'Tis the season to die horribly, in writer/director Glen Morgan's contemporary reimagining of the 1974 festive slasher Black Christmas. And, as expected from the co-scribe of two Final Destination flicks, there's a sleigh-full of outrageous surprises in store, as legendary killer Billy Lenz apparently returns home for the holidays. From eyeball-munching to Yuletide cookies cut from human flesh, this gruesomely comic horror goes to town on the jolts and blood, while keeping its tongue firmly in its ulcerated cheek.
Mysterious Skin's Michelle Trachtenberg and Final Destination 3's Mary Elizabeth Winstead are among the female students terrorised and slaughtered in their sorority house - once the family abode of a newly escaped psycho. The claret starts spraying even before the opening credits, with a binbag over the head and a fountain pen in the eye just a taster of the imaginative carnage to come.
Whereas executive producer Bob Clark's seminal original focused predominantly on creepy atmospherics, Morgan favours more direct methods. Smart-mouthed dialogue, fast pacing and a fun procession of seasonally themed visual scares increase the overall enjoyment - and there's also a gothic-style back-story for poor, abused Billy. The result is a twisted gift for gorehounds that will provoke as many dark laughs as squeals.
*Out 15 December
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