Cover Revealed for Definitive BLACK CHRISTMAS Retrospective, IT’S ME BILLY!
Authors Paul Downey and Dave Hastings are busy working on a brand-new definitive book chronicling the making of Bob Clark’s seminal 1974 Christmas slasher film, in the forthcoming It’s Me Billy: Black Christmas Revisited, which will be published through Bear Manor Media in 2022.
Gearing up to celebrate its 50th anniversary and being acclaimed by critics around the world as well as fans, Black Christmas has never been granted the more mainstream attention given to films it helped inspire (like John Carpenter’s Halloween and other more well-known and documented horror franchises).
Synopsis:
As winter break begins, a group of sorority sisters, including Jess (Olivia Hussey) and the often inebriated Barb (Margot Kidder), begin to receive anonymous, lascivious phone calls. Initially, Barb eggs the caller on, but stops when he responds threateningly. Soon, Barb’s friend Claire (Lynne Griffin) goes missing from the sorority house, and a local adolescent girl is murdered, leading the girls to suspect a serial killer is on the loose. But no one realizes just how near the culprit is.
With the dawn of the internet and home media accessibility, the film has started to gain a new life with horror fans as well as being championed by devotees already familiar with the film during the early years.
But there has yet to be a definitive account of not only how Black Christmas came to be, but how it was made and how it was received, not to mention who was involved in its original conception or the film’s continual longevity on a much broader scale.
It’s Me Billy: Black Christmas Revisited will produce the most comprehensive retrospective yet, something for fans old and new to discover with macabre glee. With brand new interviews as well as archival ones from both cast and crew (and not just from the 1974 original, but also the 2006 and recent 2019 remakes) this will be the ultimate resource for fans of Bob Clark’s influential horror film and its extraordinary legacy.
It’s Me Billy: Black Christmas Revisited
* Foreword by Dan Duffin (owner of It’sMeBilly.com)
* Interviews with cast and crew including Nick Mancuso, Lynn Griffin, Stan Cole (editor), Burt Dunk (camera operator), and many more still to be announced.
* Interviews with cast and crew from the remakes.
* The first comprehensive reading of the original film in an academic theory context.
* Interviews with leading filmmakers and fans from around the world about the impact and legacy of the movie on them and their careers.
* A look at the various spin-offs and merchandise from the film.
* Archival interviews all brought together for the first time in one book.
* And much much more to be revealed!
Statement from the authors, Paul Downey and Dave Hastings:
“It’s always been there, independent and proud in the background, with its own life. Always talked about in smaller circles. But in an ever-evolving world of DVD, Blu Ray, social media and the Internet as a whole, where people can find out and uncover more details about their favourite films and even interact with some of their favourite stars, Black Christmas has never broken through this mould as much as the more well-known and documented films of the genre. And with its 50th anniversary slowly creeping up on us like Billy climbing silently up the side of a house on a cold Christmas break, we thought it was time to finally bring all these unheard stories to the foreground, for both existing fans and new fans who are starting to discover such an iconic and overlooked classic. We cannot wait for everyone to read it!”
It’s Me Billy: Black Christmas Revisited will be published under Bear Manor Media in 2022. For more details and to keep up to date on all the news, you can follow the book’s progress on its official Facebook page at www.facebook.com/BlackChristmasbook.
You can also check out the newly commissioned artwork created exclusively by Peter Harper below.
Are you a fan of Bob Clark’s Black Christmas? Are you excited to check out It’s Me Billy: Black Christmas Revisited in 2022? Let us know in the comments below or on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram! You can also carry on the convo with me personally on Twitter @josh_millican.
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