Rating summary

Movie		1.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.5
Overall		3.0

Black Christmas Blu-ray Movie Review

Stalking Stuffer

Reviewed by Martin Liebman March 26, 2020

Black Christmas is a remake of 1974's Black Christmas (later also released on Blu-ray by Shout! Factory), which was previously remade in 2006 under the title, yes, Black Christmas. Hollywood, of course, cannot leave well enough alone, and 2019's take on the sorority sisters Slasher is the worst one yet. The film wants in just about every category conceivable, collapsing quickly under the burdens of a rote script, generic characters, bland social commentary, too little terror, and too much predictability. The film is more concerned with messaging than it is massacre, yielding a laborious experience that will leave audiences wishing they had just selected the original instead, again, or revisited similar genre classics like Scream or even superior schlock like The Slumber Party Massacre.

Mu Kappa Epsilon member Riley Stone (Imogen Poots) still struggles with the aftermath of rape. Her sorority sisters -- Kris (Aleyse Shannon), Marty (Lily Donoghue), Jesse (Brittany O'Grady), and Helena (Madeleine Adams) -- have her back. Kris has taken it upon herself to spearhead campus reform, beginning with a successful removal of a bust depicting the school's founder and now a petition to oust a professor (Cary Elwes) whom she believes to be a misogynist for his lack of gender diversity in his syllabus. The sisters also find themselves at odds with a clearly misogynistic fraternity, Alpha Kappa Omicron. It quickly becomes clear that the girls are being targeted by one or more masked male killers and that nobody of the other gender can be trusted.

Black Christmas presents no compelling case for audience engagement, and even those only watching for the give-and-take violence will be left disappointed with a relatively tame, teenager safe PG-13 approach that leaves too much to the imagination, a death sentence for a film built around a would-be gory, intense premise. Instead the movie is like a poorly realized remanufacturing of The Skulls with a misogynistic "toxic masculinity" twist, pitting boys against girls in a battle for gender, campus, and slashing supremacy. It's terribly uninteresting, stymied by a reluctance to dig beyond the surface, literally and figuratively, unwilling or unable to push boundaries in either the physical or psychological realms.

Maybe worse is the total lack of narrative surprise. When the killers are unmasked, they're who everyone in the audience knew them to be from the beginning. There’s no surprise, no twist. Back Christmas is painfully straightforward, which is in a way somewhat refreshing in its refusal to go for the twist, but at the same time its fully linear pathway only further dulls the already laborious procedural pacing. Characters are just as rote and the acting has no hopes of saving the material from its own limitations, either. The production design is absent vision, the direction and cinematography lack spirit, and the entire thing just screams "generic" -- and that's at its best.

Black Christmas Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Black Christmas' 1080p presentation is sturdy overall if not a bit visually bland. The picture's technical merits are generally fine. Noise spikes are not uncommon but it is also not overwhelming beyond a few shots and scenes. The picture is fairly flat as a rule, certainly not helped by a color spectrum that is not particularly vibrant and that in fact appears a little subdued. A few colors, like natural greens, offer some impressive pop but don't expect much in the way of aggressive, bold, boisterous colors. Black levels are generally good but do appear raised, a bit, here and there, while flesh tones usually just take on shading as influenced by any given light source. The movie appears to be trying to skirt the line between a vintage 70s styling and contemporary photography and production values, which it does fairly well in sum but there are certainly some moments that can't seem to capture a basic visual rhythm. Textures are fine. There's nothing exciting here, and the many lower light and warmly lit shots, where much of the noise is evident, do not exactly offer treasure trove levels of detail. But essential skin elements, clothing lines, and odds and ends around various frat and sorority houses offer details that are sharp and revealing enough. A strange vertical line runs across the screen at the 33:00 mark, a shot of Riley sitting in front of a window. Overall, this is a solid image but certainly not one for the record books, thanks largely to photographic composition and less so any issues with the Blu-ray.

Black Christmas Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Black Christmas features a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 lossless soundtrack. Like the video it's sort of vanilla, capable in all areas but offering nothing of sonic interest, again due largely to a fairly inconsequential sound design rather than any Blu-ray encode shortcomings. Essentials are in fine working order, with dialogue clear, center positioned, and well prioritized. Music presents with pleasing front end width and modest back channel and subwoofer integration. Mild atmospherics draw listeners into various frat house or lecture hall interiors and college campus exteriors. Highlights include some quality reverb in a hallucinatory style scene late in the film, followed by nicely spacious, immersive, deep, and detailed thumps. There's just not much here of interest, but the track certainly carries the material well enough from start to finish.

Black Christmas Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Black Christmas includes deleted and extended scenes, an alternate ending, three featurettes, and an audio commentary track. A DVD copy of the film and a Movies Anywhere digital copy code are included with purchase. This release ships with an embossed slipcover.

• Alternate Ending (1080p, 1:22).
• Deleted and Extended Scenes (1080p, 5:47 total runtime): Included are Riley Walks Through the Frat House, Marty and Nate Fight - Extended, Kris Finds Jess - Extended, Nate Gets Shot with an Arrow, and Final Battle - Extended.
• You Messed with the Wrong Sisters (1080p, 2:53): A look at the female leads and their battle against the male-dominant hierarchy and "toxic masculinity" at their school.
• The (Re)Making of a Cult Classic (1080p, 3:50): Sophia Takal's direction, tackling contemporary women's issues, creating the killers, changes from the original picture, the black goo's role in the film, and condemning a type of masculinity but not men in general.
• Welcome to Mu Kappa Epsilon (1080p, 1:50): A brief video targeted at new pledges.
• Audio Commentary: Director Sophia Takal and Star Imogen Poots dissect the film's story, characters, production, and more.

Black Christmas Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Black Christmas leaves a few characters black-and-blue but it doesn't go for the jugular. It's a play-it-safe Slasher with no creativity, no compelling content, no characters worthy of connection. Never mind misogyny; this one just misses the mark. Universal's Blu-ray delivers competent video and audio and a smattering of extras highlighted by an audio commentary track. Rent it.