MovieChat Forums > Black Christmas (2006) Discussion > 1974 billy vs 2006 billy

1974 billy vs 2006 billy

posted 12 years ago by cal209
11 replies | jump to latest

I love the remake but I hate the Billy flashback crap. I know it was put in as background info on Billy but I hated it. In the original 1974 BXmas, I loved the mysterious killer Billy was. You didn't know who he was or why he killed. They even hid his face from being seen from the audience. That's what made it scary to me. I just think that the Billy flashbacks in the remake were unnecessary. That's just me.

and plus...if the flashbacks were taken out, we would have had more screen time of the girls in the house to get to know them better and actually care for them.

[–] sepsism 12 years ago

Yeah it's hard to top the original "Billy", his super creepy and disturbing "obscene" phone-calls really make the original flick so legendary for me, as well as keeping the character unknown/unidentified and ambiguous of course (only first-person POV shots for the most part). So much more threatening and spooky.

On the new Billy, giving him some unneeded random-ass back story is just typical remake fodder really, but on a positive note he looks pretty creepy.

Me and the girl will be watching both this and the original at the end of Christmas day when we're hammered as hell on Champagne, eggnog and Scotch.

Merry Christmas cal209

UNCOMPROMISING UNDERGROUND FILTH

[–] Rayvio 12 years ago

I much prefer the original, but I don't think it would've worked in todays market. while there's still many movie watchers who love a movie that leaves questions for them to think about, there's a huge audience who just want everything clear and explained by the end with no lose ends (unless they're sequel hooks)
definitely needed more time on building characters though. the girls in the original were all memorable but in the remake I kept forgetting who was who

~~~
"I don't care, I'm still free. You can't take the sky from me..."

[–] sepsism 12 years ago

Yes definitely a clear majority want it all laid out for them. Shame really as it's much more stimulating making up your own mind isn't it? The Thing is a great example of ambiguous brilliance, still inspiring much analysis and discussion 32 years later.

Yeah as far as character development goes the girls in the remake are typical hack'n'slash fodder (which I'm fine with for the slasher genre in general). Where the remake really shines though is in it's murder set pieces. I was pleasantly surprised with the level of violence, which I must have missed the first time around. The girlfriend was squirming all over the place and kept asking me "why the f#ck are we watching this on Christmas?" so it did it's job

The original is creepy and spooky, the remake is pretty-looking and violent. Go together nicely on Christmas night

UNCOMPROMISING UNDERGROUND FILTH

[–] ScorpionTDC 11 years ago

Original Billy
Remake Billy is an embarrassment. I always fast-forward the flashbacks on rewatches

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[–] ricky_may1 11 years ago

The Original Billy was scary because he was a psycho with no motive and we knew nothing about him. the remake Billy was a walking cliche IMO

[–] 11 years ago

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[–] kurt7825 11 years ago

2006 billy. i loved his story. creepy but i feel sad for him

[–] fategirl80 10 years ago

2006 Billy

[–] wallacesawyer 11 years ago

We never see the original Billy, but clearly the guy has major bouts of rage. I have no doubt he would tear remake Billy apart.

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[–] 11 years ago

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[–] 10 years ago

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