Director: Sophia Takal
Distributor: Universal Pictures Home Entertainment
Duration: 92 minutes
Black Christmas (Blu-ray) – Movie Review
In 1974 we saw a piece of cinema that involved a crazy stalker murdering innocent sorority girls. As with many good things, they either become a proper classic, gain a cult following, or they get butchered and remade to entice younger moviegoers. This time the movie gets recoated with a very diverse cast, a much-needed tweak corresponding to our modern technologies which weren’t available in the 1974 movie and of course, new moviemaking technology. We were curious to see how this one turned out.
For Black Christmas, we are taken to the most diverse sorority house ever, and meet a bunch of young adults who are preparing themselves for the holidays. Of course, there’s one who has a tragic past and will become the focal point of the rest of the girls. Riley (Imogen Poots), seemingly without parents, has to remain on campus and thus has to take her time to celebrate the holidays as best as she can with the girls that still remain there for a few more days before their family dinners and other events. While doing so, they prank the most popular fraternity, by making jokes about rape, and it is made clear that Riley was the victim of such a tragedy, where everyone seems to make it out as no big deal. This is one of the items that could have been further expanded, as this is a serious topical issue. Sadly, from here on out it boils down to every man being the spawn of Satan.
If we have to be completely honest, as superficial as the experience may have been from the start, the flow was actually quite nice. You first got to know the girls, albeit in the most shallow possible way, and you also saw a murder unfold at the beginning. This all felt fine, until the main theme of the movie, that all men are evil, was brought so poorly and was laid on so thick, that it became a comedy, rather than a horror film. This continues on for nearly 90 minutes, making this from a proper slasher experience, that could have brought a few topical issues to light, to something that will be only remembered for its flawed execution.
Truth be told, the acting performances are somewhat doable. The current cast members aren’t the biggest names in the industry, but they do okay considering the material that they have to work with. Nonetheless, the characters they represent feel shallow and all follow the guidelines of their predetermined stereotype. This makes the entire experience even less interesting and defeats the purpose of actually trying to get to know the characters. Only the ‘lead’, which is played by Imogen Poots, has a certain past, but this also not really properly explained, revealed or explored.
Unlike the movie, which was found lacking in many areas, the extras on the Blu-ray disc are in fact fun to explore. You’ll get a small alternate ending to view, commentaries to listen to and deleted and extended scenes. Other than that, there are a few features that handle the making-of, and one amusing clip of the sorority the young women find themselves in. Even though these extras don’t expand the overall movie experience that much, they add a proper value to the physical edition of this film.
Conclusion
Black Christmas had a certain charm that could have made the movie a decent one, albeit in an old-school slasher kind of way. Sadly, it turned out to be a teenage movie about the power of women and other politically correct crap. We believe in equality for every gender, sexual orientation or people of different skin color, we just don’t see the need to have every single thing smeared in our faces in such a way. Movies such as this often cater to an audience that screams to be heard, to eventually not even watch the movies that are made for them. (Cue in the theme of the female Ghostbusters remake.) They could have just called this movie ‘men are bad’ and just throw in a few people ranting about it not being fair for them. Even with its topical issues present, it could have been executed so much better.
Black Christmas (Blu-ray) - Movie Review,
No Comments