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Michelle Trachtenberg - "Nurses" Tv Series - 2009 TCA - Latimes.com Report

Webmaster — 2009-08-06T14:54:32Z

Yes, Edie Falco plays a nurse on Showtime's “Nurse Jackie." And yes, Jada Pinkett Smith also plays one on TNT's “Hawthorne.”

But the producers of NBC's upcoming nurses drama “Mercy” insist there's room for more. And what's more, there won't be any overlap. Not too much.

Executive producer Liz Heldens described “Mercy” as a show about “a female friendship that is really grounded in reality.” The women are “rowdy, raucous and funny — and funny together,” she said. “I think the focus of our show is different from the others.”

“Mercy” will be “character-driven and less science-driven,” Heldens added. It's unclear whether or not the panelists have actually seen “Hawthorne” or “Nurse Jackie,” neither of which is reliant on hospital cases as the primary source of drama.

Lloyd Braun, who is an executive producer on the show, pointed out that "Grey's Anatomy," a series he green-lighted while he was a programming executive at ABC, was the umpteenth medical drama to go on the air. There was a debate internally at the network, he said, but ultimately executives became convinced that the characters in "Grey's" were "compelling."

All that matters, Braun said, is whether audiences will connect "to these characters and these stories at this time."

And even if there is some overlap, one of the series stars Michelle Trachtenberg said, it's not a problem. “Yes, there is a lot of nurse stuff going on. Why not ? These women are great. They are the backbone and heart of the medical field,” she said. “I think audiences are interested in them as real-life people.” Trachtenberg plays Chloe, one of the newer nurses in the hospital.

Taylor Schilling, who also stars, said, “If there was anyone that deserved to have a flush of attention on them, it's nurses.”

Trachtenberg said she recently suffered a bee sting and told the audience that, in fact, a male nurse — with a unicorn tattoo — was the very first person to hold her hand. “He did the IV and made sure I was OK. So it's that kind of human connection, that's the best part of ‘Mercy.'”

“They really do pick up the pieces,” Helden said. “Most people remember their nurses, and it seemed like a really rich way into a hospital.”

Michelle Trachtenberg - About her career - Hmonthly.com Review

Webmaster — 2009-04-22T12:58:42Z

There are few sure things in the entertainment business, but here is one truth you can bank on : Audiences love the young, precocious screen star. In recent years, Hollywood has enthusiastically fed the public's addiction, churning out cuddly, pint-sized stars with the prolific pace of a puppy mill.

But the glare of the spotlight and the pressure of growing up too fast can do strange things to a kid's equilibrium. Just ask McCauley Culkin and Haley Joel Osment. Or Tatum O'Neal and Drew Barrymore. Or any former child star named Corey. In that sense, most child actors are like kittens and puppies. You wish you could give them a shot (and I don't mean Botox or Restylane) that would keep them young and adorable and thus prevent them from growing into full-sized, colossal fuck-ups that dig up flower beds, destroy furniture and crash their Mercedes while snorting coke off the steering wheel.

Michelle Trachtenberg is a notable exception to this overplayed scenario. The early bloomer's career has maintained an upward trajectory with nary a hiccup of indiscretion. A shill for Wisk laundry detergent as a tot, Trachtenberg landed a role on the daytime soap All My Children at the tender age of 6. She notched her first leading film role at 10 as the title character in Harriet the Spy, based on the popular book series. Her high school years were spent as Sarah Michelle Gellar's kid sister on the WB series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Today, the 23-year-old has blossomed into a full-fledged sex symbol. But if you pop your eyes back into their sockets, you will find a dedicated actress who has nurtured her craft and aspires to continue growing professionally. It's no accident that she's a survivor.

“It hasn't been one-hundred percent smooth,” she says, “but it hasn't been rocky, either. It's been a challenge, because I've always had to prove myself.” Granted, Trachtenberg is not the first to negotiate the transition to cinematic adulthood with aplomb : Jodie Foster is a fine example of such crossover success. Even the impish Drew Barrymore put her well-documented missteps behind her to become a true box-office force. But under the intense scrutiny of scandal-hungry tabloids and online rumor mongers, the fact that Trachtenberg has stayed above the fray is particularly commendable.

