Movies-TV

"Agnes, It's me Billy"

Ok everyone. Listen up. I need you to do something. Forget about Halloween. Next, forget about When a Stranger Calls, and, forget Friday the 13th. Heck! Just forget all other slasher movies! You won't want them anymore, not after BLACK CHRISTMAS. Want a horror movie that will scare you even as an adult? Black Christmas will! After I saw this movie the first time, It kept me looking over my shoulder the rest of the night.

It is hard to believe that the producer who created "A Christmas Story", "Porky's", and "Baby Geniuses" could create such a masterpiece, it being a horror film. Yes, the producer Bob Clark truly must be a genius himself.


What can I say about this movie? Everything was done perfectly. A great cast, a great producer, and terrific screen writer. This movie is not something you should rent, especially with the prices for renting anyway. JUST BUY IT! You will not be disappointed.

Sincerely
"Chucky"

SCARY AS HELL

Before John Carpenter's HALLOWEEN and Sean S. Cunningham's FRIDAY HE 13th, there was a relatively unknown horror film back in 1974 called BLACK CHRISTMAS directed by Bob Clark. Actually one of the first modern style 'slasher' films after PSYCHO, this film clearly knows quite literally how to scare the hell out of anybody that watches it (and you don't have to be in the cinema for this one to scare you).

Set a few days before Christmas Eve, a bunch of girls are about to leave a north American university sorority house for the holidays. What happens next is pretty obvious (psycho walks into house and starts killing the few innocent girls that remain including a young Olivia Hussey). The plot may be fairly simple but as the other reviews suggest, it is this movie not HALLOWEEN or FRIDAY THE 13th that came first and unlike its latter films, Bob Clark really knows how to pull out all the scares without having to resort to the tacky knee jerk tactics or 'fake' scares which most modern films now have to resort to. Instead, very effective techniques are used such as using lots of shadows, an unseen killers face throughout the movie and most importantly the menacing phone calls which are the most disturbing factor in this film.

Some of you may prefer the later 'well known' horror flicks but trust me if you want to be scared and I mean really scared, watch this film and you will really see why I have awarded it a well deserved five star status.

AN OVERLOOKED 70'S HORROR LITTLE CLASSIC!!

In the 70's, nobody wanted to see THE SOUND OF MUSIC or WEST SIDE STORY anymore. They wanted to see JAWS, more films like NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD, cheap and potent violence like THE HILLS HAVE EYES, THE TEXAS CHEINSAW MASSACRE and THE LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT... and DEATH WISH...

Those were the times...

BLACK CHRISTMAS was one of those films that helped drive the audience towards that new genre that was just emerging: cheap, violent, nasty, urban terror where mass murderers would go bolder and bolder until the 80's came bringing those countless sequels. (laughs)

It's time for Christmas and all the girls at the sorority make plans for the holiday... except Jessica who is left behind with her own problems (she is thinking about an abortion and fighting her boyfriend who is againt is). Suddenly, strange anonymous phone calls are beginning to put them on edge. When Clare disappears, they contact the police, who don't express much concern. A girl if found dead in the park. They set up a wiretap to the sorority house and Jessica agrees to play the part...

...but the killer has been inside the house all this time doing what he does best. Kill.

Obviously this film is quite an interesting entry in the 70's typical slasher movie. And a very good one. And it is sad that nobody today even remembers about all the stir it caused back then.

It is not as violent as today's slashers and... if we think about it... none of those 70's films are. But thirty years after... they still got the goods and many of us cann still feel the "magic" those audiences felt back then.

BLACK CHRISTMAS is a good example and should be given a look.

