Black Christmas (2019)

Black Christmas: Directed by Sophia Takal. With Imogen Poots, Aleyse Shannon, Lily Donoghue, Brittany O’Grady. A group of female students is stalked by a stranger during their Christmas break. That is until the young sorority pledges discover that the killer is part of an underground college conspiracy.

“No one was expecting a remake of Black Christmas, nor was anyone asking for it. And its sudden announcement in June was like snow on oneu0026#39;s head. What kind of interest can there be in the cult proto-slasher of 1974? Especially after the notorious 2006s remake, which many still either recall as a nightmare or consider it a comedy because of its torture, plot holes, and the ridiculous killeru0026#39;s background? These two Black Christmases would remain a typical tandem of the u0026quot;80s original / XXI century studio alterationu0026quot;, but…u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe rights to the concept were bought by Blumhouse with director Sophia Takal and screenwriter April Wolfe to lead the newest incarnation. Takal had previously shot some lazy indie thriller about mean female friendship and a full-length episode of the anthology series u0026quot;Into the Darku0026quot; …also about mean female friendship. And with New Yearu0026#39;s entourage. Obviously, everything starts there. These two saw the opportunity to depict all of their modern ideas, only with some snow and toothless scrimers.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eDonu0026#39;t try to find any tribute to the original (kitty Claudette instead of 1974s cat Claude) and an attempt to strangle one of the villains with polyethylene. Instead, thereu0026#39;s a bunch of blank college girls, one of whom, Riley (Imogen Poots), suffers from emotional trauma after being raped by one of the frat bros (Ryan McIntire), who escaped punishment and even dared to return to college. But the girls have worse problems: the tough student Chris (Aleyse Shannon) demands the dismissal of one of the old-school professor for his boomer-ish way of teaching. While Professor Gelson (Cary Elwes) is trolling the suffragists of the 21st century by quoting the well-known anti-feminist Camille Paglia, female students begin to disappear. And if nobody gave a crap about the horribly acting blonde girl from literally every BC trailer (Lucy Curry), the further disappearances begin to slowly alarm. The police shrugs and isnu0026#39;t eager to do anything (by the way, another curtsy to the original), so Riley begins her own investigation.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eTakal and Wolfe are as humble as a jackhammer when itu0026#39;s about the man which are either evil or stupid. An malicious cultist professor with his toxic bloodhound on a chain, annoying boyfriends who can either start a fight out of nothing or stutter while talking to a girl. The authorsu0026#39; ideas ends so quickly that they even use supernatural power, led by the late founder of the college – a white privileged slaver man of his 1800s, who was sure that women would occupy his stronghold of knowledge one day, and then the males must be able to defend… defend what? Oh, sorry, they never explain it anyway. They just hate women, thatu0026#39;s all, bite it. No Billy, no Agnes, no real freedom from male opinion. Somewhere in 1974, Jess Bradford sighs heavily while firmly announcing to her boyfriend the decision to have an abortion. Turns out that womenu0026#39;s rights arenu0026#39;t about freedom of choice, but about driving away the u0026quot;white men scienceu0026quot; from universities.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eBlack Christmas doesnu0026#39;t want to be a horror movie. In fact, it doesnu0026#39;t want to be a film. But it wants to be an essay, which for whatever reason was wrapped in Christmas light. An essay, albeit with a budget of $ 5,000,000, is not capable of being exciting and thrilling. Even in others negative reviews, only Imogen Poots can be praised for the role of the emotionally injured, but strong by her spirit, but she is underestimated by the scriptwriters that did not want to give her character some decent development. Cary Elves wasnu0026#39;t told this isnu0026#39;t another u0026quot;Sawu0026quot;, and therefore something like u0026quot;game overu0026quot; is about to burst from his terribly taut smile. The rest of the cast is a typical cannon fodder, as one of the characters (Lily Donoghue, who deserves more screen time tbh) behaves so cringy while interacting with the intruder as if she wanted to end all of this as soon as possible. Itu0026#39;s also hilarious that there are two sorority houses, and the second one is shown briefly in the midst of their own attack. All for the sake of the final fight, so that there could me more female combat extras.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe film is mostly praised for showing certain socially disturbing topics familiar to many… well, feminists. Campus abuse and rapes were described in the great u0026quot;The Hunting Groundu0026quot;, and the pointless gory gender violence was shown in epic u0026quot;Assassination Nationu0026quot;. What do we get in u0026quot;Black Christmasu0026quot; for millennials? The fear of walking down the street alone at night, the keys compressed in a shaking fist, and the unexplained progressive ladiesu0026#39; annoyance with the u0026quot;not all menu0026quot;.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eBlack Christmas is a boring, bloodless thriller that is radical in its beliefs and incapable of accepting a bit of a different opinion, shot for the fun of snowflakes and all kinds of warriors for the rights of all disenfranchised. Fortunately, this movie ceases to be associated with its predecessors as soon as it changes its name.”