In New York while shooting the new season of CW's Gossip Girl, Trachtenberg recently took some time to talk about her new film with Zac Efron, 17 Again, which opens April 17. Between shooting the pilot for Mercy, a hospital drama for NBC, and returning to Gossip Girl along with fulfilling press obligations for 17 Again, Trachtenberg's time is in demand. Realizing this, I decide to limit my line of questioning to legitimate topics, resisting the urge to find out who she thinks is hotter : Efron or Chace Crawford. When you're a young starlet, those are the pressing issues you regularly get quizzed on, Trachtenberg informs me, just a hint of annoyance in her voice.

In 17 Again, Mike O'Donnell (Matthew Perry), visits his old high school and reminisces in front of an old trophy case as he laments past decisions that he believes turned his once promising life into its current sucky condition. His marriage has fallen apart, he's lost his job, and his teenage kids think he's a loser. Luckily, the school janitor happens by and – thanks to some mischievously inexplicable janitor voodoo – 37-year-old Mike is soon transformed into 17-year-old Mike (Efron). Along with the chance to alter the course of fate, Mike's return to his youthful appearance gives him a peer's eye view into the lives of his kids, who are now his fellow classmates, not to mention the flirtatious attention of his wife (Leslie Mann), who can't get over how much he resembles her ex. Trachtenberg, as Maggie O'Donnell, gets the surreal experience of having both Perry and Efron as her onscreen dads. The actress, who has joked that she might wear a “Zac Efron is my daddy” T-shirt to the movie's premiere, likes the fact that her character is opinionated, confident, and smart – a role model for the cool, modern teenage girl.

“One of my favorite literary terms is ‘the willing suspension of disbelief',” she says, referring to what attracted her to the fantasy premise of the film. “The mystical imagination of the writer—that's very appealing to me.” Now for the obvious question : Would she make the trip back to year 17 of her own life if she had the chance ? “There's no way I'm going back to high school,” she immediately responds. “Kids are cruel.” Taking a moment to consider the question, she adds, “Maybe for a week, knowing what I know now.” For instance ? “Knowing that I wouldn't be flat-chested all my life or that all the boys that made fun of me would be dying to ask me out now, so maybe that might be fun.”

So there's nothing in her past the young actress would like to erase or fix ? “I'm a believer that everything happens for a reason and even the hardships that you face in life are meant to form you as a person and as a character in your own right,” she says. “Maybe there's a few guys that I wish I hadn't dated, but they shall remain nameless.”

Trachtenberg's focus on her craft was never clouded by youthful experimentation with drugs or alcohol. She's proud of the fact that she never became just another cautionary tale about the pitfalls of teen celebrity success. In fact, she was a youth representative when President Clinton launched the Coalition for a Drug-Free America program. “I've never done a drug in my life. That's a hundred-million percent true,” she says. “I enjoy what I do, and I wouldn't ever sacrifice that for anything.” If there's a minor down side to such clean living, it's the scenes in which Trachtenberg has had to snort coke or smoke weed. Suffice it to say her technique was not one-take caliber in either case.

Trachtenberg's strong work ethic was apparent early on. “Maybe I was a weird kid, but I knew I had a lot of hard work ahead of me if this was what I wanted to do for the rest of my life.” She learned a lot by observing how others conducted themselves on the set. “I have zero tolerance for unprofessionalism,” she says. “It's my job to get to work on time, learn all my lines, and bring my A-game. It was really fascinating throughout my career at different ages to find people who don't do that. To me, that's completely unfathomable.” She elaborates on the point. “If you have a reputation of not coming out of your trailer for hours because you don't like your shoes or you come on the set and you're so exhausted from partying the night before, people remember these things. Producers talk.”

Trachtenberg credits her mom with instilling balance in her promising career very early on. During Harriet the Spy, she was on the set every day and accompanied Michelle for the film's European press junket, making sure some time was allotted for museum trips and other cultural enrichment. Born in Russia, she worked as a puppeteer before leaving for New York, where Michelle and her sister were born. “She molded me into the person I am today. She's an extraordinary woman – she's been a nurse and a financial analyst and she's still very involved in my business stuff.”

