The remake of Black Christmas is getting a home video debut on March 17th whether you wanted it to or not, with details now released on what we can expect from its Blu-ray.
The plot follows college girl Riley, who has not yet fully recovered from being sexually assaulted by a frat boy three years previously and going unbelieved after reporting the crime. While dealing with everyday campus misogyny both spiteful and clueless, she and her friends are first cyber-stalked and then attacked in their sorority house by a masked killer.
The disc’s extras feature standard inclusions of a commentary by director Sophia Takal and star Imogen Poots, deleted and extended scenes that doubtless re-incorporate the swearing and violence that were cut out to allow the film a PG-13 rating, and an alternate ending, the differences of which have not been specified. Featurettes are The (Re)Making of a Cult Classic, focusing on what to keep and what to alter when updating a well-regarded film; Welcome to Mu Kappa Epsilon, likely a look at each of the story’s featured young women; and You Messed With the Wrong Sisters, probably a look at the girls fighting back against their oppressors, be they of the murderous or chauvinistic variety.
Released in 1974, the original Black Christmas is a home invasion classic now celebrated as a proto-slasher that introduced many of the tropes of the subgenre before it even existed, while 2006’s first remake embraced the concept’s lunacy with festive and wintry themed kills and a ludicrous backstory for its killer.
This version of Black Christmas was given a feminist overhaul that attempted to transcend the basic archetypes that female characters are typically afforded in slasher movies, but aside from its highlighting of the unacceptably prevalent attitudes towards assault and admittedly gearing things up to an unexpected intensity in its third act, there is little to differentiate it from others of its ilk.
Published: Jan 17, 2020 02:46 pm