Matt Greene Black Christmas is brilliantly simple: a stalker terrorizes a sorority house. That simplicity allows it to really dig into the disturbia more specifically and vividly. The intensely unnerving phone calls. The repeated imagery of the plastic-wrapped suffocation. The blur of Christmas lights punctuating the dark scenery. It's brutal '70s horror, but not without some nice splashes of levity to keep everything fresh (the dumb cop is classic).

thelastblogontheleft Black Christmas, also known as Silent Night, Evil Night (the title they initially gave it for the first American screenings so movie-goers wouldn't mistake it for a blaxploitation film), is generally considered to be one of the first classic slasher flicks, and apparently even had a hand in inspiring John Carpenter's Halloween. But you might know director Bob Clark from a very different Christmas movie - one that will probably be playing on at least one 24-hour loop on some basic cable channel this week - A Christmas Story.It's a shame that this movie didn't get the recognition it deserved at the time, but it has gone on to become a cult horror film in the years since. It's smart, well-acted, wonderfully shot, terrifying, and even genuinely funny at times.** SPOILERS! **I knew I was in for a treat during the opening shots, moving seamlessly between the inside and outside of the beautiful sorority house and showing POV shots of the mysterious killer making his way around the home (I especially loved the shot of him climbing the trellis). There's a great theme throughout of happy, celebratory, or even just mundane things going on in the house while the killer lurks within... super creepy. I think the whole "Babysitter and the Man Upstairs" legend in general is TERRIFYING so the use of it was great - it's one thing to know that the threat is outside trying to get in, but what about when you're locking it inside with you? The search party coming by and almost cheerfully reminding the girls to "just keep your doors and windows locked and you'll be safe!" was a chilling reminder.The phone calls were surprisingly scary - and surprisingly vulgar. The killer's alternating between multiple voices/personalities, seeming to scold himself at times, crying, screaming... the calls became more and more frenzied and his incomprehensible fury makes him unrecognizable as even a human threat. There's no way to know his background, his motives, which makes him terrifying in a much less tangible way. We can't relate to him, we can't see our own pain or shortcomings in his motivation, which makes him completely unpredictable and alien.I enjoyed that, aside from the (possibly unrelated?) girl being killed in the nearby park, the main characters don't have any idea that murder is afoot until it's too late. The victims themselves have NO idea, but even Jess (Olivia Hussey) has no indication that anyone has been killed until she finally swings Barb's bedroom door open in the last 15 minutes or so - we're the only people privy to that information.Speaking of which, the kills - surprisingly few, really, considering its status as a slasher film - are all creative and well done. There's no lingering on blood spurting from knife wounds, no over-exaggerated looks of horror that go on for too long, no shirts being ripped open for no reason besides showing a hint of breasts. They're quick and effective but still fun. My favorite is probably Barb being stabbed with her own crystal unicorn grabbed from behind her bed - shot beautifully and the juxtaposition of Jess listening to a young choir singing carols downstairs is just awesome - but the image of Clare in the rocking chair with the plastic garment bag sucked into her mouth is classic for a reason. That reveal definitely got a gasp from me, and the occasional return to the attic - showing his hand rocking the chair her corpse sat in, or her cat innocently licking the bag she was contained in - was a cruel reminder that the search for her was hopeless.There's no denying that there's a strong feminist undertone to the whole film - or, really, far less subtle than that. This movie taking place in the early 70's - and just a year after Roe v. Wade was decided - is important context for its content. Women being terrorized by a dominating and violent male presence is par for the course for countless horror and slasher films, but it feels more relevant here, more close to home. Barb's murder being the most intimate - taking place in her own bedroom, practically in the throes of sleep, with one of her own belongings - was no accident considering we saw her crassness offend multiple male authority figures (Clare's father and a local sergeant, most obviously, but she fights back - verbally anyway - against the crazed prank caller, too).In addition to the more direct threat of the looming killer, we have more pervasive examples of men attempting to silence women in a variety of ways. The bumbling sergeant first ignoring Clare going missing because she's probably shacked up with some guy and then ignoring the prank calls because it's "probably one of your boyfriends playing a joke". Clare's father is basically just walking disapproval throughout the entire movie, turning his nose up at Mrs. Mac's language, posters around the sorority house, and