When she turned 18, Trachtenberg made a conscious decision to tackle edgier roles. She lit up the screen in the college-age road comedy Eurotrip. She also made her first trip to Sundance, thanks to her role in the indie film Mysterious Skin, in which two young men cope with repressed memories of being sexually abused by their baseball coach. “I'm very proud of that film,” she says. “I was this girl who had done glitzy, PG-themed stuff and here's Gregg Araki, director of Doom Generation, and we sat down and had a cup of coffee and I said, ‘You're probably not gonna hire me but this is what I got, this is what I feel. If you're willing to take the chance, I'm willing to go there with you.' It was the most exhilarating experience I've had as an actress.”

In 2005, Trachtenberg returned to family-oriented fare, starring in Ice Princess, even though she had no ice skating experience prior to getting the part. She trained for almost nine months, and although stunt doubles did the jumps and more intricate moves, all the footwork was hers. “That was probably one of the most physically challenging experiences of my life,” she recalls. “I give much respect to any athlete for the amount of discipline they need to have to perfect their craft.” Trachtenberg admires actresses who continually explore their range rather than becoming complacent with playing a particular type of role. “Charlize Theron is a great example, as well as Julianne Moore and Nicole Kidman,” she points out. “Look at Halle Berry and how hard she fought for her Monster's Ball role. She had to prove herself and she was already a full-fledged and incredibly successful actress.”

Earlier this year, Trachtenberg returned to Sundance for Against the Current, which also starred Joseph Fiennes, Justin Kirk, and Mary Tyler Moore. “When you do a studio movie it's one for ‘them',” she explains. “When you do a really awesome indie movie, it's one for you.” Doing press at Sundance is refreshing, she says, because she doesn't get grilled with “silly, gossipy questions” about her personal life. On that subject, Trachtenberg has to deal with more than her fair share of trash journalism and the predatory paparazzi. “I'm not gonna lie, it gets a little depressing,” she admits. “When I'm pulling up to a party and there's thirty dudes surrounding my car and shoving lenses in my windshield—when they're purposely trying to shoot under your skirt to get a panty shot—it's insane. How do these people live with themselves ?” Thus, she has learned to keep certain details of her life private. “I don't have public relationships,” she says. “I did that once years ago when I didn't know any better. So much of my life is ‘Google-able' it's nice to have one thing that's not.”

Returning to her deviously delicious role as Georgina Sparks in Gossip Girl has been a kick for Trachtenberg. At the end of Season 1, Georgina was hauled off to a boot camp for troubled girls only to resurface in Season 2, which begins airing this fall. “I gotta say, I love being a bitch. I have great words written for me and it's super fun to be that manipulative and evil on set and then go home and everything's A-OK.” Trachtenberg has another movie, Young Americans with Topher Grace and Anna Faris, scheduled for release this fall. Then, there's Mercy, the NBC pilot in which she plays one of a central trio of nurses.

In Hollywood, it's become de rigueur to never get an adult to do a child's job. Long gone are the days of Grease, when Stockard Channing, (34) Olivia Newton-John, (29) and John Travolta (a comparatively callow 24), called on audiences' willing suspension of disbelief as they passed themselves off as a high schoolers. Not to mention Jeff Conaway, who looks to be about 105 these days. In contrast, refer to Efron's highly successful franchise, High School Musical. Average age of the main cast : just over 18 years old. Which again points to contemporary Hollywood's insatiable appetite for bankable young stars. In Trachtenberg's case, even as she takes on more young adult roles, the fact remains that she still looks youthful enough to play high school, as evidenced by her role in 17 Again. “I used to think the second I turn 18, I'll be an adult and everyone's gonna treat me as an adult.” That may be true, but just to clarify, youth is skin deep ; maturity comes from within. And Trachtenberg has proven time and again that she has the depth to hang with the grown-ups.

Michelle Trachtenberg answers : Edward Cullen From 'Twilight' Vs. Angel From 'Buffy' : Who Would Win ?

Webmaster — 2009-04-09T15:31:58Z

Click on the link :

http://www.mtv.com/movies/news/articles/1608825/story.jhtml

Michelle Trachtenberg - "Dragonlance : Dragons Of The Autumn Twilight" Cartoon - DVD - Dvdtalk.com Review

Webmaster — 2008-01-13T11:17:13Z

I have only vague recollections of "DragonLance," the series of fantasy novels inspired by the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game ; it came out when I was a young geek-in-the-making, and I think I read one or two before moving on to other endeavors. My apathy was obviously not shared by many, however, as the books became popular enough to have generated some 150 titles published over two decades, presenting readers with what I assume to be a sprawling, complicated fantasy universe.