Those who were alive back then (even the younger ones like me who weren't allowed to see them) and caught most of these films when they were fresh will agree with me... there's something about those films that is missing today... a flavour, perhaps... I don't know... :P

made me think, then go back to fully realize the film

i remain impressed by this film. i've watched horror all my life, and i never knew about this film. i read a comment about "BLACK CHRISTMAS" being better than "SILENT NIGHT, DEADLY NIGHT". i agree. i love "SILENT NIGHT, DEADLY NIGHT(PART ONE, PART TWO is just funny), but this film is so well conceived. i'm still confused about who the real killer is. i think i know, but i'm not sure. that in itself separates it from other horror films. i had to go back to the certain scenes that revealed more of the killer.. i'm still not sure. but the fact that it's 28 years old, a horror movie... that's more than what you usually get. my favorite horror movie(by no means is this a "slasher flick") of all time. great piece of work

A Holiday Treat for Horror Fans

Black Christmas is perhpas one of the greatest horror films of all time and is set on a season utilized in many later films like Silent Night,Deadly Night. But Black Christmas was the first to try it. This film is loaded with scares and unique deaths for the cast. Definitely worth a look on holidays, it beats all those other flicks that come on TV every year!

No great extra but a great movie

***Contains Minor Spoilers***
The third of director Bob Clark's three horror movie's he directed in the 70's(Children Shouldn't Play With Dead Things & Deathdream aka The Night Andy Came Home) and one of the best slasher's ever made. In my opinion Deathdream is slightly better but Black Christmas is right next to it. While a lot of people compare this with Halloween the two are like night and day. Clark brings a feeling of dead so thick you can cut through it with a knife. While Michael Myers is thouroughly explain in Halloween the killer is Black Christmas is a total mystery. Who is he? Where did he come from? While Myers never talked here the killer expains in phone calls to the victims how completely crazy he is. Most people don't get the ending but remember the phone rings after each murder.
The extras are nothing to speak of: a short interview with John Saxton, short filmographies of the main players, & a very good film trailer. The remastering is very good, I noticed very little grain and excellent sound(something extreamly important in this type of movie).

SCARY SCARY SCARY CHRISTMAS

I seen this movie years ago when I was a teenager i'm 39 now.I made my 5 year old niece sit up with me,she has yet to forgiveme! This movie is SCARY!! A creepy whodunit that makes you watch the doorknobs "is it turning?".With Margot Kidder as a how shall I say" foul-mouthed, booze-guzzlin, chain-smokin innocent college coed". She really works this roll.So lock the doors,go to the bathroom because you wont want to put your feet on the floor,sit back and get ready, because you will be freakin and peekin!!How many phone lines do you have?? Merry Christmas

Must See

I'm sure by now that everyone has heard how good this movie is, and they have heard right. This is one of the best early slasher films out there, if not THE best.The thing that makes this film so great is the fact that it came before them all and was the first slasher film to use all of the conventions we know so well. In the opening, we watch through the eyes of the killer as he circles a house where a group of sorority girls are having a party. We heard his heavy breathing as he climbs up the trellis of the house and enters through the attic, events we have seen countless times afterward. Thus begins the film, which captivated me from that one scene and didn't make me lose my interest until the powerful finale. From the first phone call immediately following that scene, to the killer's heavy voice at the end as a shot of the house is shown, this is a stylish and suspenseful film. As usual, lovely Olivia Hussey delivers a wonderful performance and so does Margot Kidder as a foul mouthed and drunken sorority sister. One by one the sisters are stalked by the psychopath and he could be just about anyone. Hussey even begins to suspect that her boyfriend has something to do with the murders, but as the audience knows, the suspects never end up being killers. Full of weird and frightening phone calls, some great performances and clever dialogue, this is thrilling and truly original horror film, one of the first of it's kind, which makes it better than ever. This has been an obvious inspiration for numerous slashers out there, including Halloween, which was originally planned as a sequel to this film. This is a masterpiece of tension and a truly horrifying experience. The unconventional ending is also a plus and a very unexpected way to end the film. Turn off the lights, grab a bowl of popcorn and enjoy. This is a definite must see...

