Black Christmas

Plot synopsis:
The film opens at night on a snow-covered college campus. There is a Christmas party underway in one of the sorority houses, a large converted mansion. The sorority sisters and many of their boyfriends are inside. Outside in the snow, a point-of-view shot illustrates someone looking into the windows. The person breathes heavily and seems to be a man, but this is all we can tell. The person prowls around before climbing a rose trellis and entering the house through an attic window. He then climbs down through the attic trap door and lurks in the upstairs of the house, watching the girls downstairs.One of the sorority sisters, Barb Coard (Margot Kidder), receives a phone call from her mother. Barb seems to have been planning on going home over the Christmas holiday, but her mother has made plans to go away with her latest boyfriend. Barb calls her mother a gold-plated whore and says she'll make other plans for the break. She asks fellow sorority sisters Phyllis Carlson (Andrea Martin) and Jessica Bradford (Olivia Hussey) to go skiing with her instead. Jess also gets a phone call from her boyfriend, Peter (Kier Dullea), an aspiring concert pianist. She seems tense and wants to talk to Peter about something important. She says she'll see him tomorrow at the rehearsal studio. After their boyfriends leave, the girls get another phone call; Jess answers the phone and announces to all the other girls that its "The Moaner". Together they listen to the bizarre phone call, which starts out with simply heavy breathing and then
escalates into strange ranting and obscene language. Barb gets on the receiver and bawls out the caller, firing back with her own obscene comments, until the caller suddenly lowers his voice and says "I'm going to kill you." He then hangs up.A sorority sister named Clare Harrison (Lynne Griffin) seems more timid than the others. She questions Barb's judgment in provoking an unstable individual, and reminds her that a girl from town was raped recently by an unknown assailant. Barb reacts angrily and upsets Clare, who then goes upstairs to pack; her father is picking her up the next day to take her home for Christmas. Clare finds Claude, the house mother's cat, in her room, even though the door is closed. She is unaware the killer is watching her from within her closet. In a morbid twist, the psychopath meows like Claude and lures Clare into the closet, where he lunges at her and wraps plastic cleaning bags around her head, smothering her to death. He then carries her body up into the attic and places it in a rocking chair by the window, the plastic bag still over her head. He places a doll in her lap and refers to her as Agnes.Downstairs, the other girls are oblivious to Clare's death, and they welcome in the house mother, Mrs. Mac (Marian Waldman), who seems to have just returned from shopping. They present her with a Christmas gift: a frilly nightgown. She pretends to like it but makes sarcastic remarks about it (and the girls themselves) while she is alone. Mrs. Mac goes to the library and seeks a book--"B for Booze!"--and hidden inside of it is a bottle of brandy, from which she takes a secret drink. She later fishes a bottle out of the toilet tank in her bathroom, as well, and rinses her mouth with booze after brushing her teeth.The next day, Clare's father (James Edmond) comes to collect her, but she is not at the appointed place. When he seeks her at the sorority house, he is shocked by the sexually suggestive posters he finds in her room, and also surprised that she has a boy's photo next to her bed (her boyfriend, Chris). Mr. Harrison seems to blame Mrs. Mac for the permissive attitude in the house. Mrs. Mac assures him that Clare is a good girl, and that she's probably just at one of the fraternity houses visiting Chris. Mr. Harrison offers to drop Mrs. Mac off at the store on his way there. Before they leave, Mrs. Mac hears Claude meowing but cannot find him; he is in the attic.Jess visits Peter while he is practicing for a very important audition, and she breaks some news to him: she is unexpectedly pregnant. Peter thinks it's good news, but Jess admits that she wasnt even going to tell Peter about it. Jess intends to get an abortion. Peter is adamantly opposed to this, and makes an ominous threat against Jess for even considering such a thing.Barb is at the fraternity house with Phyl's boyfriend, who is dressed like Santa and taking photos with small children. Barb has a bottle of wine and is getting drunk, and she gives one of the children sips of her alcohol. Mr. Harrison phones home and assures his wife that they will find Clare.Back at the sorority house, Jess receives another obscene phone call. This one is more elaborate; the killer speaks in several different voices and makes references to "Agnes" and "Billy". He also seems to be speaking in the voices of two adults, presumably the parents of Agnes and Billy. The voices even seem to overlap at