To its credit, Blumhouse seems to have taken criticisms of its previously all-male directorial lineup to heart: The company’s Hulu anthology series Into The Dark has featured three episodes helmed by female directors—two of whom were on our list of women we thought would fit in well at Blumhouse—since studio head Jason Blum took some heat for his comments on the subject back in October of last year. Blumhouse also recently announced Zoe Lister-Jones as the director of its upcoming remake of The Craft, the first woman to direct a feature film for the horror-centric studio. Today, that number doubles*, as The Hollywood Reporter reveals that Blumhouse is producing a remake of Bob Clark’s influential 1974 proto-slasher Black Christmas directed by Sophia Takal.
Black Christmas was remade once before, in a version of the story starring Katie Cassidy, Michelle Trachtenberg, and Mary Elizabeth Winstead that came out back in 2006. That film was perfectly serviceable as a horror remake, but didn’t boast the strong directorial point of view that Takal could bring to the project. (Her 2016 film Always Shine featured a number of innovative stylistic techniques designed to create a sense of unease and confusion in the viewer.) The remake stars Imogen Poots, a highlight of 2015's Green Room, alongside co-stars Aleyse Shannon, Brittany O’Grady, Lily Donoghue, and Caleb Eberhardt. The film is female-led on the page as well, with a script co-written by Takal and Switchblade Sisters podcast host (and A.V. Club contributor) April Wolfe.
Blumhouse’s Black Christmas will shoot in New Zealand soon, and hits theaters on December 13. You can see the poster and the trailer for the original film below.
*All sarcasm aside, we’re glad that Blumhouse didn’t just get one female director and call it a day.