Black Christmas

Dir: Bob Clark

1974

****

You can't beat a good Christmas horror film, Bob Clark's Black Christmas was the first and still remains one of the best. It actually deserves more credit than that. Released in 1974, the same year as The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, it really was the front-runner in the modern Slasher. To put things into perspective, John Carpenter's Halloween, regarded as the greatest Slasher ever made, was made in 1978. It's fair to say that without Black Christmas and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (and Psycho) there would be no Halloween, Friday the 13th, Nightmare on Elm Street or Scream, as each film has been hugely influenced by the often overlooked horror. It's creepy, quite sinister, doesn't over do things and has a great cast. It's the first feature film to include the idea of 'The Babysitter and the man upstairs', scenario and one of the first to be set in a sorority house. This is very much a serious thriller-horror though rather than a gore-fest with tacky nudity and misplaced comedy. The murders are scarce but have striking impact, the idea that there is an undiscovered dead body in the house is effective enough. Margot Kidder is great, really sassy and nothing like how modern female victims have sadly become. Marian Waldman plays the sororities house mother really well in a comical but not overtly funny performance that works really well among the suspense and terror. John Saxon remains one of horrors greatest law enforcement officials as Lt. Kenneth Fuller. Sequels could and maybe should have existed if only to bring his character back. The real strength of the film however is its deliciously ambiguous finale. A 'whodunit' that raises the question of whether the who is really as important as the why.