times, adding to the unsettling effect. Jess is upset, especially after her confrontation with Peter.Phyl and Barb take Mr. Harrison to the police station to report Clare missing. The officer on duty at the desk, Sgt. Nash (Douglas McGrath), endures hostility from Barb about the incident. Sgt. Nash tells Mr. Harrison that hes sure Clare is just somewhere with Chris. Sgt. Nash asks Barb for the phone number at the sorority house, and she tells him its Fellatio-20880. "It's a new exchange, FE" she explains. Nash, who apparently does not know the meaning of the word fellatio, writes it down and thanks her.Back at the sorority house, Mrs. Mac tells Jess that Clare is missing, so Jess goes to see Chris while he is at hockey practice. Chris is furious when Jess tells him that the police are not taking it seriously because they think she's shacked up somewhere with him.Peter performs his audition and fails miserably, distraught about the news Jess has given him. The instructors who listen to the recital are shocked that he cannot seem to hit the right notes, and later he destroys the piano after they've gone.Chris and Jess appear at the police station and Chris angrily lashes out at Sgt. Nash for having a big mouth (meaning his suggestion that Clare was shacked up with him). Lt. Fuller (John Saxon) overhears and becomes interested in the case--he has already been taking another missing person report from a distraught mother named Mrs. Quaife, whose 13-year-old daughter Janice has suddenly disappeared while on her way home from school.Mr. Harrison has dinner with Phyl, Barb, and Mrs. Mac at the sorority house, but Barb is extremely drunk and launches into a vulgar tirade that ends with her lashing out at the others. Barb feels guilty because she was careless to Clare, and she says the others think her disappearance is Barb's fault. Barb's curt suggestion that Clare might be dead shocks Mr. Harrison, and Phyl reacts angrily, telling Barb to go to bed. Barb goes upstairs and leaves them alone. Meanwhile, Jess and Chris come back to the house and tell the others about Janice Quaife's disappearance. A search is underway, and Phyl and Mr. Harrison join them. Mrs. Mac tells them that she's leaving for her sisters house and may not be there when they return. When Jess leaves, Mrs. Mac packs her bags and calls a cab, but she is distracted by sounds from the attic: the killer lures her into the attic by making sounds like the cat. When Mrs. Mac opens the attic door, he swings a large hook at her, designed to pull things up into the attic crawlspace. The hook impales her under her chin and hangs her. Outside, the cabbie becomes impatient and leaves.The extensive search of the park turns up a body: Janice Quaife. Jess rushes back to the house, where she receives another frightening phone call from the killer. Again he uses multiple voices and reenacts some weird scenario involving naughty Billy and baby Agnes. This time, Jess calls the police to report the obscene phone calls. As she talks to Sgt. Nash, a figure approaches her from behind and startles her--it is Peter, who has been napping in the house while waiting for Jess to return. Nash does not take Jess's report seriously, although Mr. Harrison is sitting near him in the police station and overhears him talking to Jess about the calls. He and Phyl and Chris tell Lt. Fuller about it, and Lt. Fuller angrily scolds Nash for being so inept.Meanwhile, Peter proposes to Jess. He would like to quit the conservatory and marry Jess and be a father to her child. Jess, however, refuses. She does not want to get married or have a child yet, as she has things she wants to accomplish first. Peter becomes hurt and angry, telling Jess that she's talking about killing their baby as if it's like having a wart removed. Jess becomes frightened by his mounting hostility, and tells Peter to leave.Just as Peter is walking out, Phyl arrives with Lt. Fuller and a phone company rep named Graham, who puts a tap on the house phone. Fuller notices that Peter seemed angry, and he questions Jess about it. He also looks around Clare's room and asks more questions about her. Graham asks if there is another phone in the house and Fuller tells him that it is a private line belonging to Mrs. Mac and that there have been no obscene phone calls on it, so they don't tap it. Fuller tells Jess that he'll be listening in on all of her phone conversations from the station, and Graham tells her to keep the caller on the line for as long as possible so that he can trace the call. Fuller has also left an officer in a squad car outside to watch the house.When he leaves, Phyl begins crying and tells Jess that she's sure Clare is dead. Tired and emotionally exhausted, she goes to bed, and Jess waits for another phone call. Meanwhile, the killer goes into Barb's room and watches her sleeping. Barb, who has asthma, suddenly suffers an attack, and Jess rushes to her aid with an inhaler. Barb tells her that she had a nightmare