Is there going to be a remake ...

• Oct 27, 2005 04:00 AM ET
• by Maitland McDonagh

Season's screamings: Keir Dullea

Question: Is there going to be a remake of or a sequel to Black Christmas? I loved the original but don't think enough people remember it for a sequel to be a success. And would Bob Clark be involved in some way?

Answer: A remake of the eclectic Canadian writer-director Bob Clark's 1974 stalk-and-slash picture Black Christmas, which starred Olivia Hussey, Keir Dullea and Margot Kidder, is in development at Copper Heart and 2929 Entertainment. Clark is one of several executive producers, and X-Files alumni Glen Morgan and James Wong — who redid Willard (1973) in 2003 with Crispin Glover but couldn't get their announced remake of Don't Be Afraid of the Dark (1973) off the ground — are writing and directing. In Clark's version the killer terrorizing sorority girls who remain on campus over the Christmas holidays escapes and we never know who he is; Morgan's screenplay, which Clark has praised in interviews, apparently reveals his identity and also delves into his past. So far there's no word on who's going to be in the new Black Christmas — it's hard to imagine getting a cast as strong as the original's; my money is on a bunch of WB stars (of both genders) — and there is no start date yet. The fall 2005 time frame I've read about seems pretty unlikely as of this writing. And just FYI, Clark says he's remaking his own darkly comic zombie movie Children Shouldn't Play with Dead Things (1972), but that he refuses to remake his Sherlock Holmes/Jack the Ripper film Murder by Decree (1979). I'm a huge fan of Murder by Decree. It stars Christopher Plummer as Holmes, James Mason's Watson is much closer to Arthur Conan Doyle's original conception of the character than most others.