• PDI Press

    PDI Press

    BETTY WHITE VS THE STUPID WORLD: The Movie

    PDI Press
    January 17, 2022 1

    Betty White Vs the Stupid World (Chapter Seven)

    PDI Press
    January 16, 2022

    Betty White Vs the Stupid World (Chapter Six)

    PDI Press
    January 15, 2022 3

    Featured

    BETTY WHITE VS THE STUPID WORLD: The Movie

    John E. Meredith
    PDI Press
    January 17, 2022 1
    • PDI Press Catalog
    • PDI Press Writers
      • Fiction
  • Columns A-D
    • A Fistful of Dollar Comics
    • ABCs of Horror
    • All Binge… No Purge
    • Anything Joes
    • Beautiful Creatures
    • Big Eyes Smart Mouth
    • Big Sleeps and Long Goodbyes
    • Cahiers du Horror
    • Dispatches From the Field
    • Drive-In Saturday
    • Dungeons & D-Listers
  • Columns F-P
    • The Final Girl
    • First Looks… Second Thoughts
    • The Flesh is Weak
    • Innocence and Experience
    • Lost in Translation
    • Marvel at the Movies
    • Muppets 101
    • Page to Screen
    • Popcorn Cinema
    • The Psycho Drive-In Podcast
    • Psycho Essentials: The ’80s!
  • Columns S-Z
    • Schlock & Awe
    • Shakespeare on Film
    • Shot for Shot
    • Sick Flix
    • Unnatural Selections
    • Versus
    • Video Word Made Flesh
    • We Got Lists
    • Women in Horror
    • The Xeno File
    • Zombies 101
  • Reviews

    Reviews

    Havoc (2025) / Novocaine (2025)

    Reviews
    May 16, 2025 2

    Thunderbolts* (2025)

    Reviews
    May 3, 2025 44

    Regular Show: The Complete Series DVD Review

    Reviews
    February 9, 2025 77

    Featured

    Havoc (2025) / Novocaine (2025)

    Nate Zoebl
    Reviews
    May 16, 2025 2
    • Books
    • Comics
    • DVD/Blu-ray
    • Movies
    • TV
    • Series
  • Interviews

    Interviews

    Interview with Indie Horror Master, Chris Bickel

    Interviews
    July 13, 2018 397

    David Black: Carnies, Carnage, and the Creative Chaos of Darkness Visible

    Interviews
    March 7, 2017 223

    Jaiden Kaine joins the Marvel Universe as new Luke Cage baddie, Zip

    Interviews
    September 29, 2016 8

    SDCC 2016 Interviews: The Cast and Creators of Batman: The Killing Joke

    Interviews
    July 28, 2016 61

    SDCC 2016 Interviews: The Cast and Creators of Syfy’s Van Helsing

    Interviews
    July 27, 2016 3

    Wondercon Interview: The Cast of Damien

    Interviews
    April 16, 2016 3

    Featured

    Interview with Indie Horror Master, Chris Bickel

    The Final Girl
    Interviews
    July 13, 2018 397
  • News

    News

    Regular Show: The Complete Series DVD is here!

    News
    February 9, 2025 18

    “PATER NOSTER AND THE MISSION OF LIGHT” UNLEASHES TERRIFYING UNDERGROUND HORROR – A PSYCHEDELIC CULT MOVIE EXPERIENCE COMING SOON!

    News
    November 15, 2023 74

    Breaking Down The Upcoming DC Studios Slate

    Shot for Shot
    February 1, 2023

    Featured

    Regular Show: The Complete Series DVD is here!

    Paul Brian McCoy
    News
    February 9, 2025 18
    • Trailers
  • Psychos
  • Shop
Breaking
  • Havoc (2025) / Novocaine (2025)
  • Thunderbolts* (2025)
  • Regular Show: The Complete Series DVD Review
  • Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga (2024)
  • RSS
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • Tumblr
  • Who We Be
  • Contact
    Home
    Reviews

    Black Mirror “White Christmas”

    Paul Brian McCoy
    ReviewsTV
    December 21, 2014 29

    One thing you can count on with Black Mirror is that even if you see a plot twist coming, there’s going to be more to it than you expected. Another thing you can count on is that even the weakest episode (“The Waldo Moment” in my opinion) has moments of brilliance and is better than most science fiction on television (just look at anything Syfy has produced over the past few years). Writer/Creator Charlie Brooker has crafted one of the most innovative and impressive science fiction shows to ever grace the airwaves.