about a stranger coming into her room. Barb goes back to sleep, and Jess is distracted by a group of Christmas carolers at the front door. The singing masks the sounds of Barb's murder; the killer returns and stabs her to death using a glass ornament near her bed.The carolers are suddenly rushed off by a concerned parent who has just found out about the murder of the little girl in the park. Jess hears the phone ringing, and it's the killer. He wails at her in a strange voice, and says "It's just like having a wart removed!" before hanging up. Jess is shocked; these are words she used in private to Peter. Lt. Fuller picks up on this but Jess denies that it has any significance. Phyl comes back downstairs and Jess tells her about what just happened; Phyl seems to not think the killer could possibly be Peter, and neither does Jess, but she is not sure. Peter himself calls then, and begs Jess not to kill the baby. This conversation doesn't last long enough to trace, either, but Fuller calls to ask Jess about what they were talking about. Jess admits she's pregnant, and that Peter objects to an abortion, and Fuller seems to think that Peter could be the caller after all. Jess, however, has a revelation: Peter was here at the house with her when one of the calls came through, so it couldnt be Peter calling. Fuller is still suspicious, and he requests Peters records from the Dean of Admissions. He goes to the conservatory and finds the piano violently smashed.Jess is convinced that she can now rule out Peter as a suspect, and both she and Phyl are relieved. They have a brief laugh after they are startled by two bumbling men from town who are out looking for the killer. Phyl and Jess go around the house locking all the doors and windows, when Phyl goes into Barb's room. Just inside the door, someone whispers "Agnes!" and the door slams shut. Jess tries to find Phyl but the phone rings; its the killer again. This time Jess keeps him on the phone long enough for Graham to trace the calls--they are coming from 6 Belmont Street, the same address as the sorority house itself. Nash radios Fuller with the news, and Fuller realizes the calls are coming from the house mother's phone. He tries to radio the policeman parked outside the sorority house, but the cop is now dead, his throat slit by the killer. Fuller radios Nash and tells him to call Jess and warn her to get out of there, without letting on that the killer is in the house with her. Nash, of course, is unable to do this; when Jess tells him she's going to go upstairs and get Phyl and Barb, Nash admits that the calls are coming from inside the sorority house itself.Jess is terrified, and she screams out for Phyl and Barb over and over again. The house is silent. Instead of leaving, Jess gets a poker from the fireplace and goes upstairs. In Barb's room, she finds the bodies of both Phyl and Barb on the bed. From the crack in the door, Jess sees the killer's eye watching her. "Agnes, its me, Billy! Don't tell what we did!" he whispers. Jess slams the door on him and runs. Howling in rage and pain, the killer chases after her. With no time to unlock the front door, Jess heads for the cellar. The killer catches her hair as she passes the stairs, but Jess is able to break free and bolt the cellar door behind her just in time. Eventually the maniac stops pounding on the door, and Jess hears sounds as if he is going out the front door. Unsure, she remains in the cellar. Through the basement windows, Jess can see someone prowling around the house. Unable to gain admittance, the figure seems to spot Jess in the cellar; it is Peter. He calls out to her but Jess ignores him. Peter breaks a window and enters the basement with her. "Whats the matter, Jess?" he asks, as she approaches her. He will not be dissuaded.Outside, Fuller arrives with other policemen close behind, and they find the patrolman dead in his car. Hearing Jess screaming from inside the house, they break in. By the time they reach the basement, they find Jess and Peter lying together; they appear to both be dead, but Jess stirs. She has killed Peter with the fire poker.A doctor gives Jess a sedative and she is sleeping, although the house is bustling with activity. Fuller, unable to question her, hypothesizes about the case, convinced that Peter was the killer. Mr. Harrison suddenly goes into shock. The doctor intervenes and wants to take Mr. Harrison to the hospital. Chris leaves with them, and so do the other police officers, leaving Jess alone and unconscious with a guard in front of the house. After they leave, the house is silent, and the attic door opens. The bodies of Clare and Mrs. Mac are still up there, unnoticed by anybody yet. The killer climbs down out of the attic, saying "Agnes, its me, Billy!" As the camera slowly pulls away from the house, we see the lone police officer on the front porch, smoking a cigarette. Suddenly the phone begins to ring, just as it did after all the murders that came before.