True horror and not a poor imitation

In a time when the average horror movie is a bad remake of a classic, based on a video game or just a pathetic excuse to indulge in special effects, films like "Black Christmas" makes one realize that horror doesn't mean graphic, too clever for words or necessarily outlandish tactics. Films such as this one, "Halloween" and countless other great horror flicks are effective primarily because they take the every day and fill it with an unnerving sense of terror and vulnerability. I saw this baby back in when it was first released and it scared me as much today as it did back in `74. The killer inside the house premise that was explored with equal success in the fantastic "When a Stranger Calls" (the original) is so terrifying because unlike "When a Stranger..." in the end, he is never caught but rather is still lurking somewhere inside the house, waiting. Most people consider their homes a sanctuary and what is more unsettling than knowing that it no longer is, that unbeknownst to you it has, in fact, become a death trap and that with every passing minute peril inches closer? This fantastic example of modern horror relies, like most of the fine films that emerged during the horror heydays of the 70's and early 80's, on tension, atmosphere, ingenious use of sound and silence, light and shadow. I don't scare easily and having seen all of the "great" horror movies, I still count this one among the creepiest and unsettling. BTW - everyone was great with Margot Kidder having a seemingly great time as the foul-mouthed, tough talking, hard driking sorority girl. Olivia Hussey in the more demure and complex role was equally good. It's a very well made little gem and it shouldn't be overlooked if you love horror. Don't pay too much notice to those nay sayers below, because "Black Christmas" is true horror and not that visual and sonic schlock that tries to pass for it nowadays. If you were born in the age of excess (post-1975), chances are that you wouldn't know good horror if it bit you on the rump.

One of the most unsettling movies of all time

I loved this movie. If there was ever a character like this psycho To play, on film again, I would like to play him. So intense, so original. the killer was the best part. What a way to stir hearts, create a mind-boggling Maniac on Christmas. Let it not be unsaid that this movie, heck, I've shown almost everyone I know, they still talk about it. They think that it's me in that attic.

Bob Clark's forgotten classic ...

I have searched 15 years for a decent print of this great movie. It is absolutely astonishing how Bob Clark's truly terrifying masterpiece Black Christmas - a pioneering horror flick - has faded from the minds of moviegoers. A suspense sensation on its initial release in the early 1970s, Black Christmas is without doubt a must-have for all horror movie collectors. Starring cutie pie Olivia Hussey - fresh from her success in Zeffirelli's Romeo and Juliet - and a groovy Margot Kidder - fresh from her horror success in De Palma's Sisters, Black Christmas is the forgotten forerunner of the slasher genre that would spawn later classics like Halloween and Scream...But the staple conventions of the slasher movie: virginal heroine; promiscuous victims; psychopathic stalker; subjective camera; ambiguous ending are all established in THIS movie...And as for the "harassment by phone / caller is in the house" scenario that everyone thinks comes from When a Stranger Calls - it all started here. As a fan of all these movies, I can tell you Black Christmas is definitely the scariest of the lot. The story of a demented madman stalking the sisters of a college sorority house, the movie quickly ratchets up to 10 on the suspense-o-meter and sustains it to the end with a series of truly evil murders and unforgettable horror images. From the eye in the door crack; the plastic-bagged corpse; the rocking chair; the house mother yanked off her feet into the ceiling; Bob Clarke hits all the right notes to seal his place as a one-hit wonder of the genre. But what a hit it is. Pure, efficient terror at its most extreme. A great, scary date movie you will not watch alone, I rate it as one of the five scariest movies of all time...I guarantee you'll be watching it over and over to share it terrors with friends and family out for a real scare. Suspense brilliance that has rarely been equalled. Respect!

An Excellent movie

This movie scared me to death when I first saw it. Of course, I always knew it as Stranger in the House when I first saw it during its many cable runs in the early 80's.

One other thing that amazes me is that none of the reviews here has mentioned the history of this film and probably one of the the reasons why this film is so underrated. At the same time when this movie was released in 1975, a serial killer struck at a the University of Florida by bludgeoning a couple of female nursing students with a baseball bat. That killer was none other than Ted Bundy, thus this movie was pulled from circulation for a while because the murders made shocking national headlines, and probably ( though I can't confirm, is why it was changed to Stranger in the House).

Overall, a great movie.

