Black Christmas (2019)

Directed by: Sophia Takal | 92 minutes | horror | Actors: Imogen Poots, Aleyse Shannon, Lily Donoghue, Brittany O’Grady, Caleb Eberhardt, Cary Elwes, Simon Mead, Madeleine Adams, Nathalie Morris, Ben Black, Zoë Robins, Ryan McIntyre, Mark Neilson, Lucy Currey, Jonny McBride

In 1974 ‘Black Christmas’ was released. This slasher garnered cult status and was considered a genre highlight. Reason enough for film company Blumhouse to release a remake to introduce this film to a new audience. However, this retelling is completely focused on the new generation, which means that little of the original remains. Director Sophia Takal says she chose a feminist approach and wants to say something to her audience about feminism in 2020. Unfortunately, that has resulted in a rather nagging sermon.

‘Black Christmas’ revolves around a group of students. This close-knit clique has to deal with all kinds of strange disappearances of fellow students. Suspicion soon turns towards male fellow students who are quite misogynistic to say the least.

Takal has chosen to give her own twist to the original and that suits her. We have not opted for an indiscriminate repetition exercise. The feminist approach is also to be commended, but unfortunately the director goes completely overboard. The cancel culture and sympathy for the Black Lives Matter organization are presented in a rather pushy way, making a simple slasher seem like a political pamphlet. For example, the portrayal of men is very caricatured (horny predators) and all older white (or white) men are portrayed as lazy or narrow-minded people. The male gender comes off very badly and is portrayed rather exaggerated.

In itself, the above objections are manageable if the kills are nicely portrayed or if the atmosphere is nice and creepy. Unfortunately, ‘Black Christmas’ has become an adolescent-friendly film full of unimaginative kills and with a lot of witty dialogue about feminism. The twist at the end of the film is too moronic for words and should provide some forced female empowerment.

Takal has created a downright boring film full of smug characters, a lot of rambling and little horror. Surely there will be a target audience for movies in which woke hipster girls express themselves about the male gender and the history of slavery, but whether that audience hopes to find these messages in a horror movie remains to be seen.