A shot-for-shot remake of Haneke's Austrian version of the identically titled film, this meta-narrative shames the audience for enjoying these types of movies while showcasing before us the suffering we apparently want.

The directness of the 4th wall breaking and didactic finger-wagging in this really help to get across Haneke's criticism of audiences (and perhaps filmmakers) for flocking to see people being tortured and murdered. It's an interesting and rare point to see a violent horror film decrying violence and…

A chilling slasher that absolutely reflects its foreboding title.

Black Christmas is most effective by way of exactly its blackness: the darkness is utilized incredibly in both the interior and exterior shots, balancing proper exposure with the shadows' prominence. The camera is intermittently used in POV fashion, to claustrophobically probe through corners and rooms, and to tightly frame our nubile would-be victims in centered and painterly fashion. It's a smashing success visually, especially considering it was released in 1974.

That…

I don't think this is necessarily an outright bad film, but what the fuck is the point here?

Is the point that war is hell? If so, this is obvious to everyone already. Films like Saving Private Ryan or We Were Soldiers depict the visual atrocity and gut-wrenching fear, pain, and confusion of soldiers much more viscerally and accurately. This is a bleached, PG-13 affair that seems content to shy away from the blood, the burning corpses, and the horrifically…