1978’s Halloween is still the ultimate slasher film in my book. Not only is it a well-crafted horror film, but it’s also a solid exercise in independent filmmaking. Even with my deep love and admiration for that film, I can’t ignore that a film came before it that used some of the same tropes that made it so successful. In 1974 director Bob Clark gave us Black Christmas and even though it didn’t achieve the initial level of success that Halloween did, it did eventually achieve cult status as a well-executed suspense film. Less is more in Black Christmas and it knows how to raise the level of tension to almost uncomfortable levels.
The story is simple but effective. A group of sorority sisters are living at their sorority house leading up to the Christmas break when they become terrorized in the form of very obscene phone calls. The calls escalate as the film progresses and the content becomes eerily specific as if the caller is closer than they think. Meanwhile, detectives are investigating the disappearance of a missing girl near the sorority house which could be connected to the stranger who has decided to turn the joyous holiday into a day of pure terror.
The scariest reveal in Black Christmas is that there is no reveal at all. Director Bob Clark throws out a few red herrings for us to suspect but the reality is that this is a random lunatic who has decided to turn this house into his death trap. The stranger doesn’t have a name and is never really seen at all. Clark uses some pretty eerie POV shots to put us into the killer’s perspective and we see most of the carnage through his eyes. It’s a technique that may frustrate less patient viewers today who need everything shown to them but back in 1974, it was a very new and effective tool to generate scares.
The killer is given a personality through the series of phone calls he makes to the calls in the house. We may not know much about him but his nonsensical ramblings reveal its own little backstory about “Billy” and “Agnes.” We assume that the stranger on the phone is Billy and that he’s playing out a pretty frightening scenario where he has hurt someone named Agnes. Mixed into these small reveals with each call are the hints that he may be listening in on their conversations. He has various lines of dialogue that reference things that our lead, played by Olivia Hussey, has said in what appeared to be a private conversation. With each murder in the house, the calls become more out of control and dangerous until only one remains to face off with him.
Black Christmas has a few scenes that really push the levels of suspense. There is a kill that takes place in a closet that is expertly done because it toys with the idea that there could be someone in the closet or the cat that is owned by the house mother of the sorority. The cat is actually used as a decoy more than once and each time it ends with a deadly surprise. There is also another scene that blends the wholesome sounds of kids caroling with the murder of one of the girls inside the house (it really gives new meaning to someone lurking in your bedroom without you realizing it until it’s too late). The best scare comes late in the film and I like to call it the Black Christmas eyeball shot. It’s a scene you need to see but I don’t think I’ve seen a scarier eye staring back at me through the crack of a door.
The characters are given a bit more depth than what might’ve been on the page. Olivia Hussey is an effective final girl mostly because she’s clearly flawed. There is a plot point involving her and her boyfriend played by Keir Dullea that doesn’t make her as wholesome as final girls of the genre but it does make her a bit more real. As far as “scream queen” status, she doesn’t get to really show us her pipes until the climax but she can scream with the best of them. Keir Dullea is suitably misleading as the boyfriend and he makes you wonder if he could be involved with the events going on in the house. It’s a tricky part because you have to sympathize with him a bit based on things that are revealed about their relationship but you also need to suspect him as a would be killer. John Saxon, playing a detective not too far removed from his role in A Nightmare on Elm Street, adds some class to the film and actually becomes more of a presence as the film rolls along. Lastly, every horror film needs the fun party girl and Margot Kidder does the role justice. This is before she played Lois Lane in Superman and she shows an unforced charisma in her role here. She certainly looks like she’s having fun in the role.
Black Christmas still holds up as a surprisingly effective exercise in suspense and terror. It would be easy to dismiss it as a rotten stepchild of the horror genre but if you give it a chance, you’ll find a horror film that stands up with the best of them. It’s unconventional Christmas viewing for me every year and has remained one of my favorite films of the genre.
Reel Talk gives Black Christmas 3.5 Reels