Forgotten gem

A sorority house is menaced by a psychotic killer during the Christmas holidays. Time and countless imitations may have diminished the impact of this 1974 chiller, but "Black Christmas"--along with John Carpenter's "Halloween"--remains the textbook example of how to do a slasher flick right. Director Bob Clark, who went on to direct the much cheerier yuletide classic "A Christmas Story," always knows exactly where to place the camera to maximize suspense, and he uses shadow, music, and an old dark house to extraordinary effect. This forgotten gem also benefits greatly from three believable and likeable lead characters, nicely played by Olivia Hussey, Margot Kidder and Andrea Martin.

what the HELL was that?

Okay, so why was this mediocre, laughably ludicrous piece of junk so damned scary? I've seen episodes of "Goosebumps" with more depth and atmosphere than this. The killer's ramblings over the phone were incoherent and nowhere near being scary or even slightly disturbing. The only redeeming qualities in this cure for insomnia was the Sorority Mom's stashes of liquor bottles everywhere, and the killer's eye peeking through the crack of the door, they were amusing and slightly creep respectively but, these offerings were far from enough to keep me interested in this painfully sorry excuse for a "horror" film.

A Horror Classic!

This film practically invented the "slasher" genre, and it is better than most films that fit that category. It can make you laugh one minute (the sorority housemother is a riot!), then send chills down your spine (that voice on the phone is just plain creepy), the next. Often copied, but almost never duplicated. It is an original, and anyone who enjoys horror films must see it. Be warned, even after all these years, the first telephone call from the mysterious stranger, is a shocker! Director Bob Clark (Porky's, A Christmas Story), serves up a first class chiller.

Hel-loo ? Hel-loo ?

If you've seen this movie, you should know what the title is a reference to. For those of you who haven't, it is exactly how the heroine of this movie answers the phone.
And phone-answering plays a pretty important part in this movie. Black Christmas was the very first slasher film, made all the way back in 1974. While it may not be the precise blueprint for all subsequent slasher movies to follow ( Halloween comes closer to this. It had a chain of sequels, too, which is an important part of any slasher movie franchise ). Black Christmas, while it may not be terrifying, is a neat, tight little gem. Its game is mainly suspense, with only a few smears of blood to scare us with otherwise... and those obscene telephone calls the girls keep getting. If you like horror movies, check Black Christmas out. I think it's telling when almost everyone who remembers this movie remembers it fondly... and with goosebumps rippling up and down their arms. As a matter of fact, the cashier at the video store where I checked this movie out at said, upon looking at my selection, "Oh! Black Christmas! This was the first horror movie I ever saw and it is *so scary*!"
I couldn't have put it better myself.

Possible spoilers

Well, here's a picture full of Christmas cheer and the milk of human kindness and all that. It's time to bring up all that turkey you've tried so hard to keep down.Dear me, what have women done to Mr Moore to cause him to write such an impassioned love letter to the great God misogyny? He doesn't like them one bit in this picture and nor, it seems, does Bob Clark, the director. The stabbing scene is a little too long and lovingly composed, you know what I mean? Women are portrayed as drunks, promiscuous, baby killers, foul mouthed, amoral, men hating, jealous, covetous, venal and unprofessional. They are also seemingly deaf, unable to hear a man clambering up a drain pipe which would bring the rest of us outside like a shot. The only virtuous one is dispatched straight away. The rest are stupid. We are led to believe that after being told to leave the house immediately after being informed of the location of the obscene calls our heroine would march right up the stairs.Why is it that the calls always have to be coming from inside the house in these films? Why not surprise us by having them come from the bottom of a swimming pool or a zeppelin? How about the MIR space station? Seeing as it hadn't even been launched during the seventies it would have been quite a plot twist. But no, *yawn* THEY'RE COMING FROM INSIDE THE HOUSE! Dan-Dan. And why is the cop who guards the house always dead in the car? Didn't he notice the very obvious sight of someone jumping down from the side of the house and opening his car door? No, they are hired by the police department for their myopia and narcolepsy and complete lack of professionalism such as failing to search an entire house after they know a killer's been hiding in it. They must be desperate to go and get some turkey, providing they can keep it down, that is.And why do killers always have to have nasal problems? It seems to be a given that any one suffering from any sort of mental illness in films must also have bronchial pneumonia and the stumbling gate of a werewolf with a club foot. So they didn't get what they wanted for Christmas. Go and sulk in the corner of the sofa like the rest of us instead of running up someone else's phone bill and sculking around their house with one eye. The only stranger we want to see coming through the window at Christmas is Santa Clause and even then this guy would probably throttle his reindeer. Sheesh!The nastiness of this film has to be seen to be believed. A man we know has lost his daughter is treated with sadistic contempt by the writer (through a woman, of course.) It's a fascinating reminder of how the medium can be mis-used by those whose sole interest is making money.

