Black Christmas

Black X-Mas (also known and pronounced as Black Christmas) is a 2006 slasher film written and directed by Glen Morgan and starring Katie Cassidy, Michelle Trachtenberg, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Oliver Hudson, Lacey Chabert, Kristen Cloke, and Andrea Martin. The film takes place several days before Christmas and tells the story of a group of sorority sisters who are stalked and murdered in their house during a winter storm. It is a loose remake and reimagining of the 1974 film of the same name. A co-production of Canada and the United States, the film was produced by Morgan and James Wong through their production company Hard Eight Pictures, along with 2929 Productions, Adelstein-Parouse Productions and Hoban Segal Productions. It is the second film in the Black Christmas series. Director Glen Morgan signed on to write and direct the film after the release of his 2003 remake of Willard. Shooting took place in Vancouver, British Columbia, in 2005. The film was co-distributed by Dimension Films and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM). According to Morgan, he and Wong had numerous disputes with Dimension executives Bob and Harvey Weinstein regarding the tone of the script as well as the film's conclusion, which resulted in numerous re-writes and re-shoots. In December 2006, upon anticipation of its release, the film garnered criticism from religious groups due to its depiction of graphic content in a holiday setting, as well as the distributor's decision to release the film on Christmas Day in the United States. The film opened in the United Kingdom on December 15, and premiered at Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles, California on December 19. Despite backlash from some religious organizations, Black Christmas was released in the United States on December 25. The film grossed $21.5 million worldwide on a budget of $9 million and received negative reviews from critics, who took issue with the screenplay and excessive violence. This is the final film to be composed by Shirley Walker before her death on November 30, 2006, a month before the film's release, as well as the final film made with the involvement of Bob Clark before his death on April 4, 2007. A second remake of Black Christmas, produced by Blumhouse Productions and distributed by Universal Pictures, was released in 2019.