No I already reviewed that film.
I said directed by Bob Clark!
There was a sequel to "A Christmas Story" that took place in the summer that was directed by the same guy? It might be worth reviewing, but it isn't a Christmas film.
There we go!
Yes believe it or not, before Bob Clark would direct the Christmas classic that we would all hold close to our hearts, he directed a slasher film in 1974 that took place on Christmas where a bunch of teenage girls living in a sorority house are being killed by a mysterious killer hiding in the attic. Many would be shocked to tie a Holiday slasher film, and a coming of age comedy Christmas film with the same director, and as shocked as I was when I first found out about it, it kind of made sense to me. I mean after all "A Christmas Story" did have a bit of a dark edge to it. Not to mention that Clark would later direct a horrifyingly bad movie known as "Baby Geniuses" (and its sequel) towards the end of his career. So it doesn't sound too out of the norm that he would direct something dark and scary. But as interesting as this piece of information sounds, does the film itself actually deliver at being a scary Christmas movie; ON WITH THE REVIEW!
For a film with a cheesy horror title called "Black Christmas", you expect the film's horror atmosphere to be just as exaggerated and corny as the title is. And going into the film I expected that, until I saw the opening credits. Instead of getting intense music as the opening credits roll in front of something that obviously doesn't look pleasant, we find ourselves looking at the house where the girls live that's filled with Christmas lights as a church like choir sings a holy rendition of "Silent Night". Now that's clearly not an opening meant to crap your pants, or get you in caught in by the thrills before the story begins. But as simple and welcoming as it sounds, it still comes across as unsettling. Even though we're looking at beautiful Christmas lights, the lights appear to be dim since everything is drenched with darkness and shadows; and as touching as "Silent Night" would sound in a church or watching the snow fall outside with your loved one, since everything seems to look grim, the song comes across as dark and ominous as the environment itself. Just judging by this opening credits sequence, it seems that the film's horror atmosphere is going to be subtle and quiet, as opposed to being excessively loud and dramatic, and that's exactly what the rest of the film is. The film is consumed by darkness, but you still get a bit of that warm Christmas feeling as you look at the lights on the house and tree, the colorful decorations, and see a Yule log burning on the fire, despite feeling unease by it, since the colors and lights aren't as bright as they should be. You know that the characters can leave the house whenever they want too as they appear to know it too, but you somehow still feel trapped inside the house with them from the way the scenes inside the house are shot at a claustrophobic level, and how the killer is able to kill these people without a trace. The deaths are brutal, but they aren't covered with gore. Nor do they go on for a long period of time; they mostly come and go rather quickly, where it’s the build up to the deaths that’s the scariest part. And rather than getting a score that's bleeding with suspense, the film is mostly quiet where the only sounds we hear are the killer's heavy breathing, or the wind blowing the snow outside, which act as the film's score. And when we do get music playing for the scenes involving the killer, it comes across as strange and out of the norm, rather than sounding as something big and suspenseful as the music in "Psycho" or "JAWS". Also adding to the strange factor of the score is how the film's composer Carl Zittrer (who also composed the music for "A Christmas Story") created it by tying up silverware to the strings of the piano, and slowing the recordings down. That's definitely not a traditional method when composing music for a film.
As the film manages to have a creepy atmosphere that hardly ever goes overboard, what ties into the film's horrifying vibe is the person killing all the characters. Now in most slasher films that involve an insane killer killing people one by one, the murderer would usually be seen wearing a mask to hide his identity, but with this film on the other hand we never see the killer, but we get a feel of his presence. We hear his voice over the phone when he calls the girls. See through his eyes from the use of POV shots (and even see him climb to the attic outside of the house through those shots). And we would occasionally see his eyes as he would hide in the shadows staring at his victim. There's never a scene in the film where we see the killer in full, which makes you feel just as paranoid and clueless as the girls are, where you keep trying to guess who the killer is and why he's doing this to girls who (as far as we know) have never wronged him. I'm not going to give away the ending, but I will say that the result is a direction that I don't see too many horror films do. Now even though we don't see the killer’s on-screen appearance as he torments and attacks the sorority girls, they still give him an insane personality that make up for not having a full on-screen appearance where he seems to be an escaped mental patient from an asylum from the way he talks and acts. I'll admit, when he first called the girls I didn't think he sounded that scary, which ironically was pretty much how the girls felt. But as I let the film play on, he his voice started to get scarier to the point where you feel like you're going to have a mental break down if you have to listen to his eerie voice and vulgar comments one last time, which again is pretty much how the characters feel. The scariest moments that involve his voice has to be when we hear him mimicking more than one person's voice, which makes him sound like a completely deranged sociopath. Also the scenes where he props up a few of the dead bodies in the attic like decorations, and rocks a dead girl on a rocking chair as he sings a nursery rhyme sends nothing but shivers down your spine for how weird and still these scenes are.
