Premise: A murderer stalks and kills the girls living in a sorority house.
I look at the critical assessment of Black Christmas at the time of its release and wonder what Reactions that I've written will age this poorly. The opinion in 1976 was that the movie was overly-violent, slow, and lacked a satisfying ending. Here's the thing though. This movie rules.
At this point, Black Christmas is best known as one of the very earlier slasher movies; it actually did a lot of what Halloween was praised for four years later. And I'm pretty sure John Carpenter has credited Black Christmas as an inspiration. The violence is quite tame by today's standards. It makes great use of the killer POV scenes. It's crazy to think that people didn't like the ending, because it's a pretty perfect horror movie ending. I love how much is ambiguous.
The craziest thing about the movie is the talent in front of and behind the camera. I was not expecting this tiny Canadian production to have a post Romeo and Juliet Olivia Hussey and slightly pre-Superman Margot Kidder. And, I didn't realize Bob Clark, the guy who made Porky's and A Christmas Story, directed this. That guy has surprising range.
The big thing that sets this and Halloween apart is the music. It's crazy to think about how much the score makes Halloween. I agree that at some places, Black Christmas got a little dull. Just imagine if you could throw in the Halloween score during some of those parts. Even without it though, I found plenty to like about Black Christmas.
Side Note: Marian Waldman as the alcoholic house mother certainly helps earn this movie some camp points. She's a little ill-fitting, but you'd have to take her out of the film over my dead body.
Verdict: Strongly Recommend
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