Barb's attempts to be humorous in her slurred, drunken state.And, more directly, there is Jess informing her boyfriend, Peter (Keir Dullea), in no unclear terms that she is pregnant with his child and seeking an abortion. Again, the freshness of Roe v. Wade in American society informed his hateful response - "don't you think about anyone but yourself", and later "let's get one thing straight: you are not going to abort that baby". He's outraged at the idea that she dare make a decision about her own body without his express approval, and is pushed further into his own spiral of deflecting blame when she rejects his very matter-of-fact marriage proposal. He's belligerent to the point of being rightfully suspected as the killer - especially after seeing him destroy that piano after his unfavorable recital.The irony of such gruesome acts being carried out during what is supposed to be the happiest, coziest time of year is constant but not obnoxiously so - it's more something that we notice rather than something that is being told to us, if that makes sense. The warm glow of the colored Christmas lights, the metallic tinsel on the wreaths, the campus emptying out as people scurry off to see their families... it all feels incredibly nostalgic until we remember there's a goddamn psychopath holed up in the attic.Which leads us to the ending, which is amazingly dark, even for a horror flick. There is so often some kind of humanization of the villain, or maybe a dramatic standoff between the final survivor and the killer. We almost get that, or at least we think we might, when Jess is cowering in the basement after Peter smashes his way in. When the police find her slumped over with a dead Peter on top of her, we think there's a chance - albeit small - that the nightmare is over. Jess has not only defeated her would-be killer, but she's defeated this domineering male presence that is trying to control her. But as the camera pans away from her, sedated in bed, and glides by the attic - mumbling and giggling echoing off the walls - and eventually outside, we hear the phone ringing and ringing as the credits roll, and we're reminded that evil often does prevail.Ultimately, a brilliant and sorely under-appreciated film. Go watch it now, get into the Christmas spirit!

Sam Panico Based on a series of Canadian murders and the urban legend of calls coming to a babysitter from within the house (also see When a Stranger Calls), Bob Clark and A. Roy Moore created what many feel is one of the precursors to the slasher film genre.Bedford is a small college town, complete with a sorority house filled with victims, err, characters. While they're celebrating at a holiday party, Jess (Olivia Hussey, who was told by her psychic to do this movie) gets a phone call from "The Moaner," a crank caller who has been bothering the other sisters: Barb (Margot Kidder, Sisters), Phyllis (Andrea Martin, SCTV) and Clare (Lynne Griffin, Strange Brew). Barb is a real firecracker, provoking the caller, who tells the girls that he will kill them all.Clare goes upstairs to pack and is suffocated by plastic wrap by an unseen killer and placed on a rocking chair in the attic.The next day, Clare's dad comes to take her back home for Christmas. The girls and their housemother, Mrs. MacHenry (Marian Waldman, Phobia), are surprised, as they thought she already went home. While all that is going on, Jess tells her boyfriend Peter (Keir Dullea, 2001: A Space Odyssey) that she is getting an abortion. He argues with her but can't change her mind.Meanwhile, the police get involved after learning that another girl, Janice, has gone missing. Jess also tells Chris (Arthur Hindle, Porky's), Clare's boyfriend, that something is up.While everyone else joins police lieutenant Fuller (John Saxon!) to search for the missing girls, Mrs. Mac is killed inside the house. Sadly, her life of hiding booze and yelling at everyone was cut short. As the girls return home, they find Jess' body and get another obscene call, which she reports to the police, who decide to bug the line so they can trace the calls. Then, Peter sneaks into the house for another argument.Black Christmas is unafraid of using holiday traditions to allow its killer to get away with murder. While carolers sing outside, Barb's screams go unheard as she is stabbed to death by a glass unicorn.Another phone call happens - one that quotes the argument Jess had with Peter. And while that's occurring, Phyl goes to check on Barb and is killed. Finally, Jess keeps the obscene caller on the line long enough for a trace, which reveals that the calls are coming from inside the house. She goes upstairs, armed with a fireplace poker, to get the rest of the girls, only to find their dead bodies. The killer chases her into the cellar and when Peter appears outside the window, she assumes that he is the killer and murders him with the poker.The police arrive to find Jess sitting with Peter's dead body. They're convinced that he is the killer, although they can't find Clare or Mrs. Mac's bodies. After she is sedated, the cops leave while one officer remains behind to wait for forensics. Then, we hear a voice whisper, "Anges, it's me, Billy." Jess' phone rings, which means her fate - and who the killer is - will remain a mystery.One of the