Directed by: Sophia Takal
Notable cast: Imogen Poots, Aleyse Shannon, Lily Donahue,
Cary Elwes
Remakes are always a tricky business. I say this as one
who’s generally more favorable to them than most. In theory, you have to serve
the twin masters of appeasing the original fans and thrilling new ones or focus
on one or the other, often alienating the unserved audience. There are
certainly decent examples of all three and terrible examples as well, but it is
a conflict all remakes share. The new version of Black Christmas largely
focuses on the “thrilling new take” angle, and I think that it may have
unlocked the true potential of this story’s concept, while admittedly walking
into a few pitfalls of the genre as well.
Maintaining the basic conceit of sorority girls staying on
campus during the holiday season and then being taunted by phone, stalked, and
killed, it’s the only real callback to either previous version of this story. The
original Black Christmas was very much an exploration of the “killer is
calling from within the house” campfire story archetype, while this new one is a
pure slasher focused through a lens of modern feminism. I think there are a lot
of good ideas in play, although I do think the narrative fails the concept
here.