Capital Celluloid 2013 - Day 355: Fri Dec 20

No1 Bad Santa (Zwigoff, 2003): Prince Charles Cinema, 4.10pm



Chicago Reader review:
After the remarkable one-two punch of Crumb and Ghost World, Terry Zwigoff eases into the mainstream with this R-rated holiday comedy (2003) about an alcoholic thief (Billy Bob Thornton) working as a department store Santa. He and his partner, a caustic dwarf (Tony Cox), show up in a different city every year and rip off the store safe on Christmas Eve, but their scam is complicated this time when a miserable fat kid (Bret Kelly) attaches himself to the bitter, foulmouthed Thornton. Joel and Ethan Coen wrote the story, using the ancient gag of the toxic Santa as a vehicle for their patented brand of misanthropy. With Bernie Mac, Lauren Graham, and John Ritter in his last film.
JR Jones

Here (and above) is the trailer.

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No2 Black Christmas (Clark, 1974): Ritzy Cinema, 11.15pm


This movie also screens on Saturday 21st December. Details here.

Ritzy introduction:
The few remaining residents of a Canadian sorority house are celebrating the onset of Christmas vacation when a thirteen year-old girl is found dead in the park. Soon, it is discovered that one of the sorority sisters is missing, which triggers a terrifying chain of murders within the house...
Director Bob Clark's tense, effective film is a precursor to the 'slasher' films Friday 13th and Halloween that would come a half decade later.

Here (and above) is the trailer.

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