Now comes the first movie based on the series, a direct-to-video animated adventure with the unfortunate title "DragonLance : Dragons of Autumn Twilight - A Dungeons & Dragons Adventure Tale." Adapted from the first novel in the series (which in turn was based on two games from the role-playing series), "Autumn Twilight" contains everything you may remember about your hazy D&D days : wizards, knights, elves, dwarves, thieves, goblins, swordplay, magic, and inns where buxom lasses serve ale with a smile.

And, of course, plenty of fantasy silliness. Please forgive me if I have a hard time taking such character names as "Sturm Brightblade" and "Flint Fireforge" seriously, although I admit those names go down more easily than the cheap animation that leaves some creatures looking like leftovers from those damn Rankin-Bass Tolkein adaptations. (Worse : some baddies are rendered as CGI 3D creations, while others are hand-drawn 2Ders. The combo is a mess.) The story itself is perpetually goofy, obnoxiously convoluted, and mired in cliché. This must be what all fantasy adventures look like to somebody who loathes the genre.

It's been 300 years since the gods have abandoned the world of Krynn, and its various tribes of men, dwarves, elves, etc., live in dark times. One of the gods - one of the bad gods, that is - has returned and is looking for a blue crystal staff with healing powers. The staff is in the hands of a powerful princess, and a gang of heroes - old friends reunited and ready to return to action together - vows to protect her on her journey.

There's the potential for some deep themes here, what with all the religious chatter bandied about. The princess eventually becomes a "true cleric," signifying the return of the gods, and thoughts on faith-vs.-secularism bubble to the surface. But the film, scripted by George Strayton (he previously penned a few "Xena" episodes) and directed by Will Meugniot (whose last project was the equally underwhelming DTV cartoon "Ultimate Avengers II"), is ultimately too episodic in its clumsy bouncing from scene to scene, and it never settles down enough to let the headier themes soak in. As such, they're just there, acting more as overly complicated fantasy backstory instead of fascinating metaphor.

The action scenes, then, become unimpressive ; once you've seen one swordfight against dragon-men that turn to stone when you kill them, you've seen them all. The cheap animation and mediocre scripting (not to mention a voice cast - including Michael Rosenbaum, Keifer Sutherland, Lucy Lawless, and Michelle Trachtenberg - that sounds like they'd rather be reading anything else) are tiresome. There are a few glimpses of energy and wit sprinkled throughout (Sutherland, as a weakened wizard, sneaks in a couple choice one-liners), but for the most part, this is fantasy by rote, a formulaic adventure that would get laughed off the Sci-Fi Channel if it were filmed in live-action.

To score your damage caused by watching this film, roll 3d6 and add your armor bonus. If the result is greater than 15, give yourself a swirlie for understanding the reference.

The DVD

Video & Audio

Despite the unimpressive animation (seriously, the 2D/3D combination makes for some ugly viewing), the presentation itself is very solid, which should not be surprising in an animated feature produced for DVD. The anamorphic widescreen (1.78:1) transfer deftly handles the rich colors and background textures, bringing all the unsightly character designs to life with a pop.

The soundtrack is available in a rich Dolby 5.1 and a lesser, yet still impressive, 2.0. Optional English subtitles are offered.

Extras

The bonus material is limited to brief slideshow presentations of original test animation (1:25) and character designs (2:40). Even serious animation buffs will have a hard time working up any interest in these snippets.

Previews for "Iron Man" and "Beowulf" are included ; they also play as the disc loads.

Final Thoughts

D&D fans might get a kick out of seeing their favorite characters brought to the screen, but it's hard to ignore so much genre cheese and sloppy filmmaking. Skip It.

Michelle Trachtenberg - "Black Christmas" Movie - DVD - Thefilmasylum.com Review

Webmaster — 2007-03-04T12:48:32Z

Genius Products has announced details for the US Region 1 DVD release of Black Christmas for 3rd April 2007. This remake of the 1974 horror stars Katie Cassidy and Michelle Trachtenberg as members of a sorority house which is terrorised by a killer who makes frightening telephone calls before murdering the sorority sisters during the Christmas break.

