Black Christmas (1974) (1 Viewer)

[loomer]

This is THE essential alternative film to watch at Xmas. I can't think of many in the Xmas horror genre, Silent Night, Deadly Night is another trashy delight.

But this could hold legitimate claim to being the first slasher film and you can see the influence it had on later stuff like Halloween. It's creepy as fuck! The remake can fuck right off.

Long live QoLs Margot Kidder and Olivia Hussey!

 

[monsta]

I watch this every year alongside Home Alone and The Snowman.

Without it we would have no Halloween, Nightmare On Elm Street or Scream.

Dame Margot Kidder toothless and incoherent in a bush

 

[VoR]

Watched this again tonight. SUCH a festive classic.

"HEELLOOOOW?! WHOOOOOO?!"

 

[Kratz]

It’s marvellous and so very very bitchy

 

[jivafox]

I have this one lined up for tonight

Stupidly watched the 2006 version last night

 

[ButterTart]

I have this one lined up for tonight

Stupidly watched the 2006 version last night

I enjoy that for what it is, I just find the flashback scenes vile and I can never understand why Mrs Lewton off Final Destination gets such a grand reveal when she arrives

Also the hospital ending basically doesn’t need to happen so I’ve headcanoned it out of existence.

 

[vespertine]

Why vespertine prefers Black Christmas to Halloween:

Halloween is more iconic and gave us the archetypal slasher villain, and I DO love it, but mostly because it is so expertly shot, lit, and staged. The soundtrack also does wonders for the film, and the ending is great.

But the acting, outside of JLC and Donald Pleasance, leaves a lot to be desired and so does much of the dialogue (the bit where Lynda goes on about Laurie's BOOKS for starters ). I find the characters are largely one-note stereotypes in Halloween, while the sorority sisters of Black Christmas are intelligent, profane, hilarious, and complex. Black Christmas is also the more suspenseful film: those phone calls might have started out as pranks, but they become FABULOUS in their intensity and are still genuinely freaky today. And the “quiet” ending of Black Christmas, with just the ringing of the phone in the not-so empty house, was as good as Halloween's.

If I watch them back to back I find there's more life to Black Christmas. I mean, an abortion subplot in 1974! Which also gives Jess depth. And the POV of the killer, the sense of evil getting closer and closer, the stylistic choice to show big empty rooms and dark spaces where he could be, and the long sequence from the time she is made aware of the danger to the time she finds the killer - these are things that Halloween does very well, but Black Christmas did just as well and arguably pioneered.

 

[vespertine]

And the remake, like all horror remakes at the time, giving some shit backstory of the villain, rather than developing interesting protagonists and supporting characters. So boring.