It is not uncommon for theaters to host dark comedies or tear-jerkers during the most fun time of the year, namely Christmastime. Psycho-type films have also been released in December. But when it comes to blood and gore flicks, they never open on Christmas Day. Unless, of course, the men behind the movie are Harvey and Bob Weinstein.
It’s not so much the plot of “Black Christmas” that bothered us—a wacko who terrorizes college girls at Christmas—it’s the fact that the Weinstein boys were back again, choosing a title and an opening date to make their latest statement.
Even in Hollywood, a town where bashing Christians is sport—and Catholics are the target of choice—the Weinsteins stand out. In 1995, they treated us to “Priest,” a film where the audience was introduced to totally dysfunctional priests, all of whom are made screwy because of the Catholic Church. “Dogma” hit the big screen in 1999, and this time viewers were treated to a descendant of Mary and Joseph who works in an abortion clinic, a foul-mouthed 13th apostle and a comment comparing Mass to lousy sex. In “40 Days and 40 Nights,” which opened during Lent of 2002, a Catholic is ridiculed for giving up sex for Lent. And in the 2002 film “The Magdalene Sisters,” the only nuns the audience meets are sadistic.
It makes sense, then, that the Weinstein tag-team would return in 2006 with their latest contribution. The fact that they chose Christmas Day to open is not by accident: They scheduled “Priest” to open on Good Friday, until, that is, the Catholic League pressured them to change the date (it opened three weeks earlier). Unlike “Black Christmas,” that film engendered a strong response from the league—the script was anti-Catholic.
Make no mistake about it, the Weinstein boys wanted “Black Christmas” to be their Christmas present to Christians.
