Horror movies and fiction are grimdark's twin sister and father, respectively. So Grimdark Magazine will be reviewing classic horror movies and novels to share in shared DNA. This is the perfect place to compare the 2019 Black Christmas remake to the 1974 classic. Many have criticized the remake for reasons ranging from politics to low production values, but I intend to give both movies a fair chance. True, one of the films is arguably one of the greatest slasher movies ever made–its remake will face stiff competition.  The original Black Christmas was inspired by an urban legend about an escaped mental patient murdering babysitters. That inspired Halloween in 1978. The story was changed to take place in a sorority house full of hard-partying young women. A Nightmare on Elm Street star John Saxon (Romeo and Juliet) and Keir Duella (2001: A Space Odyssey) are among the cast.  The sorority house has been receiving obscene phone calls from an unknown caller, which they finally get sick of and confront him. Clare Harrison, a young woman, is murdered in the sorority house's upstairs before her body is stored in the attic. The rest of the movie follows our protagonists as they desperately search for their missing (but dead) friend.  There's also a surprising subplot about Jess (Olivia Hussey) breaking up with her boyfriend because he won't respect her desire to get an abortion rather than marry. A controversial topic today, let alone in 1974 after Roe v. Wade. Despite being set in America, this was a Canadian film and thus less controversial.  Because most popular slasher tropes hadn't been codified yet, much of the film feels defiant. Aside from a single eyeball and his frequent phone calls, the film's female characters shine. Contrary to genre convention, the most virginal woman dies first. There is a Final Girl character, but her ability to stand up to the killer is constantly undermined.  Black Christmas 2019  The 2019 remake of Black Christmas isn't the first, which was in 2006, but we won't cover it. It has a very different plot than the original film, to the point where it could be considered a different film. It's been described as a feminist reinterpretation of the original by Takal and April Wolfe.  Riley (Imogen Poots) is sexually assaulted on campus by an AKO Fraternity member. After slamming her rapist, Brian (Ryan McIntyre), she finds her sorority under attack by robed occultists. In the early 1900s, an evil wizard plantation owner passed down a magical ooze that turns pledges into mind-controlled misogynist serial killers. Our heroes defeat a small army of cultists while losing several members.  The plot summaries reveal that the two storylines are vastly different. In the original Black Christmas, a single killer stalks and terrorizes women one by one. The remake's killers are masked assassins who attack in public. A misogynist psychopath whose origins are unknown, Billy is a more “realistic” threat than the weird occult antagonists of the second. The second movie's creators emphasize feminism, but I think the first is quite feminist. The heroines are all free and self-reliant women. They are also very close. When Clare goes missing, the sorority girls spend the next day searching the campus and surrounding area for her. They go to the cops and rely on each other as they realize they will never see her alive again.  In contrast to Clare's quick plastic bag execution, one of their friends is murdered early in the remake, and the women don't notice for most of the film. Her disappearance is unremarkable, and Riley's trauma is given more attention. This makes the 2019 movie's sorority sisters seem less supportive and, ironically, less feminist.