Black Christmas: The big twist undoes the film’s overall message

Black Christmas is the latest remake hailing from Blumhouse. Let’s talk about how the twist sort of ruins the film’s overall message.

Black Christmas is the second official remake of the beloved 1974 slasher film. Blumhouse introduces us to a new story by director Sophia Takal. Takal also wrote the movie. The storyline is relatively simple, a stalker begins terrorizing a group of sorority girls, and they do their best to discover who is attacking them before it’s too late.

Beware: Major spoilers for Black Christmas to follow.

Takal’s take on Black Christmas is decidedly different from the two that preceded it. Her film focuses on a very feminist message and often fumbles in its attempts to be smart and say something meaningful.

One of the most exciting changes in this version is the big “twist.” We learn that the stalkers after the girls are braindead fraternity pledges who have been corrupted by mysterious black goo leaking from Caleb Hawthorne’s bust.

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The problem with this twist is that it negates the overall message of the movie. Black Christmas is a strong proponent of the #MeToo movement. It wants to empower women and make men understand that they must be held accountable for their actions, and they can’t just skate by on male privilege why forcing women to sit down and be quiet.

Except, the twist makes it so that most of these men are acting against their wishes. For example, Landon, who is one of the only “good” guys in the film, is turned into a mindless villain for a little while.

Once he snaps out of his hypnosis, he goes back to being normal. So how do we know the other guys that were corrupted by the goo weren’t also regular people and not violent misogynists?

You could argue that Landon stands out since he technically broke free of his corruption before Riley broke the bust, and therefore that could mean the other men were acting of their own volition, but it still leaves some serious questions about their state of mind.

If the film wants to talk about men taking responsibility for their actions, it probably shouldn’t have created a massive excuse for them to use for acting the way they did.

Did you watch Black Christmas in theaters? What did you think of the big twist? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

Black Christmas is now playing in theaters.