It's Me, Billy (2021)

I was grappling with when to watch this follow-up to the 1974 Bob Clark classic, a solid 42 minute short film 47 years after the events of that horrible Christmas Eve when Sam’s grandmother, Jess, thought she had killed the one responsible for murdering her friends inside a sorority. In this short “fan” film (this looks and sounds too damn good for what many might consider typically carrying that distinction), Sam returns to her grandmother’s house (after owners of the sorority house where Jess killed her boyfriend, Peter, in the basement reject her request to look inside) with two best friends, Justine and Emma, on Christmas Eve to spend the night. Billy, the actual killer of Jess’ friends, has made his home in the attic, as unstable as ever, talking with a doll he twists and grasps in his hands. So in the dark of night, Billy will strike once again, this time venting his rage on Sam’s friends, with the twist of Agnes showing up adding some extra woah to the final minutes of the film.

So as a production, this embarrasses a ton of horror films that get Tubi exposure. I have noticed that some just felt this was dull and not particularly acted well while others felt the opposite…I’m the latter. I thought the film, even if heavy and loud, had a solid suspense score and was lit phenomenally. It just looks fantastic. Just a personal opinion in that I felt maybe Billy was too visible in the attic when shown the first time and once he enters the room when Justine is sleeping. I do like the callback to just one eye shown when on top of Justine, and the stringy gray hair on Billy gave him this added psychotic look. Also, how he walks about and sits up in the attic (Charles Peter fully evokes that crazy just ready to be unleashed), not to mention, Dave McRae’s phone vocal madness; I give McRae and Bruce Dale a ton of credit for establishing the danger in the house in all sorts of ways. 

What I especially liked was how Bruce and Dave pointed out that Sam had unplugged the phone and wrapped the cord around it, only later, once Justine and Emma were missing, having it plugged up and ringing. And the Christmas Tree grandmother/granddaughter ornament laid on the table with Sam finding it also reiterating visually that uh oh...”there’s someone in the house” as Sam is now absent her friends’ strength, on her own. See, this is why I disagree with others’ opinions on the acting and characters at the beginning of the short film. I think the friendship of these three is emphasized quite well…they clearly depend on each other for emotional support and all three actresses – Victoria Mero, Shelby Handley, and Malaika Hennie-Hamadi – have the first twenty or so minutes to try and get that across. I thought they did that. But the directors/writers and actresses just didn’t have a whole lot of time to develop the characters any further, so considering the limits against them, I felt they did as good a job as could be expected. I hope the second part to this gets the funding McRae and Bruce need in Spring 2023, as the ending left me feeling bummed. I wished these talents were given the budget and carte blanche to have an official sequel, but alas…