Black Christmas (2019) - The Livebloggening
Partial livebloggening, at least, I'm also doing 
femslashex edits right now. It's one of those "two things at once" kind of days and I need to finish these edits.
Because I cannot even list off how many times they discuss Riley, one of the four leads characters' recovery from rape by one of the lead antagonists, and how much this affects all four of the BFFs and how much trauma it gives them.
This Black Christmas (2019) is also a meditation on recovering from rape, so, hey. Also one of the dudes is a pretty good guy, but he still pulls a "not all men" and gets called out for it. It's later in the film.
One sorority sister has been icicled to death. Like, stabbed by an icicle. But I do love the women talking about all kinds of plot-development stuff, I mean, damn. They argue about all kinds of social issues and don't necessarily agree and yet, are all sorority sisters and augh. Kind of agree. LOVE THEM.
The weirdest part of this film is watching Cary Elwes playing a raging misogynist and spouting some shitty anthropology while he does it. I hope his sorry ass dies in a holiday-appropriate way.
Someone on the internet was complaining about this being a SJW-themed horror film, to which I say, "Bring it the fuck on, people. This isn't any different than your usual horror film, honest to God. Oh, look, a rape survivor and her sorority sisters are are getting slaughtered by a frat and their creepy occult rituals SHOCKER."
Look. Some of us want horror movies with a bunch of women trying to survive and getting stronger in their sisterhood, okay? (This is obviously not at any readers here, just aimed at some of the general internet critiques of it.)
There is a talent show and these experienced actors are doing a great job of pretending to be amateurs, but I do think that they're forgetting that you can't see shit like who's in the audience when you're on any stage and there's a spotlight and stage lights in your face. For serious. But I think it's a convention of TV, not meant to reflect reality.
I enjoy the fact that the women are in sexy little Santa dresses when it calls for it (not stripper gear, but reasonable college senior sexy Santa dresses), but also winter-appropriate clothing. Everyone is wearing very non-male-gaze-oriented clothing. NICE.
Though how the hell is this sorority affording a gigantic old limestone building? I was never in a sorority, so what do I know about what they can afford, though. Classwise, these all seem to be rich girls, referencing St. Bart's trips, and the Cary Elwes character talked about parents paying a lot of money for classes. That sorority building is huge, seriously.
Tension does build pretty slowly in this film, a lot more slowly than in the original. I haven't seen the 2006 version.
Holy shit, there's some serious creepy occult stuff in this film, not to mention the tension build in here. Definite callouts to the keys between the fingers thing for fighting back. Also some toxic masculinity here, even though the specific guy in question (one of the sorority girls has a boyfriend) is generally a pretty good guy. That's seriously deconstructed. I love it.
The lighting in this film is beautiful. The violence is absolutely brutal. There's no holding back in this one, not from the women once they're attacked, and definitely not from the attackers. Plus ARCHERY.
I love that the sorority sisters have huge disagreements and still love each other and can give their all into these arguments and still figure it out in the end. That they can fight and disagree and still love each other and also resolve their disagreements. (Also that they insist on being called "women" and not "girls," HELL YES.)
The evil fraternity is apparently attacking a bunch of the sororities around the campus too, like, this is the ultimate in misogyny. Gross, but obviously it's meant to be.
There's a woman collaborating, because of course there is. But she's not safe - because no woman collaborating with a bunch of misogynist assholes is ever going to be safe.
Man. Cary Elwes is chewing that #notallmen misogynist scenery. I would like to see his character stabbed in his sexist face.
This is a really good film. I sometimes - often - take a chance on horror movies and they're bad, but this one is one I could watch a few times over and enjoy it every single time. This is not one I'll get tired of. This entry has been cross-posted to Dreamwidth (
comments). Comments are welcome on either post.
femslashex edits right now. It's one of those "two things at once" kind of days and I need to finish these edits.
Because I cannot even list off how many times they discuss Riley, one of the four leads characters' recovery from rape by one of the lead antagonists, and how much this affects all four of the BFFs and how much trauma it gives them.
This Black Christmas (2019) is also a meditation on recovering from rape, so, hey. Also one of the dudes is a pretty good guy, but he still pulls a "not all men" and gets called out for it. It's later in the film.
One sorority sister has been icicled to death. Like, stabbed by an icicle. But I do love the women talking about all kinds of plot-development stuff, I mean, damn. They argue about all kinds of social issues and don't necessarily agree and yet, are all sorority sisters and augh. Kind of agree. LOVE THEM.
The weirdest part of this film is watching Cary Elwes playing a raging misogynist and spouting some shitty anthropology while he does it. I hope his sorry ass dies in a holiday-appropriate way.
Someone on the internet was complaining about this being a SJW-themed horror film, to which I say, "Bring it the fuck on, people. This isn't any different than your usual horror film, honest to God. Oh, look, a rape survivor and her sorority sisters are are getting slaughtered by a frat and their creepy occult rituals SHOCKER."
Look. Some of us want horror movies with a bunch of women trying to survive and getting stronger in their sisterhood, okay? (This is obviously not at any readers here, just aimed at some of the general internet critiques of it.)
There is a talent show and these experienced actors are doing a great job of pretending to be amateurs, but I do think that they're forgetting that you can't see shit like who's in the audience when you're on any stage and there's a spotlight and stage lights in your face. For serious. But I think it's a convention of TV, not meant to reflect reality.
I enjoy the fact that the women are in sexy little Santa dresses when it calls for it (not stripper gear, but reasonable college senior sexy Santa dresses), but also winter-appropriate clothing. Everyone is wearing very non-male-gaze-oriented clothing. NICE.
Though how the hell is this sorority affording a gigantic old limestone building? I was never in a sorority, so what do I know about what they can afford, though. Classwise, these all seem to be rich girls, referencing St. Bart's trips, and the Cary Elwes character talked about parents paying a lot of money for classes. That sorority building is huge, seriously.
Tension does build pretty slowly in this film, a lot more slowly than in the original. I haven't seen the 2006 version.
Holy shit, there's some serious creepy occult stuff in this film, not to mention the tension build in here. Definite callouts to the keys between the fingers thing for fighting back. Also some toxic masculinity here, even though the specific guy in question (one of the sorority girls has a boyfriend) is generally a pretty good guy. That's seriously deconstructed. I love it.
The lighting in this film is beautiful. The violence is absolutely brutal. There's no holding back in this one, not from the women once they're attacked, and definitely not from the attackers. Plus ARCHERY.
I love that the sorority sisters have huge disagreements and still love each other and can give their all into these arguments and still figure it out in the end. That they can fight and disagree and still love each other and also resolve their disagreements. (Also that they insist on being called "women" and not "girls," HELL YES.)
The evil fraternity is apparently attacking a bunch of the sororities around the campus too, like, this is the ultimate in misogyny. Gross, but obviously it's meant to be.
There's a woman collaborating, because of course there is. But she's not safe - because no woman collaborating with a bunch of misogynist assholes is ever going to be safe.
Man. Cary Elwes is chewing that #notallmen misogynist scenery. I would like to see his character stabbed in his sexist face.
This is a really good film. I sometimes - often - take a chance on horror movies and they're bad, but this one is one I could watch a few times over and enjoy it every single time. This is not one I'll get tired of. This entry has been cross-posted to Dreamwidth (
comments). Comments are welcome on either post.