    And with the first two seasons now available to stream on Netflix, America is catching up to what fans have already been saying for three years (or at least since last year).

    BMWC-06

     

    While we have to wait for a full third season, Brooker scripted an extra-length Christmas special that serves, as he’s put it in interviews, as a Black Mirror “Treehouse of Terror” episode with three tales of technological dread starring Jon Hamm, Rafe Spall, and Oona Chaplin. There’s also a surprise appearance from Game of Throne’s Natalia Tena, who you may not recognize without Wildling grime all over her.

    As usual with an episode of Black Mirror, technology from the day after tomorrow plays a central role in setting the stage for a tale of moral, emotional, and physical despair, usually ending in something horribly disturbing or heartbreakingly sad. This time we focus on two men, stranded in an isolated cabin in the dead of winter, Matt Trent (Hamm) and Joe Potter (Spall), who each have sad stories to share. As a framing structure it’s almost perfect. We’re already expecting a strange future setting and both characters establish that they’ve been isolated there due to some social transgression, and now, after five years, Matt finally gets Joe to talk about why he’s been exiled.

    But not before telling his own story.

    BMWC-02

    Hamm is ideally suited for this role, channeling aspects of his Mad Men persona to come off as just sleazy enough to believe he’d be involved in the creepy pick-up artist “service” that fuels the first story, but charismatic enough to empathize with him once things go south. And when they go south, they go south quickly and unnervingly. Natalia Tena plays Jennifer, a disturbed outsider at an office Christmas party who becomes the romantic target of Harry (Rasmus Hardiker). Hamm’s Mike is along for the ride, providing live advice like a cybernetic Cyrano (along with a group of other men all vicariously experiencing Harry’s sexual misadventure) thanks to a device called the Z-Eye, which allows internet connection and camera capabilities.

    Imagine Google Glasses implanted in everyone. Everyone.

    Almost from the start, it’s pretty obvious where this story is going to end up, however, once that moment comes we shift and what seemed to be a creepy tale of perversion ends up being one of self-inflicted loss as Mike loses his wife and child to Blocking, a feature of the Z-Eye that is similar to blocking people on other social network platforms, except here, the blocked are literally blocked from your sight, appearing as hazy white silhouettes — even in old pictures. Any news about or contact with the blocked (and their children) is also blocked until the Blockee chooses to UnBlock. It’s an ingenious form of shunning that translates dramatically into the everyday world of the characters.

    BMWC-03

    The conclusion of this first story spirals organically into the second story, as Mike explains to Joe what he did for a living before his exile, while also introducing the second piece of technology upon which this episode is built: a small pod-like device called a Cookie, which holds a digital copy of a person’s consciousness. Mike is a Cookie Tech, whose job is essentially to break copied consciousnesses into submission so they can serve as household-running AIs.

    This story is short and emotionally brutal. Oona Chaplin plays Greta and her digital copy who is essentially tortured into submission to serve as a slave for her physical self. The story really serves two purposes: the first is simply to introduce the technology that will become central to the episode’s overall story. Secondly, and most importantly, it provides a vivid example of the empathic split  as the characters treat the digital copy as an object, despite emphasizing that this copy is a perfect simulation of Greta’s consciousness. Not being flesh and blood, however, removes it from consequence. It can be tortured with impunity and most people in the story have no second thoughts about it.

    BMWC-04

    Joe, however, is horrified, and his empathy is remarked upon by Mike almost as an amusing novelty. And this is where Hamm’s natural charisma really comes into play. By exposing his own transgression — although not in its entirety — it motivates Joe to come clean about the events that sent him into exile.

    And thus we move into our third story and it’s a heartbreaker. Joe is a drinker and a bit of a schlub who finds out that his girlfriend is pregnant and is overjoyed. She, however, has a different attitude and doesn’t want the baby. After they fight about it, she blocks him and leaves, which pushes him into a spiral of self-destruction. The block, combined with a restraining order (triggered by the Z-Eye), makes him completely unable to get in touch with her to try and make peace. When he learns that she had the baby and is raising it without him, he goes full stalker, watching their whited-out silhouettes secretly from a safe distance every Christmas as they visit her father.

