Blumhouse's Black Christmas - December 13th, 2019

This is an excellent example of how tone-deaf many modern social justice blowhards can be while spreading their message. Filmmakers have always embedded political messages in genre films--but they were smart enough to be subtle and avoid alienating potential fans. You can enjoy Dawn of the Dead without even paying attention to Romero's jabs at consumerism. But this Black Christmas is obviously a confrontational FU message to the exact demographic that traditionally powers horror box office. I'm personally thrilled to see flicks like this and the new Terminator tank. There's a reason why action movies have always been anchored by stars like Eastwood, Schwarzenegger, and Stallone. It's slightly easier to suspend disbelief for an over-sized male hero like that compared to say...80-year-old Linda Hamilton.

Want to make a female-empowering slasher flick? Easy. Make the killer a female who succeeds by exploiting the patronizing attitudes of male victims. A guy could watch that film and enjoy seeing buffoonish dinosaurs buying the farm. But this flick appears to lack any cleverness or irony--and it's bragging about its smug contempt for males.
Here's hoping for the extremely likely "the world just isn't ready for our message" whining that will accompany the tepid box office that awaits this miscalculated piece of crap.

 

I haven't had a chance to see the new Terminator yet, but after the previous couple bad sequels, Linda Hamilton is the reason I'd want to see it. I'm glad she's back!

 

I'm obviously in the minority around here, but I honestly don't have a problem with it being PG-13 or being female-focused. What I DO take issue with is a movie that fucking sucks. If that trailer is any indication, my only hope is that it sucks so hard that it becomes an unintended laugh riot. The fact that it gives away SO MUCH PLOT is a huge red flag for me.

 

It also seems like they're openly courting controversy, which smacks of the kind of desperation that comes from KNOWING your movie is terrible. I think it's safe to bet it won't be screened for critics before the release date.

 

Well this thread burst into misogyny quickly... hate to burst all your bubbles more, but the original film was definitely a commentary on toxic masculinity, had female leads, was female-focused, etc. etc. etc. so this remake/reboot is only bringing that into today's times and adjusting to the course.

 

I don't see why. Both the original and the last remake were driven by women. It's a girls sorority. I don't see anything new here in that regard.

 

At the end of the day, I don't give a fuck what the narrative is..... I just want an awesome horror movie to enjoy around the holidays. And I can probably count the number of PG-13 slashers on one hand that I like.

 

I don't hate woman, but I do hate the angry feminazis (not to be confused with normal feminists), that scream and complain about EVERYTHING, and how Hollywood is bending over for them.
There have been strong female characters in movies, since the early days of cinema (especially in the noir movies), so I don't understand, why suddenly they have to shove this message down our throats over and over again.
Back in the 80:s, Sarah Connor and Ripley, didn't have to force this message upon us. We knew they were tough characters, without them screaming "I am a Strong woman!!!" into the camera, all the time.
If the original Terminator, and Aliens, where made today, they would probably have made the characters lesbians, because men are evil rapists.

Feminazis and the PC culture, are ruining movies and TV shows.
Look what happened to Doctor Who...

 

I still need to finish / restart watching the original again. But I recall the remake wasn't that good. I want to see it again. But I remember being disappointed with the movie even though the cast was good.

I do want to see a female killer slasher horror movie but few seem interested in making that type of horror movie. And you probably can't or they won't have the female killer get killed by a male character. The last female slasher villain I can remember is from that foreign, I think French movie with the really bad twist. With the girl who goes home for vacation and a killer in a truck pays them a visit at night.

People for some reason forget about old movies. Sarah Connor and Ripley are still two of the best female characters in two of the best movies ever. But I have a feeling that more men watched those movies back then. Terminator and Alien probably weren't the go to type of movie for women. I think James Cameron said that Titanic was his first movie for women.

Now, it just seems to be show that the women can do the male job or role. Or just flip the character. But if you flipped for example James Bond and his first movie, Dr. No. Pulled a gender flip on all the main characters in that movie. I don't think you would have a good movie at all. In fact, if you gender flipped just about every James Bond movie, they would all be very confusing movies.

