Black Christmas-- My take on the movie with spoilers!

PLOT SUMMARY: When the girls at a sorority begin to disappear, one of them finds that the college has a dark secret. 

Over the past few days, every movie I’ve picked to watch has been about gender inequality.

The female characters are made aware of their actual place in society. Some of them revolt, others give a fitting reply and take a mature stance.

Black Christmas was not one of the movies that highlighted the issue of gender inequality well.

In fact, it was uncomfortable to watch because the creators tried too hard to show that no, women are superior beings who are ridiculed and suppressed by society.

There’s a point in the movie when one of the male characters stands up for himself and states how unfair it is that all men are lumped together as one just because one man did an unspeakable thing. His reward? He’s unceremoniously thrown out of the house and snubbed by his girlfriend.

Later, when he returns to apologize to his girlfriend and tries to help her friends when they are under attack, he makes a big ruckus and is killed for it.

Yes, male characters in this movie are shown to be dumbos who, when they are told there’s a killer on the loose, makes his presence known by throwing out a challenge.

All this movie has made me realize that in the fight to promote gender equality and be a feminist, all of it has led to hatred against men.

And for some reason, the creators of this movie think that women in theatres will actually stand up and applaud every scene in which a man is shown to be the weaker sex.

So basically, what could have been an enjoyable slasher movie, turns into some sort of agenda that is hard to digest.

I don’t think the whole point of women fighting for their rights has anything to do with showing how evil men can be.

BLACK CHRISTMAS Movie Plot 

The movie begins with one of the sorority girls being sent weird text messages and being stalked on Christmas weekend.

She tries her best to hide and get away, but is killed by a man in a black cape and mask. As she is stabbed with an icicle, she flails her arms in the snow and creates a snow angel.

Yes, all women are angels in the movie and the men are black hoodie-wearing devils.

Forget every sorority movie you’ve seen, the girls in MKE sorority are the bestest friends ever.

We meet Riley, who you know is going to be the survivor in this slasher movie. She is picked on by the professor because Riley’s friend Kris has started a petition to remove the professor from teaching because he refuses to include books written by women in his syllabus.

Riley has a story of her own. She was drugged and raped by the president of the fraternity, Brian.

However, no one believed her and Brian was sent away from college but not punished for his crime.

There’s a Christmas concert going to be held which Riley is choreographing. Her friends Kris, Marty, Jesse and Helena try not to let her get too depressed and encourage her when Landon, a new guy in college, takes a liking to her.

At the AKO fraternity, where the concert is taking place, Riley wanders about and witnesses a ritual taking place where the fraternity founder’s bust is kept in the centre. There’s some black goo seeping out of it which is used to draw marks on the members who are dressed in hooded capes.

Riley is mystified but goes away. She sees her friend Helena with another guy in a room and chases him off. She sends a drunk Helena home and then Riley takes her place at the concert.

Upon seeing Brian, Riley freezes but receiving motivation from her friends, sings out loud about what happened to her and degrades Brian for drugging her and raping her.

The girls receive boos from the boys and cheers from the girls. They rush out but not before Marty’s boyfriend Nate takes a video.

Outside, Riley runs into Landon again who though part of the fraternity, is decent. They all hang out together. Meanwhile, Helena is shown to be abducted.

The next day, one of the sorority sisters is attacked. Riley assumes her friends, apart from Marty and Kris, have gone home for the holidays. The girls all receive texts from the founder of the college.

Riley gets a hunch that her friend Helena may not have gone home when she receives a call from her mother. Riley goes to the police but they hardly take her seriously and assume Helena is safe with a boyfriend.

Riley plays detective around the fraternity and runs into the professor who has a list of the girls in the MKE sorority. Riley flees from there.

She returns home and gets into a fight with her friends, accusing them of provoking the fraternity by uploading the video of their concert.

Nate delivers his dialogue of not every guy being the same and is promptly thrown out of the house.

Jesse goes upstairs to the attic to find Christmas lights for the very expensive tree they all bought. She is attacked and killed.

The remaining friends downstairs are attacked by a man with a bow after receiving threatening texts.

He injures Marty who tries hard to hold onto the assailant so that he doesn’t go after the other girls.

Nate is killed when he tries to be the hero even after Riley tells him to shut up. Kris finds Jesse in the attic.

Riley and Kris manage to kill the assailant and when they remove the mask, sees the very guy Riley had seen in the ritual with a dark mark on his forehead.

The girls escape the house as more men in capes appear. In the car, Riley makes a fuss about exposing the fraternity but Kris just wants to run for her life. Riley gets down from the car and goes to the fraternity where she meets Landon who helps her sneak in.

Kris calls the police and we see them appear at another fraternity where the girls are being attacked.

So apparently, all the girls are being killed and this is never going to make the news? People are not going to ask what happened to the female students.

If the professors and the whole college itself doesn’t want female students, why let them apply for admission in the first place? Isn’t that simpler than murdering them in a hate crime?

The policeman is killed, which will not raise any eyebrows. After all, it is a small town where people can be killed and raped and no justice will be served.

It is up to Kris to lay down the law.

BLACK CHRISTMAS Ending Explained with Spoilers!

Riley obviously cannot manage on her own at the fraternity when she is confronted by the professor who is the mastermind behind this all. Landon is easily hypnotized when the dark goo is put on him. Helena appears and it is revealed she is the traitor.

Because this is how it all worked. The founder of the college hated women and didn’t think they should be allowed to study. Over the years, progress was made in women rights which angered him. So before he died, he dabbled in dark arts and left behind a legacy for the fraternity to follow.

The fraternity had to treat women like crap and steal their objects to be used as tracking devices for the hypnotized to seek them and kill them. Kind of like how dogs are used. You can roll your eyes now.

Helena betrayed her sisters, stole their objects so the hypnotized dogs...members could track their victims and kill them brutally. She is killed by the frats because they don’t care she was willing to stand behind them and do their bidding. They are traitorous as well.

Just before Riley is about to be strangled, Kris appears with her army of women and weapons. A fight ensues and the women are on the losing side.

Leave it to Riley to break free, reach the bust still oozing dark goo and smash it on the ground.

The professor is set on fire which causes the whole house to burn. The girls and Landon barely make it out.

Riley is shown to be pleased that the house is burned down.

What will happen when an investigation takes place? Will the girls be arrested?

Will they be allowed to study in college?

Do they even want to?

This movie fails to patch up the plot holes and tries too hard to show women as victims.

Yes, there is unfairness, fewer opportunities for women and the expectation to always take a back seat. Still, to show that solely men are responsible for this and that all of them are evil, black magic conducting killers is a bit over the top.

It spoils the whole essence of slasher movies. Perhaps if the writer and director had toned down the political agenda, this movie could have been a tad enjoyable.

Scare scale: 2/5