The unrated edition will be presented in anamorphic widescreen, along with a English Dolby Digital 5.1 sound track. A 90 minute full screen rated edition will also be available with identical features.

DVD extras include :

* Deleted scenes.
* Three alternate endings.
* Two behind the scenes featurettes.
* Trailers.

Michelle Trachtenberg - "Black Christmas" Movie - Tucsonweekly.com Review

Webmaster — 2007-01-20T11:32:54Z

A bunch of sorority girls lose their eyes and various other body parts in this remake of the cult horror flick that some say was the first of the slasher genre.

It's Christmas Eve, and some sorority sisters are trapped in their house due to the weather.

As their house mother (Andrea Martin, who also appeared in the original) hands out secret-Santa gifts, a psycho killer is escaping from his asylum and making plans to come home (which just happens to be the sorority house) for the holidays.

When he arrives, much gore is afoot at the hand of not one, but two, killers. There are a few legitimate scares to be had, and the performers do admirable jobs, but this is routine stuff.

The likes of Michelle Trachtenberg (a good actress who needs a better agent) and Lacey Chabert (ditto) become slasher fodder ; they die hard, and they die well.

The movie probably couldn't have been much better, no matter what the production team did. It's schlock, and it wants to be schlock.

Michelle Trachtenberg - "Black Christmas" Movie fails at the Box Office

Webmaster — 2007-01-02T12:25:39Z

"Black Christmas" reached the 13th place at this week end box office.

Surely some deep lesson arises from watching "Black Christmas" — some life-changing revelation for having sloshed through the Christmas rain and into the warm dankness of a movie theater to watch this exploitation horror flick. Or did we just lose two hours of our life that we can never get back again ?

Sadly, no silk purse can be made of this sow's ear. The fact is, we sat through a drab, unimaginative remake of the 1974 film of the same name, and there's your verdict. Incidentally, the Canadian original, directed by Bob Clark, is credited as the first scare-flick to use such now-cliched devices as the heavy breather on the phone who threatens his victims with sadistic humor ("I've come to bury the hatchet" — pause — "in your head"). It was the first to employ a ski mask way before Jason Voorhees slapped on his "Friday 13th" death mask, and to turn the season of Christmas into an exploitation fest. It starred Olivia Hussey, she of 1968's "Romeo and Juliet," as the girl being pursued by a killer, and featured Margot Kidder as drunken comic relief. It also triggered the outpouring of teenage slasher flicks for a generation. But the remake neither pays perceptive tribute to the original nor updates it in anything but hackneyed form. Writer-director Glen Morgan, a producer and writer of the "X-Files" TV show and creator of the "Final Destination" horror films, tries and fails at both. Thus, we learn in cheesy 1970s and 1980s flashbacks how psychotic killer William Edward Lenz, or "Billy," came to be his evil self. Confined to the attic by his evil mother (Karin Konoval), the angry child eventually made Christmas angel "cookies" out of — her. These little golden moments from Billy's past are intercut with the contemporary story in which Billy (Robert Mann) escapes from a prison for the criminally insane and stalks a half-dozen or so sorority sisters. Their house sits on the same site where Billy and his family used to live. It's Christmas Eve and this boy can't wait to get home again. Horror-movie audiences, their sensibilities sharpened by such box office hits as "Scream" and "I Know What You Did Last Summer," in which horror and postmodern irony are equal partners, will be roundly disappointed by this movie's conventional tactics. The performers, including Michelle Trachtenberg, Katie Cassidy and Mary Elizabeth Winstead, aren't spirited enough to give their one-dimensional personas any oomph to whet the appetite for a gruesome killing. And Morgan's ideas for killing his victims — about the only thing that passes for creativity in this genre — is to think of new weapons, not new ways. The victims (almost all of them, naturally, are women) die by ice skate, garden trowel and seasonal weaponry (Christmas ornaments, icicles, candy canes sucked down to a dagger point). But they all die in the same manner : Billy sneaks up on them, covers them in a trash bag and — wham ! — applies weapon of choice. Talk about hack work. Morgan does not seem to have noticed that filmmakers like Wes Craven and Kevin Williamson have exhausted all possible ways to use a cell phone for murder, suspense and humor. His one use of the ubiquitous communicator — the killer likes to make calls from his dead victims' phones — is almost insulting to watch. And he sets himself and his movie up for the ultimate irony : an entire audience so bored with "Black Christmas," they're checking their own phones.