I wasn't crazy about The Thing remake, but they could have easily come up with a new, creative type horror movie for Mary Elizabeth Winstead to star in. But they are lazy. But she was just fine in The Thing remake and her Final Destination entry.

No one seems to like Doomsday but that was a movie with a cool female lead that had hints of a sequel. But it's easier and probably cheaper to take something that is already out there and give it a twist.

 

Worth pointing out though, a majority of the female-driven action titles being thrown around as examples are written and / or directed by men. Which isn't to say men can't make feminist films, or vice versa that women can't make insightful films about men (see Chloe Zhao's The Rider, Eliza Hittman's Beach Rats, or even this year's Blinded By The Light, all terrific movies). However, there has historically been a lack of female voices in cinema, the statistics of which are undeniable.

Still, I can understand why people are getting put-off by some of these forced feminism vehicles, especially when you have Elizabeth Banks vocally blaming men for her movie's box-office failure despite the numbers showing that women didn't show up for it either. It's disappointing to see genuine issues used as a lame crutch to avoid accountability.

That said, this is Blumhouse's PG-13 remake of Black Christmas we are talking about. It's pretty clear this movie exists only because Jason Blum stuck his foot in his mouth when he was blindsided by an interviewer about why he never hires female directors. Instead of using this as an opportunity to have female filmmakers pitch him their ideas and finding something unique like Get Out, he's haphazardly greenlighting and assigning women to do feminist remakes of movies that were already feminist to begin with (see also The Craft) in order to save face. When proposed with original genre ideas from the female perspective, I'm sure executives are still citing decade-old examples like Jennifer's Body (a now-beloved cult hit, but a box-office failure at the time) as excuses not to make those movies, which is a shame.

I do like what the writer said about making gateway horror for young women. We all have those movies, be it the teenage boy driven The Monster Squad or the teenage girl driven Night Of The Comet (which also has a female-directed remake on the way). More gateway horror is always a good thing, even if some of us have outgrown the more recent examples. However, she contradicts herself by saying they set out to make an R-rated movie and edited it down after the fact, which means they set out to make a movie for a different audience than the one they ended up settling for. I know the standard response to this is the typical "well, what about *list of horror movies made with a PG-13 in mind* or *list of PG-rated movies from the '70s before the PG-13 rating existed*", but neither exactly apply here.

 

Which movie was Elizabeth Banks moaning about? Was it Charlie's Angels?

If so here's a thought for you Banksy, it's not radical in any way, make a movie that doesn't look so fucking shit and people will come, it's simple really.

 

Elizabeth Banks is apparently working on the Invisible Woman next. I guess the potential sequel to the new Invisible Man. So the Charlie's Angels flop didn't affect her at all.

The main problem really is the people at the top and who they want to succeed. I don't like it when people think that just because a woman or minority is in charge of project then it has to succeed and can't fail. People only see it that way because they wanted that opportunity to most likely go to a white guy. And if the white guy fails usually it's no big deal and business as usual. But if the woman or minority fails it's the worst thing in the world. It's the double standard.

But also I don't like it when just because a woman writes or directs a female lead movie, then people almost automatically think it will be better than what a guy could do. I watched this Charlie's Angels trailer and it didn't excite me at all. But I remember watching and enjoying the original TV show.

We just need things to be more balanced out. For people to get opportunities so they can get better at whatever job.

 

Maybe nobody gives a fuck about this franchise? I feel like no one really considers that.

 

Well I wouldn't call it a franchise. BC has only had a remake (and now remake No. 2). I'd imagine it needs a few sequels before being called a franchise.

 

Oh, I'm sorry, I was referring to Charlie's Angels (the original TV series, the reboot TV series, the two Barrymore movies, and now this). I should have made that clear considering what this thread is supposed to be about.

 

It crossed my mind that might have been the case

 

Holy out of loop and not paying any attention whatsoever.

Just last night, I saw the trailer on TV. I was like ...

 

If they wanted to make it different and put out a "message". Should have been a guys fraternity.

Side note: Watch the killer be a female. Well that's my guess anyways after seeing the trailer.

 

Why So Blu review: https://whysoblu.com/black-christmas-is-doa-movie-review/