This movie had a lot going for it. Really, the director was fabulous- especially with that opening shot and the overall use of color throughout the film- and the actors all are extremely talented... but it totally bombs where it matters most: the story.
"Black Christmas" 1974 is a masterpiece that kicked off (technically slasher) horror films that would follow such as "Halloween." Now, "Black Christmas" 2019 is a horrid dumpster fire of a film not only as a remake but as a piece of cinema in general. The story isn't enjoyable whether a person has watched the original or not. The moral is honestly terrible- I'm a woman and even I felt bad for the terrible picture being drawn of men. There is no suspense in the film: right off the bat, the audience knows there's a cult involved (because of the trailer), the audience knows the male professor is the head of said cult because he's such a masagonistic darling in his very first scene in the movie, and every other little piece of foreshadowing in the movie is just so in-your-face and awkwardly forward that there is practically no reason to finish the movie because the audience already knows what's about to come their way.
This film lacks everything that made the 1974 version special. There is no dramatic irony; the audience knows all the girls are dead/missing at the same time the girls find out. There is no sadness for the girls' deaths. Audiences don't feel anything in the movie except annoyance that it actually took the name of one of the most nuanced psychological horror film of all time and turned it into slasher shlock that wouldn't even entertain the most desperate of horror fans.
Somehow, this film actually made the original 2006 remake look FANTASTIC.