Trivia / Black Christmas (2006)

• Acting for Two: Camera operator Dean Friss plays both Billy and Agnes, and had trouble differentiating his voice for the latter.
• Approval of God: Bob Clark, who directed the original, gave Glen Morgan his approval.
• Cameo Prop: During one scene the famous "leg lamp" from A Christmas Story can be seen in the background. This may be a reference to Bob Clark, the director of the original film.
• Cast the Runner-Up: Mary Elizabeth Winstead was initially offered the role Kelli Pressley but insisted on taking the role of victim Heather Fitzgerald to avoid being typecast.
• Completely Different Title: Goes by Screams in the Dark in the Spanish world.
• Creator Backlash: In an interview in the book The Anatomy of Fear: Conversations with Cult Horror and Science Fiction Film Creators, Glen Morgan had little nice to say about his experience working on the film, insisting that there was so much Executive Meddling that the Weinstein brothers may as well have been the film's real creators. It was an additional sting because he was a huge fan of the original film.
• Creator Couple: Kristen Cloke, who plays Leigh, is Glen Morgan's wife.
• Creator Killer: Glen Morgan, a writer and producer on The X-Files, Space: Above and Beyond, and Millennium (1996), broke into film when he wrote the first and third Final Destination films, The One, and the 2003 remake of Willard (which was also his directorial debut). However, he never wrote or directed another feature film after the Executive Meddling he endured on this film and its subsequent critical mauling, which caused him to return to working in television.
• Deleted Role: Anne Marie DeLuise and Greg Kean filmed a scene as Kelli's parents that ended up cut.
• Executive Meddling:
  • The original version of this remake had, among other things, more character development and deaths more akin to the original; Dimension Films stepped in and started demanding rewrites and re-shoots (they're infamous for this sort of thing, see Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers and Hellraiser: Bloodline) to the point that director Glen Morgan has gone on record to say he hated the movie, and said that the executives might as well have been the real creators of the film.
  • Having Agnes as a second killer was also forced by executives, as well as the cast being full of "kids from The O.C.."
• Genre-Killer: The film's extremely negative reviews and lackluster box office killed off the Christmas Horror genre for nearly a decade. It took Krampus to resurrect to notion of the genre as theatrically viable - however, the underperformance of Black Christmas (2019) may have put it right back in jeopardy.
• Hey, It's That Place!: The hospital at the end of the film is the same hospital used on Supernatural also starring Katie Cassidy.
• In Memoriam: The words "Goodbye Shirley" can be seen early on in the credits in honor of composer Shirley Walker. This was the last film she worked on before her passing.
• Irony as She Is Cast: The "ugly duckling" sorority sister Eve was played by Kathleen Kole was a model at the time of her being cast in the movie. This is her only film credit.
• Killed by Request: Melissa originally survived the film. Michelle Trachtenberg, having finished Buffy the Vampire Slayer, was reluctant to do a horror film. She agreed on the condition that she be killed off.
• Looping Lines: Ariana Dubynin did a lot of ADR for the screaming in the scenes when the girls were being killed.
• Meaningful Release Date: The film opened in the US on December 25, 2006. The UK got it ten days earlier, on December 15th.
• Missing Trailer Scene: Due to Executive Meddling, the trailers were loaded with footage shot specifically for promotional purposes because the producers didn't think the film itself was marketable enough. This didn't sit well with the director. All of them can be viewed here.
• No Stunt Double: All the girls did their own stunts.
• Not Screened for Critics:
• Playing Against Type:
  • Mary Elizabeth Winstead was often cast as the wholesome Girl Next Door, and would be the most likely of the cast to play a Final Girl at the time. Heather is The Load of the group, and is made out to be an Asshole Victim. In fact, she was offered the role of Kelli first but chose to play Heather to avoid being typecast.
  • Katie Cassidy had played the Alpha Bitch in the remake of When a Stranger Calls previously. Here, she's the closest thing the movie has to a Final Girl.
• Production Posse: Glen Morgan directed Mary Elizabeth Winstead and Crystal Lowe in Final Destination 3. Jody Racicot was also in that film.
• Promoted Fangirl: Glen Morgan approached Mary Elizabeth Winstead about the movie at 4 AM in the airport after finishing Final Destination 3 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.
• Reality Subtext: Melissa giving us Billy's backstory ends up paralleling Michelle Trachtenberg getting interested in serial killers while making the film. She'd apparently read about them during breaks.
• Recut: At least three different cuts are known to exist: the R-rated theatrical cut released in the US, running 90 minutes, an unrated cut released on DVD, running 92 minutes, and a UK theatrical cut, running 86 minutes. The unrated cut is similar to the R-rated cut, but a few small bits were put back, most notably Lauren's death. In the UK cut, both Melissa's death and the ending are completely different, and some brief dialogue scenes were cut or added.
• Spared by the Cut:
  • Melissa survives in the original script, but in the actual movie is Killed by Request.
  • Leigh is still alive in the script and the first filmed ending but gets her neck snapped in a scene added for the final cut.
• Throw It In!: Dana's tears during her death scene were just Lacey Chabert's eyes watering from all the dirt in the crawl space.
• What Could Have Been:
  • Originally, the big twist was that Billy had died at the asylum and it was Agnes doing all the murders. Agnes was only his half-sister, not his sister/daughter; Leigh was supposed to live at the end, and the movie was supposed to end in a similar manner to the original with Leigh and Kelli getting a phone call from Kyle's cell. This specific ending was actually filmed, but eventually discarded in favor of the current one.
  • Glen Morgan wanted Andrea Martin or Margot Kidder, who played Barb in the original, to play the house mother. The house mother in the remake's first name is Barbara, an obvious homage to Kidder's character, despite Martin playing the role.
  • Amanda Seyfried auditioned for the lead role of Kelli, but lost to Katie Cassidy. The filmmakers stated that they turned her down because they didn't want two Mean Girls, Seyfried and Lacey Chabert, to star in the film.
  • Amber Tamblyn turned down the role of Heather due to scheduling conflict with The Grudge 2.
  • Melissa was written as Asian, but changed to white when Michelle Trachtenberg was cast. Lauren was then cast with a biracial actress Crystal Lowe (who is half Chinese).
• Word of God: Producer James Wong Hand Waved Mrs Mac's seemingly implausible death by icicle. She was apparently a hockey player in her youth, was struck in the head and didn't get it checked out - allowing her head to soften and become vulnerable.

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