Black Christmas

It seems like only yesterday there was a remake of "Black Christmas." My how thirteen years fly by! Now we have a third iteration of the classic early 70s holiday slasher film. A early slasher film that I'm not afraid to admit is not one of my all-time favorites. Sure the film predated "Halloween" by four years but "Halloween" still remains the Godfather of the slasher films. One can't help but compare this new version from director Sophia Takal to the previous versions and as controversial as it may sound the 2019 version is the one I prefer; granted I'm not overwhelmingly crazy about any of them. This film takes an obvious feminist bent. Ok, so it's not a bent exactly, it's a very heavy-handed message and it's being shoved down your throat, but you know what, good for them! This is not an easy pill to swallow.  It's about time someone made a horror film with such a powerful message about toxic masculinity and a disgusting rape culture that many college campuses have been breeding for years. 

Woke sorority sister Riley (Imogeen Poots) has been noticing that her sisters have been notably absent in the days leading up to Christmas break which causes her alarm. But she isn't crazy because someone - or some people - are out to get the sorority girls on campus. But these cloaked monsters have picked the wrong woman to mess with. Takal's film (Who she co-wrote with April Wolfe) bears little resemblance to either the 1974 film (or the 2006 version) and that's probably for the best. Sure it goes a bit off the rails and plot developments in the third act threaten to practically derail the entire endeavor but I actually sort of dug it. Anyone who dismisses the film because of the PG-13 rating is just making excuses - the R-rated 1974 film is practically bloodless and most of the kills happen off-screen as well. At least this movie has something important to say.  GRADE: B