X
- 2019
- PG-13
- Universal Pictures
- 1 h 32 m
- 2019
- PG-13
- Universal Pictures
- 1 h 32 m
Summary Hawthorne College is quieting down for the holidays. But as Riley Stone (Imogen Poots) and her Mu Kappa Epsilon sisters-athlete Marty (Lily Donoghue), rebel Kris (Aleyse Shannon), and foodie Jesse (Brittany O'Grady)-prepare to deck the halls with a series of seasonal parties, a black-masked stalker begins killing sorority women one by on...
Directed By: Sophia Takal
Written By: April Wolfe, Roy Moore, Sophia Takal
- 2019
- PG-13
- Universal Pictures
- 1 h 32 m
- 2019
- PG-13
- Universal Pictures
- 1 h 32 m
Black Christmas
49
1.9
Where to Watch
Summary Hawthorne College is quieting down for the holidays. But as Riley Stone (Imogen Poots) and her Mu Kappa Epsilon sisters-athlete Marty (Lily Donoghue), rebel Kris (Aleyse Shannon), and foodie Jesse (Brittany O'Grady)-prepare to deck the halls with a series of seasonal parties, a black-masked stalker begins killing sorority women one by on...
Directed By: Sophia Takal
Written By: April Wolfe, Roy Moore, Sophia Takal
Where to Watch
Top Cast
Metascore
Mixed or Average
Based on 25 Critic Reviews
49
36% Positive
9 Reviews
9 Reviews
32% Mixed
8 Reviews
8 Reviews
32% Negative
8 Reviews
8 Reviews
Metascore
Mixed or Average
Based on 25 Critic Reviews
49
36% Positive
9 Reviews
9 Reviews
32% Mixed
8 Reviews
8 Reviews
32% Negative
8 Reviews
8 Reviews
Blended brilliantly, this remake of Black Christmas makes for holiday horror that's a tantalizing and terrifying treat.
Black Christmas is a fun film that gets its kicks out of literally smashing the patriarchy.
User Score
Overwhelming Dislike
Based on 125 User Ratings
1.9
9% Positive
11 Ratings
11 Ratings
14% Mixed
18 Ratings
18 Ratings
77% Negative
96 Ratings
96 Ratings
User Score
Overwhelming Dislike
Based on 125 User Ratings
1.9
9% Positive
11 Ratings
11 Ratings
14% Mixed
18 Ratings
18 Ratings
77% Negative
96 Ratings
96 Ratings
This movie continues to get unjustly attacked because of mostly sexist reasons. And the truth is that despite its "Slay Girls" marketing campaign the film is perfectly serviceable genre movie. In fact very few things actually separate it from its group. Basically a group of sorority girls is targeted by a fraternity with insidious intentions. Its really nothing new especially if you've seen the tv show Buffy the Vampire Slayer which this actually feels like an extended episode of. And I say that with admiration because that's my favorite show. As the film goes on the "woke" gets to be a touch too much towards the finale but it is entertaining and the points that are made in this genre themed battle of the sexes is really quite intriguing. The kills happen mostly off screen and because the killers are quite menacing some pay off gore would have been appreciated with an R rating. That being said I appreciated all the clever bits to the exorcist 3 homage to the rakes on mistletoe and women rougeing their cheeks. It all leads up to a girl power finale that's cheer worthy. In the end it's a refreshing take on expected material that deserves way more of the right attention than it's been getting.
Budget: $5m
Domestic Box Office: $10m
Worldwide Box Office: $19m
3.75/5
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Using the hyper-gendered spaces of college Greek life as a fertile palette, Takal and her co-writer April Wolfe skewer toxic masculinity, the white male literary canon, rape culture, patriarchy, and white male rage — all wrapped up with a bow in the stylishly entertaining package of a studio-backed holiday horror.
The latest Black Christmas reboot understands the frustrations and lived horrors of modern sexual politics, but stumbles over its scares and the finer points of its feminist messaging.
Sophia Takal's update of the cult classic turns the real horror of campus assault into a springboard for cheap thrills.
Black Christmas has a female empowerment “woke/revenge” subtext, making it a slap in the face to the “torture porn” decade of horror. Sorority girls, hunted on a college campus where this sort of thing may have been going on through time immemorial, turn the tables on their tormentors...Great...If only they’d get around to that a tad earlier. But no, we’ve got to have an hour of summary slaughter, a collection of the dullest, least sympathetic and most poorly set-up murders in the history of Dead Teenager Movies.