    BLACK MIRROR WHITE CHRISTMAS

    The story ends with an emotional gut-punch that was, again, kind of expected, but then spirals into madness and murder. Spall’s performance is amazing. You can almost literally see first his heart breaking and then his mind. You can’t help but feel for Joe as Brooker really drives home the overarching subject matter of the episode: the damaging emotional results of isolation and how our technologies are making us more interconnected and distant at the same time. The final twists we get as the frame story concludes roll out effortlessly as both Mike and Joe pay the price for their transgressions in a society without empathy.

    For fans, there are a number of Easter eggs for previous episodes scattered subtly throughout the episode, but they don’t affect this episode’s story at all. Hamm and Spall are a joy to watch interacting, as Mike teases Joe out of his shell, and both actors solidly center their respective stories, bringing a humanity and a sublime realism to roles that could easily have shifted into caricature. Brooker’s script helps to keep the characters in check and is easily one of the best Christmas specials you’re going to see this year. It’s definitely going into my yearly line-up, but will have to be followed up with something lighter, like AD/BC, otherwise I’ll just cry my eyes out every time I watch it.

    (Visited 743 times, 1 visits today)

    Related

    Black MirrorBlack Mirror White ChristmasCharlie BrookerJon HammNatalia TenaOona ChaplinPaul Brian McCoyRafe Spall

    FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
    Previous The Seventh Day of Christmas: The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)
    Next The Eighth Day of Christmas: Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005)
    monsterid
    Paul Brian McCoy
    Co-Founder / Editor-in-Chief / Dreamweaver
    Paul Brian McCoy is the Editor-in-Chief of Psycho Drive-In. His first novel, The Unraveling: Damaged Inc. Book One is available at Amazon US & UK, along with his collection of short stories, Coffee, Sex, & Creation (US & UK). He recently contributed the 1989 chapter to The American Comic Book Chronicles: The 1980s (US & UK). He also kicked off Comics Bulletin Books with Mondo Marvel Volumes One (US & UK) and Two (US & UK) and PDI Press with Marvel at the Movies: 1977-1998 (US & UK), Marvel at the Movies: Marvel Studios (US & UK), and Spoiler Warning: Hannibal Season 1 - An Unauthorized Critical Guide (US & UK). Paul is also unnaturally preoccupied with zombie films and sci-fi television. He can be found babbling on Twitter at @PBMcCoy.

    Related Posts

    The Psycho Drive-In Podcast 03: Sinners

    Paul Brian McCoy
    The Psycho Drive-In Podcast
    May 12, 2025 6

    EZMM 2025 Day 9: Evil Dead Rise (2023)

    Paul Brian McCoy
    Zombies 101
    April 22, 2025 8

    Daily Top Ten

    • i-spit-on-your-grave-09The Final Girl: I Spit on Your Grave (2010) by The Final Girl
    • havoc-novacaine-headerHavoc (2025) / Novocaine (2025) by Nate Zoebl
    • Paige HoneyThe Americans 3.11 “One Day in the Life of Anton Baklanov” by Thom V. Young
    • fangoria-porno-04Fangoria presents Porno (2019) by Fred L. Taulbee Jr.
    • comet-tv-logoComet TV January 2017 Broadcast Schedule! by Psychodr
    • DS-headerDungeons & D-Listers: Deathstalker (1983) by Alex Wolfe
    • heavy-metal-2000-headerDrive-In Saturday: Heavy Metal 2000 (2000) by Alex Wolfe
    • amazing-bulk-03The Amazing Bulk (2012) by Fred L. Taulbee Jr.
    • boardwalk-empireBoardwalk Empire 3.10: “A Man, A Plan” by Jamil Scalese
    • Dead Pastor TimThe Americans 4.02 “Pastor Tim” by Thom V. Young
    400x400 GI Joe Funko Banner

    Weekly Top Ten

    • i-spit-on-your-grave-09The Final Girl: I Spit on Your Grave (2010) by The Final Girl
    • AT606-visionAdventure Time 6.06 “Breezy” by Dave Hearn
    • hills-2-headerThe Hills Have Eyes Part 2 (1984) vs The Hills Have… by Corin Totin
    • patty-mullen-headerWomen in Horror: Patty Mullen by Fred L. Taulbee Jr.
    • DS-headerDungeons & D-Listers: Deathstalker (1983) by Alex Wolfe
    • MacbethShakespeare’s Macbeth (2010) by Paul Brian McCoy
    • amazing-bulk-03The Amazing Bulk (2012) by Fred L. Taulbee Jr.
    • 2-headed-shark-attack-headerUnnatural Selections: Two-Headed Shark Attack (2012) by Brooke Brewer
    • tusk-06Tusk (2014) by Alex Wolfe
    • guinea-pig-6-headerSick Flix: Guinea Pig 6 – Mermaid in a Manhole (1988) by Corin Totin

    psychodrivein

    We came here to chew bubblegum and write intelligent reviews and commentary on cult TV and movies! And we're all out of bubblegum!