Michelle Trachtenberg - "Black Christmas" Movie - Seattlepi.nwsource.com Review

Webmaster — 2006-12-31T14:03:35Z

"Black Christmas" - Gag me with a cookie cutter

During its long, slow slide into jingle-bell hell, Glen Morgan's routine remake of Bob Clark's 1974 cult favorite "Black Christmas" turns every possible holiday icon into a weapon : snow globes, ornaments, icicles and, most appropriately, cookie cutters.

Where the first film was a seminal forerunner of early stalker classics like "Halloween," this version feels as stale as old gingerbread.

It didn't have to be this way. Morgan and producer James Wong created some of the best "X-Files" episodes, and their "Final Destination" films offered a few witty jolts. Even "Black Christmas" begins promisingly, with characteristic Morgan/Wong cheekiness.

On a silent, snowy night, serial killer Billy Lenz (Robert Mann) is determined to escape the local insane asylum and head home for Christmas. Thanks to a carefully sharpened candy cane, he's on his way out the door before the night guard can rethink his decision to enter a crazed lunatic's cell with nothing more than a flashlight for protection.

Movie review

Showtimes and trailer 1.5 stars

Black Christmas," with Lacey Chabert, Michelle Trachtenberg, Robert Mann. Written and directed by Glen Morgan, based on the 1974 screenplay by Roy Moore. 84 minutes. Rated R for nudity, sexuality, language, violence, gore. Several theaters.

As it happens, Billy's former home is now a sorority house, in which a clutch of students (including Michelle Trachtenberg and Lacey Chabert) are celebrating the holiday with their den mother (Andrea Martin, one of the sisters in the original film).

And here's where things go wrong. Billy breaks in, the girls are summarily murdered, and we start checking our watches and wondering why we didn't stay home and rent the original.

Not only does Morgan - who also wrote the screenplay - drop both the visceral madness and the sexual charge of the first version, he can't even hold on to his own, well-honed sense of caustic thrill. The characters are instantly forgettable, the scares grow increasingly generic and the setting is never exploited (though the actors are, so any viewers looking forward to the requisite shower scene will get their money's worth).

Despite its considerable potential, this "Christmas" feels drained of life long before the killer gets his slash on. Even a decent gift is useless if you forget to include batteries.

Michelle Trachtenberg - "Black Christmas" Movie - Indyweek.com Review

Webmaster — 2006-12-31T11:15:44Z

'Black Christmas' runs red with blood

BLACK CHRISTMAS - ** - Michelle Trachtenberg, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Lacey Chabert ; rated R (violence, gore, sex, nudity, profanity) ; Carmike 12 and Ritz 15 ; Century Sandy and South Salt Lake ; Cinemark Jordan Landing.

Kristen Cloke, left, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Michelle Trachtenberg and Katie Cassidy in "Black Christmas."

For fans of old-school horror, "Black Christmas" is a gore-filled present wrapped with a blood red bow.

Based on a 1974 slasher movie by Bob Clark ("Porky's," "A Christmas Story"), the movie strands hot girls in a sorority house during a pre-holiday snowstorm. One by one the girls are picked off in inventive ways while the others make the stupidest possible decisions to ensure that they will be next.

Here the movie elaborates on the story of the killer, Billy (Robert Mann), unloved since birth and locked in the attic by his crazy mother (Karin Konoval). Given a telescope for Christmas, the kid spies on happy families in the neighborhood. Mom visits the boy only when Billy's stepfather nods off during sex.

The writer/director here is Glen Morgan, an "X-Files" vet who delivered a clever "Willard" remake in 2003. "Black Christmas" is only half as good at balancing gore with shivery laughs, though there is that occasional hint at intelligent design.

Since Billy enjoys gouging out the eyes of his victims, an eye motif runs throughout the film, from the winged version on a computer screen saver to the image of Peter Lorre's protruding peepers (from "Mad Love") on a concert poster in one girl's room.