Despite its desperate efforts to justify the homicides, there’s nothing remotely innovative or even goofily satirical about it. The lousy actors, incompetent writer and clueless director remain nameless. That’s my good-deed Christmas gift to all involved, and better luck next year.
This is not such a horrible movie. A friend and I went to see it and enjoyed it. We had some good screams and felt like it wasn’t over the top with the woman vs man topic. I think most complaining about that here are likely ****. Anyway, the sorority girls have called out a frat boy who **** one of the sisters and now sisters are being targeted by unknown, hooded people. It is not so bad as a slasher movie. I didn’t look most of the time, but don’t feel it was all belabored. We had some moments where we just had to shake our heads at these girls and their bad judgement. All in all, not great, but not horrible. As far as scary movies go, it is strictly middle of the road and skippable. But, we are diehards and see pretty much any scary movie that comes along. This was not the worst we have seen.
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This is pretty forgettable and unoriginal. I’ve gone off Blumhouse films, there are too many average or bad ones. This one is well acted, looks beautiful, sounds amazing but that will only carry it so far. The first half of the film is a dull and very typical slasher with a convincing eighties style. The second half is a slasher with a slight twist which I won't ruin. It's not gory. It's not really like the original except for the setting and slasher vibes. The action is not engaging. Not terrible but also not good, simple average and forgettable.
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A feminist horror flick that lacks nuance in its feminism and thrills in its horror. But it should be applauded for reinterpreting rather than just retreading the original.
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When is Hollywood gonna understand...NEVER to hire activists to make a good movie. Literally almost nothing happens in this films... one person dies at the beginning that's the only thing interesting. The rest is just the preachiest movie ever second to the Last Jedi. It feels like this film was focused on political messaging"Fight the patriarchy" than actually being a genuine good horror flick. The killer element was weak compared to classic horror icons like Jason,Leather etc. Also, making the characters into action hero bad asses that fight back makes the film less scary.This film does the original film injustice...Black Christmas it was a boring movie with bland preachy characters who u would want to see them die, crappy dialogue with some good imagery. A social justice movie mascaraing as a horror movie.
I will repeat myself...stop giving activists a job or otherwise have them focus on story first,character second, politics last!
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Wow, this, the second attempt at a Black Christmas remake, is a misguidedly bad film.
This movie carries a heavy pro-women, anti-misogyny/patriarchal-control-of-the-system (particularly in the college environment) vibe to the whole thing. Let me make it clear that I support the message, it's the way it's executed that I have a problem with. You ever went to an original college play because of a class or to support a friend, and it feels like it's trying to be deep about something, but you can't stand it? This is that movie in a nutshell. (In the director/co-screenwriter and other co-screenwriter's defense, this film had a pretty short production schedule. Not saying the movie would've been better necessarily, just saying.)
The movie beats you over the head with the message. Plot and dialogue comes in second, less than second. The characters are extremely frustrating as they act and talk in a way that isn't plausible at all. A lot of them aren't people, just talking points. There are a lot of one-dimensional misogynists in this film who say nothing but the most obvious and basic chauvinistic lines. It gets really painful. Also, the killer's or killers' plan has so many loopholes.
I know that horror movies often require a suspension of disbelief but even this sinks way below an accordingly low bar.
You can see where the plot is going pretty early on, which makes waiting through the slow-paced first two thirds of the film a pain.
In the brief moments where people aren't speaking for or against the equality of women, there are a few lines that could've been funny, but none of the cast makes the dialogue work, especially Brittany Grady, who is supposed to be comic relief. Veteran actor Cary Elwes is in this and even he gives a terrible performance.
As for the actual horror in this, there are a few good weapon ideas but there isn't enough to salvage the film. The movie was originally R-rated but got cut down to PG-13 which hurt it. I'm not one of those "R-rated horror movies only" guys, but the problem is that the editor clearly just ended a couple kills abruptly. There was no attempt to reshoot or reedit scenes to make them run smoothly. If you like horror but not **** in your horror be forewarned that this movie will get uncomfortable.
To the movie's credit, the cinematography is good. There are a few post-kill shots that are effective. The one major thing this movie has in common with the original is that it goes with this stark reality look to it. There is an effectively cold feel to the whole thing. The campus and surrounding houses look like a real college environment.
I'd say this is about as bad as the last Black Christmas remake just in a different way. You want to see a Christmas-themed horror film? I suggest the original or Krampus.
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Production Company
Universal Pictures,
Blumhouse Productions,
Divide/Conquer,
Matrix Production Services,
New Zealand Film Commission,
The Rebel Fleet
Release Date Dec 13, 2019
Duration 1 h 32 m
Rating PG-13
Tagline Slay, Girls