    Today at https://psychodrivein.com The Psycho Dri Today at https://psychodrivein.com

The Psycho Drive-In Podcast 03: Sinners

In this episode, Paul and John discuss their recent film binges, and review Sinners.
—
Listen to the boys at the link in our profile!

#ThePsychoDriveInPodcast #PsychoDriveIn #Sinners #RyanCoogler #MichaelBJordan #JackOConnell #HaileeSteinfeld #MilesCaton #DelroyLindo #WunmiMosaku #LiJunLi
    Today at https://psychodrivein.com Anything Joes: Today at https://psychodrivein.com

Anything Joes: S02E28 - File Card Focus: Recoil

Greg and Jaren take a deep dive into the world of Recoil?
—
Watch the @AnythingJoesPod guys at the link in our profile!

#AnythingJoes #GIJoes #FileCardFocus #Recoil
    Today at https://psychodrivein.com Thunderbolts* Today at https://psychodrivein.com

Thunderbolts* (2025)

But damn, the Thunderbolts* really got to me.
—
Read more of John’s review at the link in our profile!

#Thunderbolts #MarvelStudios #Marvel #FlorencePugh #SebastianStan #DavidHarbour #HannahJohnKamen #JuliaLouisDreyfus #LewisPullman #OlgaKurylenko #WyattRussell
    Today at https://psychodrivein.com Lost in Transl Today at https://psychodrivein.com

Lost in Translation 481: Hypothetical Firefly Remake

Firefly is definitely a cult classic, with word of mouth spreading awareness of the series.
—
Read more of Scott’s article at the link in our profile!

#LostInTranslation #Serenity #Firefly
    Today at https://psychodrivein.com Lost in Transl Today at https://psychodrivein.com

Lost in Translation 480: The Naked Gun (2025) 

Right now, this is all speculation. The true test will come when The Naked Gun is released.
—
Read more of Scott’s article at the link in our profile!

#LostInTranslation #TheNakedGun #LiamNeeson
    Today at https://psychodrivein.com Anything Joes: Today at https://psychodrivein.com

Anything Joes: S02E27 - Battle Armor Cobra Commander 

Greg & Jaren take a look at the newest Classified reveals, and Jaren reveals his weird ways to make new friends. 
—
Watch the @AnythingJoesPod guys at the link in our profile!

#AnythingJoes #GIJoe #GIJoeClassified #CobraCommander #BattleArmorCobraCommander
    Today at https://psychodrivein.com EZMM 2025 Day Today at https://psychodrivein.com

EZMM 2025 Day 9: Evil Dead Rise (2023) 

Evil Dead Rise is filled with practical effects and whatever is supported with digital enhancement is so smooth I was never taken out of a scene.
—
Read more of Paul’s review at the link in our profile!

#EZMM #EZMM2025 #EasterZombieMovieMarathon #EasterZombieMovieMarathon2025 #EvilDeadRise #BruceCampbell #SamRaimi #Zombies101 #zombies #LeeCronin #LilySullivan #AlyssaSutherland #MorganDavies #NellFisher #GabrielleEchols #RobTapert
    Today at https://psychodrivein.com EZMM 2025 Day Today at https://psychodrivein.com

EZMM 2025 Day 8: Ash vs Evil Dead (2018) S03E06-E10

And while Episodes Six through Eight were an improvement, it really wasn’t until the two-part finale that Ash vs Evil Dead firmly regained its footing.
—
Read more of Paul’s article at the link in our profile!