Tags: comedy, avant garde, dark, murder, mystery, cult, horror, suspenseful

Review:
Major credit must go to director Bob Clark (who went on to direct the epic "Citizen Kane" remake and because of legal reasons had to change it's title to "Porky's") who like John Carpenter in "Halloween", is able to create a current and simplistic creepy atmosphere.
"Black Christmas" is indeed very similar to "Halloween": Both movies are themed with a particular time of year, both movies feature a killer with breathing problems who loves POV shots, and both movies have a long and slow build-up that makes the audience care for the characters that are about to get slashed.
The difference is that "Black Christmas" does it much better, in fact, I think it is a superior film.The movie begins with a shaky POV shot of a stranger who decides to sneak inside a sorority house in order to get some fresh meat.
Also noticeable is cult star John Saxon as Lt. Fuller who many years later started showing his personal love for "Black Christmas" on interviews.The well-balanced doses of drama and comedy connects the audience to the characters on screen so strongly that they sometimes we forget it is a horror movie.
What at first appears to be a sick joke eventually turns violent for the girls during the season of supposed goodwill and merriment.The original and maybe even the best, Black Christmas' set the ball rolling for the slasher genre and was the biggest influence for the phenomenally successful John Carpenter classic, Halloween' (1978), which was, in fact, originally conceived as a sequel.
In some ways, the concealing of several key points puts the viewer's knowledge of events on a par with the actual characters.Black Christmas' is also complimented wonderfully by strong acting performances from Olivia Hussey, Margot Kidder, John Saxon and a highly pleasant and amusing turn from Marian Waldman.
Basically its Christmas time, as the title suggests and an unknown killer has found his way into the attic of a sorority girls house and begins killing them one by one.
Bob Clark's "Black Christmas" is a horror classic.It's obvious that it was clearly an influence on the slasher films of the late seventies and early eighties."Black Christmas" takes place in a sorority house.Most of the sorority sisters go home for the holidays,while Barb(Margot Kidder),Jess(Oivia Hussey)and Phyl(Andrea Martin)stay behind.At the outset of the film,we see a mysterious killer enter the house and hide in the attic.He then begins to kill the sisters one by one,with each murder being followed by a disturbing phone call.Bob Clark managed to create a startling atmosphere of total dread and fear.The finale is extremely creepy and memorable.The soundtrack,particularly the killer's voice on the phone is frighteningly effective.So if you want to be scared give this gem a look.Highly recommended..
The central theme of this film is that you can't trust anyone, friend or foe, and the scares are genuine, and come psychologically, instead of in your face like "Halloween" or "Friday the 13th." Bob Clark is in love with his actors as he photographs them in brightexuberant colors, while his killer is photographed in jaundiced, grainy colors.
Well a few years before those movie villains hit the screen there was another killer who packed a powerful punch his name was Billy and he was terrifying in the 1974 film "Black Christmas".
before john carpenters Halloween black Christmas really set the bar high for how good a slasher movie can be.
the killer in the film is also a very memorable and iconic villain and his phone conversations with the sorority girls are definitely disturbing and riveting.in truth there really isn't anything wrong with the movie I give it a perfect 10/10.
In one small aspect, "Black Christmas" is a transitional film set between the television gothic supsense thrillers and the onset of the slasher genre epitomized by 1978's "Halloween" and 1979's "Friday the 13th".
