It's wild how the three BLACK CHRISTMASES are so different from each other. That's how you do a remake (s)!

I was all in for the committed performances, the serious treatment of sexual assault, the confident direction, the EXORCIST 3 homage, and the wild twist...but it just doesn't nail the landing. The twist is neat but isn't explored very deeply, and as a consequence, it kinda dilutes everything that came before. And the last five minutes, while not terrible, feel compromised. The big pay-offs the film is building too don't register. It's in desperate need of some big gore gags to inflict on its villains and the rating won't let it do it.

But everything else is great.

UPDATE: I watched this with Emily and prefaced it with the backlash it received (before it even came out!), and it was a delight to watch her get angrier and angrier as it played: "Why the fuck didn't people like this? This is how I and my friends talk goddammit! It's a solid slasher!"