. Barbara MacHenry: Go, Kyle, now!
[Lauren rushes to the bathroom and vomits]
Kyle: Kelli, I really like you. A lot. I don’t blame you for hating me. But I wasn’t dealing, I wasn’t knocking over 7-11s. I didn’t hurt anybody.
[begins to walk away]
Dana Mathis: Yeah, Merry Christmas, asshole.
Kyle: Fuck all you bitches.
Ms. Barbara MacHenry: Didn’t I see Clair earlier?
Kelli Presely: Isn’t she upstairs writing a card to her sister?
Melissa Kitt: No, I think her sister picked her up earlier. Remember, this is the occasion for Clair and her sister and her mom to bury the hatchet and rediscover each other.
Dana Mathis: I’d like to bury the hatchet with my sister… right in her head.
Ms. Barbara MacHenry: [Searching for Billy’s present under the christmas tree] Billy! Billy! Girls, I can’t find Billy’s present under the tree here. Come on, girls, we can’t start the secret santa without Billy’s present! Hello? Who drew Billy’s name?
Melissa Kitt: Um, Ms. Mac, it’s a secret santa.
Dana Mathis: [Doing her nails] Can we just get on with this thing? So I can party for a few days before having to deal with the family on Christmas.
Melissa Kitt: Have you looked outside? It’s raining hail the size of Yao’s ballsack!
Dana Mathis: It’ll stop. The party gods wouldn’t allow me to be here alone during Christmas break.
Kelli Presely: Oh, I’ll be here, Dana.
[Disapointed]
Kelli Presely: Yeah, they’re makin’ me work next week.
Melissa Kitt: That sucks, everyone should be home for Christmas.
Ms. Barbara MacHenry: All right, all right, who’s not here?
Kelli Presely: Um, like everybody.
Ms. Barbara MacHenry: Chelsea?
Kelli Presely: She went home this morning.
Kelli Presely: [phone rings] Alpha Kappa… hello? Hello, hello? Very funny, Kyle.
Kelli Presely: I think someone’s in trouble.
[turns receiver onto speaker phone]
Billy Lenz: [on the telephone, in a muffled, maniacal voice] Where is Agnes? Billy! What your mother and I must know is where is Agnes? Merry Christmas, Agnes. You are in my house, I can see you. Everyone should be home for Christmas! Santa Claus is dead.
Lauren Hanon: Hey, shouldn’t you get goin’, don’t you have lots of toys to deliver to good little boys and girls?
Billy Lenz: I’m gonna kill you.
Kelli Presely: [shouting at Megan’s door sarcastically] If you dont come downstairs, I’m taking your presents!