Black Christmas (1974)
Genre: Horror
Duration: 98 minuten
Alternative title: Silent Night, Evil Night
Country:
Canada
Directed by: Bob Clark
Stars: Olivia Hussey, Keir Dullea and Margot Kidder
IMDb score:
7,1 (56.578)
Releasedate: 11 October 1974
Black Christmas plot
"If this picture doesn't make your skin crawl... it's on TOO TIGHT."
A girl's fraternity house is terrorized by a gasp during Christmas. When a girl disappears from the house, a search is started. But then they find another body. The police then do everything they can to track down the hijacker.
Actors and actresses
Jess
Peter
Barb
Lt. Fuller
Mrs. Mac
Phyl
Mr. Harrison
Sargeant Nash
Chris
Clare
Reviews & comments
Donkerwoud
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- 8843 messages
- 4029 votes
The biting horror comedy 'Scream' (1996) already had a forerunner in the 1970s with 'Black Christmas' (1974), in which a madman lives in a student house for young women. More fun than the suspenseful POV shots or the creative kills, the possible victims are Jess (Olivia Hussey), Barb (Margot Kidder), Mrs. Mac (Marian Waldman) and Phyl (Andrea Martin). Bold, brisk ladies spouting ironic one-liners and having their own eccentricities. Barb is especially hilarious as the nymphomaniac kenau who destroys the fragile egos of men with her cross-border statements. This horror film is therefore more funny than scary, but that should not spoil the fun in this case because it is the victims who steal the show and not the murderer himself.
Translated from Dutch · View original
ikkegoemikke
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- 3508 messages
- 5029 votes
Apparently the mother of the Slashers. But there isn't really any slashing. Everything happens off screen. On the one hand, this does add to the tension. You can also call the tone used by the killer in his phone calls successful. It just wasn't enough for me. Maybe the lack of tension. Perhaps the unimaginative murders. As suggested before, it looked like a detective story instead of a scary slasher.
Translated from Dutch · View original
Chainsaw
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- 8845 messages
- 3690 votes
A movie with a POV of a stalker, a boy wearing a hockey mask and John Saxon as a lieutenant. In that respect, 1974's Black Christmas really is the mother of the slashers. It's pretty clear where John Carpenter got the inspiration for his Halloween a few years later, a film that is often seen as the first slasher, but was mainly the film that popularized the subgenre. In my memory, Black Christmas was especially serious in tone, but the light-hearted moments stood out this time. Landlord Mrs. Mac has a few witty scenes and the get-togethers at the police station - with Lieutenant Saxon, Officer Nash and that smiling colleague - are amusing too.
It is also striking that Black Christmas spends a lot of time in its characters. Due to the many sequels of series such as Halloween and Friday the 13th, we are now used to the fact that the slaughter cattle in slashers are interchangeable figures, but here the victims are actually characters that we get to know. Not all of them are equally memorable, but they keep us interested. We have to, because we don't have to worry about the murders, there are not many of them and also often out of sight. In that respect director Clark knows very well what you should and shouldn't show, the film is strong in its mystery. He gives us nice characters, good tension, a nice dark atmosphere and some excellent shots. Halloween, Friday the 13th and A Nightmare on Elm Street may have gotten the fame and sequels, none of them likely would have existed without this black Christmas.
4 stars.
Translated from Dutch · View original
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