most frightening parts of the film are the obscene phone calls, which were performed by Clark and actor Nick Mancuso (Under Siege), who stood on his head while recording to make his voice sound more insane. Mancuso would come back to record a "Billy Commentary" on the film, which is on the recent Scream Factory! release.Warner Brother studio executives hated the ending and demanding that Clark change the final scene to have Chris appear before Jess and say, "Agnes, don't tell them what we did" before murdering her. However, Clark stuck to his guns and kept the ending that he believed in. The studio further tinkered with the film, calling it Silent Night, Evil Night in its original release.When NBC aired the film as Stranger in the House on the January 28, 1978 edition of Saturday Night at the Movies, it gave stations the option of airing Doc Savage, as the Ted Bundy murders had just occurred two weeks earlier.There's an urban legend that this was Elvis' favorite horror movie. It definitely made an impression on Steve Martin, who told Olivia Hussey "Oh my God, Olivia, you were in one of my all-time favorite films" when she was being considered for Roxanne. She thought he meant Romeo and Juliet, but he told her that he meant Black Christmas, claiming that he had seen the film 27 times.There's another urban legend - how many can one film have - that says that Halloween was originally intended as a sequel to this movie.Clark would go on to direct Porky's and a film that failed at first before becoming a holiday tradition, 1983's A Christmas Story. Yep - he pretty much made both the happiest and darkest films about the Yuletide, which is pretty awesome.I love this movie. It's a true classic that's unafraid to go against conventions even as it creates them. Nearly every actor and actress in this movie went on to do more and play their roles perfectly here.

Red-Barracuda Halloween (1978) is often credited for kick-starting the slasher film craze that went into hyper-drive after the subsequent success of Friday the 13th (1980). But it could be reasonably argued that there were much earlier films which could more accurately be said to have laid the groundwork for this sub-genre such as several Italian gialli such as Mario Bava's Bay of Blood (1971) or Sergio Martino's Torso (1973). But it should also not be forgotten that the Canadian film Black Christmas touched on many of the ideas that would become slasher clichés in later years and should most certainly be considered a hugely influential and significant work. For my money, this one tops all of the aforementioned movies and remains one of the absolute classics of the horror genre. Set during the Christmas holidays, a psychopath surreptitiously enters a sorority house and hides out in the attic; from here he commits a series of brutal murders.This one scores in that it manages to combine what was a pretty original horror concept in 1974 within the framework of a story populated with well-rounded characters and a sense of realism. The cast is great and all do fine work here. We have a commendably serious performance from Olivia Hussey as the main protagonist, better still is Margot Kidder in a scene stealing role as the constantly drunk live-wire Barb, Marion Waldman puts in an amusing turn as the alcoholic dorm lady, Doug McGrath is very funny as the idiotic inept cop at the station, genre favourite John Saxon is great as ever as the police captain and Keir Dullea is suitably odd as the slightly unhinged music student boyfriend of Hussey's character. This type of top drawer talent and properly thought-out characters are very welcome in a sub-genre which would go on to be synonymous with paper thin characters who were little more than cannon fodder for a maniac. In Black Christmas we have an actually rather disturbing killer who is even more frightening in that he stores the bodies of his victims in the attic totally unbeknownst to any of the other characters. He also indulges in some highly creepy obscene phone calls to the girls in the house – these were practically as disturbing as any of his acts of murder. In fairness, the film is not overtly violent and much of its fear factor comes from the more psychological end of the spectrum.In amongst all this is another surprise – humour that is genuinely amusing. The scene where Saxon confronts McGraths dozy cop about the questionable name of the sorority house he had witlessly taken down is comedy gold. Director Bob Clark's previous film, the quirky zombie film Children Shouldn't Play with Dead Things (1972), was far more directly about eliciting laughs but it sort of failed to be scary at all. With Black Christmas he delivered a far superior product and truly directs this one with great skill. The festive atmosphere really works in this one's favour too with the snowy Christmas background adding a lot of additional atmosphere. This is also a film which is not afraid to ultimately hold back information and never feels the need to explain absolutely everything. This mystery which can never be fully explained adds additional intrigue to proceedings and ultimately winds up with a rather bleak, yet very effective ending. In summary, Black Christmas is a genuine horror classic and a film so well made that it rewards repeat viewings.