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‘Black Christmas’ (2019) — Review
Sophia Takal’s film tackles gender politics in a slasher film that honors and subverts its source material with flawed but fun results.
Anyone who claims that Bob Clark’s Black Christmas (1974) wasn’t a political film either hasn’t seen it or is an absolute idiot. If you’re offended by or at odds with this statement, you definitely won’t like Sophia Takal’s version of this story. It’s a bold, blunt, and angry take on the holiday horror classic that takes no prisoners and doesn’t give a single shit to those who disagree with its message. The Black Christmas of 2019 is unabashedly of its time, and offers an all-too-rare female perspective in the horror genre. If you’re only into slashers for pretty young women getting killed in gruesome ways, this might not be the slasher for you — and that’s a good thing.
The basic setup is the same one that the 1974 classic popularized. A group of sorority girls are being killed off while receiving threatening communications — in 2019, this means DMs. But what makes this Black Christmas so different is its script and direction. Director Sophia Takal and her co-writer April Wolfe have imbued the rather routine story with a heavy dose of social commentary. The script tackles everything, from rape culture to casual misogyny to the leg up…