#EZMM #EZMM2025 #EasterZombieMovieMarathon #EasterZombieMovieMarathon2025 #AshVsEvilDead #BruceCampbell #DanaDeLorenzo #RaySantiago #LucyLawless #SamRaimi #Zombies101 #zombies #ArielleCarverONeill #KatrinaHobbs #LindsayFarris
    Today at https://psychodrivein.com EZMM 2025 Day Today at https://psychodrivein.com

EZMM 2025 Day 7: Ash vs Evil Dead (2018) S03E01-E05

Season Three of Ash vs Evil Dead is off to a rough start.
—
Read more of Paul’s article at the link in our profile!

#EZMM #EZMM2025 #EasterZombieMovieMarathon #EasterZombieMovieMarathon2025 #AshVsEvilDead #BruceCampbell #DanaDeLorenzo #RaySantiago #LeeMajors #LucyLawless #SamRaimi #Zombies101 #zombies #ArielleCarverONeill #KatrinaHobbs #LindsayFarris
    Follow on Instagram

    Look Who's Talking

    Shawn EH
    Shawn EH - 5/4/2025
    Thunderbolts* (2025)
    Yep, very well done; avoiding the big flashy battle that these heroes (can any of you fly?)...
    Ideonova
    Ideonova - 12/26/2024
    Page to Screen: F. Paul Wilson’s The Keep
    Not living up to the source material? What source material? The book is a predictable, at times...
    Fred L. Taulbee Jr.
    Fred L. Taulbee Jr. - 8/17/2024
    Cahiers du Horror 03: Frank Henenlotter and The Brain that Wouldn’t Die
    I need to see that again. Maybe make it a double feature with All of Me. Steve Martin is someone you...
    RSSTwitterFacebookinstagramtumblr

    Archives

    Large_rectangle_336X280
    • PDI Press
      • PDI Press Catalog
      • PDI Press Writers
        • Fiction
    • Columns A-D
      • A Fistful of Dollar Comics
      • ABCs of Horror
      • All Binge… No Purge
      • Anything Joes
      • Beautiful Creatures
      • Big Eyes Smart Mouth
      • Big Sleeps and Long Goodbyes
      • Cahiers du Horror
      • Dispatches From the Field
      • Drive-In Saturday
      • Dungeons & D-Listers
    • Columns F-P
      • The Final Girl
      • First Looks… Second Thoughts
      • The Flesh is Weak
      • Innocence and Experience
      • Lost in Translation
      • Marvel at the Movies
      • Muppets 101
      • Page to Screen
      • Popcorn Cinema
      • The Psycho Drive-In Podcast
      • Psycho Essentials: The ’80s!
    • Columns S-Z
      • Schlock & Awe
      • Shakespeare on Film
      • Shot for Shot
      • Sick Flix
      • Unnatural Selections
      • Versus
      • Video Word Made Flesh
      • We Got Lists
      • Women in Horror
      • The Xeno File
      • Zombies 101
    • Reviews
      • Books
      • Comics
      • DVD/Blu-ray
      • Movies
      • TV
      • Series
    • Interviews
    • News
      • Trailers
    • Psychos
    • Shop
    • PDI Press
      • PDI Press Catalog
      • PDI Press Writers
        • Fiction
    • Columns A-D
      • A Fistful of Dollar Comics
      • ABCs of Horror
      • All Binge… No Purge
      • Anything Joes
      • Beautiful Creatures
      • Big Eyes Smart Mouth
      • Big Sleeps and Long Goodbyes
      • Cahiers du Horror
      • Dispatches From the Field
      • Drive-In Saturday
      • Dungeons & D-Listers
    • Columns F-P
      • The Final Girl
      • First Looks… Second Thoughts
      • The Flesh is Weak
      • Innocence and Experience
      • Lost in Translation
      • Marvel at the Movies
      • Muppets 101
      • Page to Screen
      • Popcorn Cinema
      • The Psycho Drive-In Podcast
      • Psycho Essentials: The ’80s!
    • Columns S-Z
      • Schlock & Awe
      • Shakespeare on Film
      • Shot for Shot
      • Sick Flix
      • Unnatural Selections
      • Versus
      • Video Word Made Flesh
      • We Got Lists
      • Women in Horror
      • The Xeno File
      • Zombies 101
    • Reviews
      • Books
      • Comics
      • DVD/Blu-ray
      • Movies
      • TV
      • Series
    • Interviews
    • News
      • Trailers
    • Psychos
    • Shop
    Type to search or hit ESC to close
    See all results
    Username
    Password
    Remember Me
    Lost password?
    Create an account
    Username
    Email
    Cancel
    Enter username or email
    Cancel