Olivia Hussey plays Jess, the main target of the killer with appropriate wide eyed intensity, Margot Kidder is briefly seen as the house mother, and horror regular John Saxon shows up as a suspicious Police Chief as well.
Merry Christmas To All. Really scary film with one scene near the end (hair is a clue for those who have seen this movie) that when I saw it in the theater had almost everyone jump out of their seats screaming.
They set up a wiretap to the sorority house, but will they be in time to prevent a sorority girl attrition problem?"Black Christmas" is that rare horror movie that gets everything right.
If that doesn't make a true psycho, I really don't know what does."Black Christmas" is quite simply the best horror movie I've ever seen.
In fact, the film has the (dubious) distinction of being the first 'proper' slasher film, influencing many others that were to come later, including the classic HALLOWEEN.The director, Bob Clark, was no stranger to horror films, having directed CHILDREN SHOULDN'T PLAY WITH DEAD THINGS.
Four years before the unprecedented success of John Carpenter's landmark American horror film "Halloween" in 1978, there was this little gem from Canada called "Black Christmas," directed in 1974 by the late Bob Clark ("A Christmas Story," my #4 favorite film of all time and Clark's possible anti-thesis to this film), and was arguably the first true slasher film (1974 was also the same year that American filmmaker Tobe Hooper directed the landmark "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre")."Black Christmas" is an expertly directed horror film, there's no question about that.
First and foremost, this is a horror film - a seriously effective and scary one at that.Upon having watched "Black Christmas," there's no doubt in my mind that John Carpenter and company watched this film at least once (and took some very, very good notes) and it most definitely played a hand in influencing the directorial style of "Halloween" (although it's widely known that Alfred Hitchcock's landmark 1960 thriller "Psycho" had the most influence on "Halloween").
I love "Halloween," by the way, and having this information on-hand makes me appreciate both films even more as seriously scary horror flicks.)What makes "Black Christmas" such an important staple in the horror genre is that a lot of the slasher movie elements that most likely first appeared in this film were later used, and popularized, by "Halloween" just four years later down the road.
We also hear his breathes as he stalks the house sisters, and he is always that unseen-but-always-felt presence in the room, like something horrible is lurking just out of sight in the shadows.The women of the Pi Kappa Sig house are preparing to leave for the Christmas holidays, but a few - Jess (Olivia Hussey), Barb (Margot Kidder), Phyl (Andrea Martin), and house mother Mrs. Mac (Marian Waldman) - decide to stay behind.
It's up to the police, led by Lt. Fuller (John Saxon), to try to find this psycho before he kills anyone else.Even though "Black Christmas" does feature some particularly gruesome and shocking scenes of murder and mayhem, it actually contains very little gore (it's possible that it, like "Halloween," took a few cues from "Psycho"), the film still works largely through the power of suggestion - like what you don't see is far more terrifying because your mind allows you to fill in the gaps.
But make no mistake, the first order of business in "Black Christmas" is horror, and scaring the living daylights out of you, which it does in spades with suspense, easily identifiable and memorable characters (especially Margot Kidder - go, Margot!), Bob Clark's sharp direction, and minimal gore.
BLACK CHRISTMAS is one of the best of the horror genre and HALLOWEEN, although a great film itself, borrows much from this film - John Carpenter was friends with Bob Clark and even had asked Clark if he was going to do a sequel.
It's a shame that Clark turned his back on the horror genre after BLACK CHRISTMAS and directed crap like the PORKY'S movies and LOOSE CANNONS.
This I feel is a better film, capturing a more timeless sense of Christmas cheer than the overly sentimental Christmas Story, but putting a psychotic murder mystery twist on the season.Black Christmas is set in a sorority house as the holiday break sees most of the residents leave to spend time with family, with a few staying behind to look after the house.