As scary as the film maintains itself to be, much like how "A Christmas Story" was mainly a comedy but had a few dark elements to it, this film has a few comical moments as well. The housemother played by Marian Waldman is a hilarious character with her obsessive drinking habits where she'll hide her liquor bottles in obscure places all over the house. Doug McGrath is humorously dry as the careless cop. Some of the things that sorority girls do and how they live are over the top in the right way. And if you thought that the Santa in "A Christmas Story" was bad, how about a Santa who doesn't put on a show, looks miserable, and curses constantly in front of kids who sit on his lap. There are indeed some comical crazy things going on in this film, but not to the point where they break away the fear and tension that the film constantly brings. The acting in this film is as top notch as a slasher film can get. I can't think of a performance that was bad or too over the top for the film's own good. And the casting in this film isn't bad either since you have good actors like Olivia Hussey (from "Romeo And Juliet" fame) as our lead heroin, Keir Dullea (who played Dave in "2001: A Space Odyssey") as the suspicious boy friend, John Saxon as the detective who's willing to protect our characters, and up and coming stars Margot Kidder and Andrea Martin as the sorority girls. However as good as the acting is, I will say that a good half of the characters fall a bit short in terms of being interesting or memorable. The struggling relationship between our lead and her boyfriend is interesting considering that the subject matter deals with abortion (yes abortion in a Christmas movie, I never thought I hear about that topic outside of one of the "South Park" Christmas Specials). And characters like the cops and the alcoholic housemother stand-out for their personality and behaviors. But characters like the sorority girls, their parents, and so on and so fourth, just don't seem to be as fun or engaging as the other characters. They're not boring, or the worst of characters compared to what I seen in the slasher genre, they're just not all that appealing.
At this point you may have probably noticed that most of the slasher tropes are in this film such as the use of POV, teenagers doing naughty stuff, a stranger on the phone, a body count, and a murder spree on a Holiday. But as cliche as the film is when viewed by today's standards, this film came out before the classic slasher film "Halloween" would set the rules for the genre. As a matter of fact the director of "Halloween" John Carpenter was even inspired to make his groundbreaking horror masterpiece because of this film, and Clark's idea for a sequel to "Black Christmas" if he had to make one. Bob Clark insisted that "Halloween" is not a copy of his movie, and while you can agree that they do have their differences, it goes without denying that Carpenter did take some ideas from the film. The film has also even inspired the iconic 20 minute opening of "When A Stranger Calls" (which I won't spoil why for those who haven't seen it). But as influential and ahead of its time as the film is, it’s definitely not the first try all these horror tropes. Even though it did heavily inspired the "Holiday Slasher" genre, there were still a few "Holiday Slasher" films that came out before this film like the 1972 film "Silent Night, Bloody Night" for example. There were also plenty of famous slasher films that came out before this one such as "Psycho" and "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre". This isn't even the first slasher film to use the POV shot, or the killer on the phone cliches since films like "Peeping Tom" and "Black Sabbath" already used those ideas. But despite that those ideas ideas aren't that new, it still is one of the earlier slasher movies to lay-out most of these classic tropes in one movie before "Halloween" would popularize it and add some things of its own like the killer wearing a mask and an intense score, which you can tell that those elements were influenced by other slasher films like "Psycho" and "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre".
For a film that was so influential to the slasher genre, it kind of surprises me that the film isn't as talked about or recognized as the other staples of the genre. It has its fans (including from celebrities like Steve Martin and Elvis Presley), and it was popular enough to get a remake (that I understand was crap). But it for some strange reason seems to be overlooked by many as being one of the importance of the genre. I guess maybe the reason why people don't talk about it or why it’s never aired on TV during the holidays is because it’s a horror film, where many people associate the Holiday season with joy and happiness, instead of scares and thrills, which I suppose in that regard is understandable. But if you're interested to see something dark and edgy this Holiday Season, this is the movie for you. The atmosphere is chilling and Christmassy at the same time. The off-screen killer is one of the most underrated slasher villains I have ever seen. The acting is spot on. And the characters that come across as intriguing and fun make up for the ones who feel there to die. It's a great horror movie, and in terms of Holiday horror films this is one of the best, if not thee best one of its kind.
RATING 5/5
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