For the most part, I'm not a big fan of remakes, however in this case I love both versions. We'll start with the original, made in 1974, also sometimes known as 'Silent Night Evil Night'.
Made 4 years before John Carpenter's Halloween, some will stay this is the movie that started the generation of slasher films in the 70s and 80s. We have a great cast in this one consisting of Margot Kidder, Olivia Hussey, Andrea Martin, and John Saxon. Both movies have the same basic premise. Sorrority girls begin receiving obscene and disturbing phone calls from a psycho.
As the calls continue, the atmosphere begins to get more and more creepy. With the phone calls getting worse, and realizing their one sister, Claire, is missing, they call the cops. The cops, also alarmed about the body of a dead girl found in a nearby park, decide the two may be connected, so they wire tap the girl's phone. Here we have a great performance (as always) by John Saxon as Lt Fuller.
Slowly as the night goes on the girls are killed one by one. Including a great death scene using a crystal unicorn.
Overall this is a very good slasher flick. Keep in mind when watching this that it was made in the 70s, if you are familiar with horror from that time period, you know that they are usually slower paced and have a different atmosphere. Funny enough, this movie was directed by Bob Clark, director of 'A Christmas Story'. Quite a juxtaposition of Christmas movies I must say.
And then.... we have the remake, which I feel was very well done and a great re-visioning of a classic slasher.
This movie also has a great cast, including Andrea Martin of the original playing the house mother, and Lacey Chabert, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Katie Cassidy, and Michelle Trachtenberg. While this movie starts very similar with the girls getting obscene phone calls, it strays in a bit of a different direction from there.
For starters, in this one, we see more of a relationship with the girls and their house mother. This movie also goes into more depth with the killer. Instead of leaving the identity of the killer mostly unknown, we hear a history of the sorority house.
We learn of a messed up family that lived there before. A couple who had a son named Billy. While Billy's dad loved him, his mom was an evil bitch. One Christmas, Billy's mother and her secret lover killed his father. After which, they locked Billy in the attic so that he wouldn't be a bother. One night years later, when Billy's mom's new boyfriend passed out, she proceeded to go up into the attic and have sex with Billy, causing her to get pregnant. She then gives birth to his Daughter/Sister, Agnes. A few years later, Billy escapes the attic, kills his mom and her bf and tries to kill Agnes. Billy ends up locked up in a mental hospital and Agnes' whereabouts are unknown.
So... back to the girls. Tension builds over the course of the night when they discover their one sister Claire is missing, especially once Claire's sister, Leigh, arrives looking for her. The power goes out, more phone calls, and strange noises in the attic lead things to get tense and the girls to seek help.
Due to a bad snow storm, the police do not seem to be showing up, so one by one, the girls start getting killed off. Is it Billy, Agnes, or someone else? Watch to find out.
While I really like both movies, I personally prefer the remake. I love the back story, going into Billy's life and why he was so crazy. I also really liked the performance of Andrea Martin as the house mother. This one was definitely faster paced and had a lot more gore. Most people however prefer the original. Either way, both are definitely worth a watch. Check them out.
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