Olivia Hussey plays Jess, who has a secret between her and her boyfriend Peter (played by Keir Dullea, Dave from 2001 A Space Odyssey), Margot Kidder as the crass alcoholic Barb, Andrea Martin (pre SCTV stardom) as the reasonable yet timid Phyl, Marian Waldman as the frumpy boozing house mother Mrs Mac (easily steals a lot of scenes with her secret sherry stashes), and John Saxon as the police lieutenant Ken Fuller investigating the harassing calls.The film is innovative in more than just being a prototype to the future slasher genre which would explode in the 70's and 80's, with first person POV shots from the killer, a goosebump inducing experimental soundtrack made up broken piano sounds that creeps throughout, and some tropes that would later become famous with films like When a Stranger Calls and Halloween.
The film is a slow burn in tension with characters becoming uneasy over days as well as the phone calls getting more personal and insane, so if you're looking for a gory kill a minute horror you might not be very impressed with this film.However if you're looking for a creepy Christmas horror to experience this year I'd gladly recommend you check out this unique early slasher.
Don't be fooled by the lovers of this film who say it's better; while good, it's definitely not near the classic that Halloween is.Olivia Hussey just does not demonstrate the same fear that Jamie Lee Curtis does and John Saxon appears too cool as a cumber to match the "everyone needs to be afraid" distraught characterization that Donald Pleasance brought to his authority figure.Margot Kidder, however, shines as the comic relief, better than the similar characters in Halloween.
The second instalment of my (diminishing) 'Shitty Christmas' film selections, not only is the late Bob Clark's Black Christmas a perfectly mean spirited holiday movie, it's a highly influential horror.It's the week before Christmas break at a quaint American college campus.
And wow, there are so many here including horny young girls, implausible 'don't go in there!' plot points, seven absurd fatalities, melodrama screams and glimmers of German expressionism, maniacal phone calls, a stoic detective, an Oedipally complex serial killer and, best of all, Carl Zittrer's clamorous score which comines distorted sound of cutlery clanging together and ominous analogue synths.Alongside all this genuinely nuevo scares, horrophiles will relish in spotting the homages Bob Clark fits into the movie, with callbacks' to the POV killings from Michael Powell's Peeping Tom, psychoanalytical paranoia stemming from Hitchcock's handbook, and the same eerie claustrophobia as Robert Siodmak's fantastic 1945 mystery The Spiral Staircase.Far from formulaic, Bob Clark's Black Christmas is the precursor to the Slasher sub-genre it would spawn, and it's still better than most of it's derivations today.
The fact that (despite the inevitable and tired re-make) most people don't know about/haven't seen 'Black Christmas' is certainly criminal as in terms of chills, suspense, and quality of filmmaking it is far ahead of virtually every other film in the slasher genre.
Its about a group of sorority girls who receive menacing phone calls on Christmas break, and eventually begin getting picked off one by one, by an unseen killer who has been hiding in the attic of their sorority house.
The phone calls through out the movie are very creepy, and the movie is very atmospheric, and its clear this was an inspiration for John Carpenters horror classic, Halloween, which is much more well known.
It remains to be seen if the few girls remaining in the house (most have left for their vacations) can survive the ordeal.It has naturally been mentioned many times how certain elements in this story would be popularized in subsequent movies like "Halloween" and "When a Stranger Calls".
Clark goes for a largely subtle approach, emphasizing the atmosphere and creepiness, utilizing a little bit of gore, but mostly going for a classic "old dark house" type of feeling.The sense of humour is a great asset, as well, with scene stealing Margot Kidder, as the vulgar sorority sister Barb (who also displays a touching vulnerability at one point) supplying much of it.
The film has a great advantage though of good acting by the female leads played by Kidder and Hussey and there isn't a lot of gore, which proves Clark relies on good Hitchcokian suspense to scare, making the film not to be hampered by typical gatutus sex, nudity, gore, or sleaze.The story is about an obscene phone caller that dials up a sorority house.
Suspicions are cast on the crazy-boyfriend-as-a-potential-suspect (Dullea) of the coed (Hussey) that survives the longest, but his creepiness is never fully explored.Overall, while Black Christmas is innovative but made a strong attempt at suspense and terror, it would easily inspire many latter-day horror movies like Student Bodies, When a Stranger Calls, Silent Night, Deadly Night, Halloween, just to name a few, its progeny wouldn't always improve on the formula.
