Here's a review of a holiday horror fave from the ERchives...It's a bit of a bummer to be writing this review after the tragic and untimely death of director Bob Clark, who died with his son Ariel on April 4, 2007 at the hands of a drunk driver. Best known for such disparate flicks as the original PORKY'S and the holiday favorite A CHRISTMAS STORY, Clark is equally beloved by fright fans for his trio of early, groundbreaking works: the hippie/zombie hybrid CHILDREN SHOULDN'T PLAY WITH DEAD THINGS; the politically charged DEATHDREAM (featuring a zombified Vietnam vet in the days when the conflict was a daily presence on the evening news); and, BLACK CHRISTMAS, which established the often-cribbed blueprint of a mysterious killer hacking his way through a shopping list of co-ed cuties, frequently around a holiday. In fact, the blueprint has become such a shopworn genre cliche that CABIN FEVER and HOSTEL director Eli Roth spoofed it with THANKSGIVING, his contribution to 2007's double feature concept flick GRINDHOUSE.
For some unknown reason I've always had a mental block about renting BLACK CHRISTMAS. I love Clark's work – especially his other aforementioned horror films – but I can't count how many times I knowingly passed on this classic. I really wish I knew why but I don't. Luckily, because of the 2006 remake (to be reviewed at a later date), renewed interest in the original resulted in this special edition...
Read the complete review at Exploitation Retrospect: The Journal of Junk Culture and Fringe Media.
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