Scary

This film is scary. Not a lot of gore, and it's better for it. Good acting. Some really great scenes. The very very end is a bit disappointing, but otherwise I enthusiastically recommend this film if you're looking for a thriller for around the holidays. If you have a friend who's into horror films and has never seen it, this would make a really good christmas gift.

A terrifying masterpiece of the macabre!

It's Christmas break at a college soriety house, the girls (Margot Kidder, Olivia Hussey and Andrea Martin) are planning things for Christmas vacation until a mysterious stranger makes bizarre phone calls as he torments the girls then sneaks into the attic of the house as he starts to kill them one by one. The police are concerned by some mysterious murders going on especially a recent discovery of a dead 13 year old girl at the park, can the cops find the killer or will the psychopath get his bloody hands on the entire household?


Suspenseful and masterful psychological horror slasher thriller is a true masterpiece of the horror genre and is the 70's questinnel slasher movie besides "Halloween" and Mario Bava's "Bay of Blood" but this was before John Carpenter's classic movie "Halloween" ever came to the big screen 4 years later. co-starring John Saxon, this movie from writer-director Bob Clark (who later went on to do "Porky's" and "A Christmas Story") is a chilling and scary skincrawler that will make you keep guessing till the very end on who is the killer. Unlike many slasher movies that needs extreme gore, this one focuses on characterizations and genuine suspense without being over the top gory, it's one horror movie that deserves it's cult following and is a must see for fans of the genre as it paved the way for major slasher films for years to come such as "Halloween", "Friday The 13th", "Sleepaway Camp", "Scream", "Silent Night DeadlY Night", "Maniac", "The Burning", "Saw" etc. and a must own as it definitely ranks with "Psycho".

This DVD contains excellent picture and sound with good extras like a Documentary, seperate interview segments with the stars and midnight screening Q&A with Margot Kidder, Bob Clark and John Saxton.

The movie that started it all!

Earlier this month, cult director Bob Clark tragically died in a car accident with his son. To me, Clark was a huge inspiration, an extremely talented and criminally overrated filmmaker who never got the credit he deserved. I admit to liking almost every single one of his films, although the two that will always remain my favorites are Porky's and the original Black Christmas. To truly understand the brilliance behind this masterful motion picture, one had to understand the time at which it was released. Black Christmas came out a full decade before I was born, so I'm not a person that can give a film historian perspective, but I can probably safely say that there was no other horror flick like Black Christmas upon its release in 1974, four years before John Carpenter's Halloween, which 'Christmas' influenced. Personally, I think Halloween is a slightly better movie, but this is the one that started the slasher genre, which depending on your opinion, is either a great thing or a horrible thing. Love it or hate it, there is no denying the impact.What is debatable is whether or not Black Christmas is a good movie. Some point to amateurish acting and age as factors for it not living up to its hype while others like myself argue that the only it only appears dated since all the plot devices have since been done in no less than a hundred other copycats. The acting remains a mixed bag. Olivia Hussey, Margot Kidder, and John Saxon or solid in their roles. The other sorority sisters and police don't fare so well yet none of the performances are bad enough that they ruin any of the scenes. In fact, when compared to the performances in mainstream horror released today, they are much superior. Also in contrast to today's standards, Black is Christmas is essentially gore free. Bob Clark doesn't try to gross the audience out, and the saying less is more definitely applies here.The ending is still a topic of argument among fans today. It is an ambiguous ending for sure, though I've never liked it that much. It works, but barely. Despite the ending, Black Christmas is still a favorite of mine and a must watch over the holiday season. A remake came out last year. I doubt I have to even say how it turned out. 9/10