Black Christmas tells the story of a group of girls in a sorority house who are getting obscene calls from a mysterious man.
Keir Dullea gave an intense performance, and Canadians Margot Kidder and Andrea Martin were both funny and dramatic.Overall, Black Christmas isn't a great classic, but it was the first slasher movie ever made, and it is the reason that most slasher movies are the way they are.7/10.
Marian Waldman is a riot as the house-mother for the sorority girls, Mrs. Mac.The plot, pacing and general story is probably nothing new to anyone who has seen "Scream" or "Halloween", as previously mentioned, many slashers take a least a note or two from "Black Christmas", which does everything splendidly.
Great direction, interesting camera angles, a couple of good jump scenes, and then there's the telephone calls...perhaps one of the most disturbing things in all slasher movies.So overall, "Black Christmas" is an amazing slasher-horror film, setting the stage for a myriad of followers over the years, but thirty years later, does not seem out-dated or cheesy.
Worried about the girl, her father and her friends go to the police for help and the detective involved discovers that maybe the girls' disappearance, a murder of a child and that of the obscene phone calls share a common interest.I remember when I use to think that Halloween was the begin all and end all of slashers and even to a extend horror films.
I had gotten to the point to where I thought I had seen all of the great horror pictures of this time period...including...THE CHANGELING, AN American WEREWOLF IN London, THE DEAD ZONE, SHAUN OF THE DEAD, EVIL DEAD 2, THE THING (1982), HALLOWEEN, THE SHINING, SUSPIRIA, THE DESCENT, DEAD-ALIVE(aka BRAINDEAD), THE EXORCIST and THE BROOD...to name a few, so obviously I was skeptical that this film BLACK Christmas that had passed me by for almost my whole life could actually be as good as all my fellow IMDb reviewers were stating.
It's been compared to HALLOWEEN and John Carpenter's film is certainly one of the best of the genre but BLACK Christmas...dare I say it...is actually better..scarier and more original.
But if B.C. has a merit, is to be original for this time, it has a twist-end and it's the first Canadian slasher, with good and popular actors (Olivia Hussey, Keir Dullea, Margot Kidder and John Saxon).
Don't get me wrong, Black Christmas and Halloween are both excellent movies, but even Carpenter said that Halloween was his Argento film, or somesuch.I guess what was new here (maybe?) was that no explanation was given for the killer's motivation, and that adds to the creepiness.
However, none of those films actually scared me like Black Christmas (or "Stranger in the House" as it was called in the U.S.).
I first saw Black Christmas when I was in my second year of college and even though I watched it surrounded by friends and others in a brightly lite dorm, the weird, dark atmosphere of the film and the extremely bizarre phone calls made me uncomfortable and still do when I think about it years later.
I think it is fascinating that 'Black Christmas' very clearly precedes the embodiment of the slasher genre (which began officially with 'Halloween' in 1978) yet so-called film critics often fail to acknowledge this fact.
Although I did not find the movie to be 100% satisfying, it was certainly an original piece of work at the time it was released and therefore  deserves to be credited with being a major influence on such horror classics as 'Halloween', 'When a Stranger Calls' and 'Scream' among many others.
OK, you've probably heard that Bob Clark's (RIP) "Black Christmas" is basically the original slasher movie, the inspiration for John Carpenter's "Halloween".
Whilst it's widely thought that it was John Carpenter's Halloween that initiated the slasher genre those who actually know anything about horror know that it was actually Bob Clark's Black Christmas made in 1974.
In fact, the killer isn't revealed fully throughout the entire film which is the first reason that Black Christmas is so revolutionary.The story involves a group of female students on the night before they leave their sorority house to go home for the holidays.
This was years before When A Stranger Calls.Another great thing about the film is the humour contained within the movie especially from Margot Kidder's character, Barb.
I could rave forever about Black Christmas, even the ending, which many people may not have liked; I thought it was definitely a good way to end an incredible horror film..