Black Christmas takes a sorority slasher film – some would say the founding father of slasher films – and turns it into a horror movie about the bonds of sisterhood. The remake, out in theaters now, explores the same premise as the original but with a Me Too-style twist. Director Sophia Takal spoke with Screen Rant about her motivations in crafting the message behind the film and the support she received from Blumhouse Productions.
Great job on this film. I love the message that it send and that song. I don't want to spoil it, but that song is brilliant. I want to ask you about the song first: how did you guys come up with that? Who wrote the lyrics?
Sophia Takal: Riki Lindhome, do you know who that is? She's a really wonderful actor and writer and singer. We were lucky enough to have her write the lyrics for the song.
For me, I wanted that moment to be a moment where our main character Riley is tired of hiding behind the walls she's put up because of past trauma and find strength with her sisters to get out there and speak her voice and have it feel like a moment of victory for our main character. I wanted something that was fun and cheeky, but also had a little bit of a message. I think that's kind of the tone of the movie in general, fun and cheeky and exciting and fresh.
Absolutely. Also, this movie's ahead of the curve because I don't really think you see - in front of the camera or behind the camera - so much female empowerment. Can you talk to me about bringing that element to this version of Black Christmas?
Sophia Takal: Yeah, I was really inspired by the original Black Christmas. I think that film has extraordinarily complex, exciting female characters, and so I wanted to bring a movie to the screen that reflected that kind of freshness in 2019.
Blumhouse is killing the game with horror movies. Can you talk to me about the collaboration of working with them?
Sophia Takal: I loved working with Blumhouse. They're an incredibly supportive, filmmaker-friendly company. They really helped guide the process and make helped me make the best version of this movie possible, without trying to make it something different that I didn't want it to be. They didn't shy away from what might be considered the more controversial things about the film. They were really excited to to make a movie from a female point of view.
I think that's something they do so well: social commentary with their films. I think it's brilliant. Something else that I loved about this film, too, is that most films that have a lot of female characters usually pit them against each other. This one is really about sisterhood, the bond of sisterhood and coming together. Can you talk to me about that element of the film as well?
Sophia Takal: Yeah. I have made a few movies where women were pitted against one another. And I felt like over the past few years, I've definitely felt a sense of camaraderie amongst women grow and expand and I wanted to make a movie that was reflective of that. I think, right now, women are coming together and finding strength together and that their voices are more powerful when they're multiplied.
A lot of horror films can be looked at as cautionary tales. What are you hoping audiences take away from this version of Black Christmas?
Sophia Takal: I really hope audiences, first and foremost, have a really fun and scary time watching the movie. And I hope that they leave the theater and talk about what their experiences are like as men and women, and maybe the ways we don't see eye to eye or the ways that we do.
Talk to me about some of the influences that you may or may not have used from the original Black Christmas and then the remake with Lacey Chabert.
Sophia Takal: I think the tone of the original was something that was really important for me to capture in 2019. In making the movie, we had a lot of 70s cinematic references and we used a lot of the weapons that are in the original; that the killer uses. But this time the women wield those same weapons, which was kind of a fun little twist. And really just making sure to honor the original by making this movie feel as fleshed out and elegant as that movie did at the time.