Many of the creepiest scenes happen as Billy digs tiny holes through the floor, ceiling and wall and only a single, jaundiced eye is visible.

As with the best horror films, the scariest things here are those you don't see. The movie's threatening phone calls are updated for cell phone use, especially when a missing girl's phone clearly rings from the attic.

Reported studio meddling has rendered the movie almost incoherent. The girls are so poised as lambs to the slaughter that the story can almost be seen as a deconstruction of slasher archetypes. Or maybe it's just bad writing.

In the acting department, it would be hard to compete with the 1974 original, which featured Olivia Hussey, Margot Kidder and Keir Dullea. The girls here are played by vacuous young Barbies (Katie Cassidy, Michele Trachtenberg), many with experience from far lousier Dimension-produced horror fodder.

Though not prescreened for critics, "Black Christmas" opened a week ago in England and Europe, which means the Internet is full of reviews, mostly making negative comparisons to the Clark version. For me, this was one of the best horror movies of the year, which sounds glowing until you consider the competition.

"Black Christmas" is rated R for strong horror violence and gore, sexuality, nudity and language. Running time : 84 minutes.

Michelle Trachtenberg - "Black Christmas" Movie - Boston.com Review

Webmaster — 2006-12-27T17:26:39Z

Christmas, coeds, and a killer on loose. Nothing new here.

'Black Christmas,' a remake of the 1974 sorority-house slasher film, stars Kristen Cloke, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Michelle Trachtenberg, and Katie Cassidy.

Because it wouldn't be the holiday season without counterprogramming, here's "Black Christmas," a Yuletide slasher movie in the blood-drenched tradition of "You Better Watch Out" (1980), "Silent Night, Deadly Night" (1984), and the heartwarming serial-killer-snowman opus "Jack Frost" (1996).

You're right, there are no new ideas, even if the TV ads for today's movies are better at scaring the kids.

Actually, this sorority-house slasher flick is a remake of the granddaddy of the genre, 1974's "Black Christmas," which was directed by Bob Clark before he went on to fashion a proper holiday classic in "A Christmas Story." The original starred a young Margot Kidder, Olivia Hussey, and Andrea Martin before the latter went on to comedy fame as a founding member of SCTV, and was notable for a killer who was never identified.

All right, history lesson's over. How's the new one ? About what you'd expect from a director, Glen Morgan, who wrote the "Final Destination" movies : silly, obvious, clumsy, and just gruesome enough to keep jaded genre fans from angrily throwing popcorn at the screen.

These movies tend to be way-stations for young actresses on the way up or down, so we have Katie Cassidy (daughter of David Cassidy, "Partridge Family" fans) as Kelli , the most squeaky-clean member of Delta Alpha Kappa ; Michelle Trachtenberg ("Ice Princess") as sensible Melissa ; Lacey Chabert ("Mean Girls") as rich princess Dana.

They and a handful of other horror-movie types (slutgirl, nerdgirl, lunchmeat) are stuck in the sorority house on Christmas Eve during a storm. Their housemother is played by — surprise — Andrea Martin, returning to the scene of the crime with a perfectly straight face.

Tough luck for them : I t used to be the home of deranged killer Billy Lenz (Robert Mann), and he has just busted out of the Clark Institution for the Criminally Insane. Also : Someone's creeping along the crawlspaces of the house and yanking unsuspecting coeds to their doom. Could it be Agnes (Dean Friss), who's both Billy's sister and daughter ?

Yikes — have a little incest with your Christmas ham ? Because the horror-movie rules have turned rigid over the years, "Black Christmas" can't stick to the eerie low-budget simplicity of the original. Morgan has to come up with a back story about the killer's abusive childhood, but he has enough trouble keeping one story line straight, let alone two, and the busy editing further confuses matters.

The movie's one idea of wit is to score scenes of carnage to classic tunes from Tchaikovsky's "The Nutcracker" — " Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy," " Waltz of the Flowers," " Arabian Dance" (which has always sounded a little creepy, if you ask me).

The rest is formula, from the strictly unnecessary shower scene to the door left open for a sequel in the final scenes. Is it too much to hope for "Hanukkah at Horror House" or "The Kwanzaa Killer" ?