Color, 1974, 98 mins. Directed by Bob Clark
Starring Olivia Hussey, Keir Dullea, Margot Kidder, John Saxon, Marion Waldman, Andrea Martin, James Edmond, Doug McGrath, Art Hindle, Lynne Griffin / Music by Carl Zittrer / Written by Roy Moore / Cinematography by Reginald H. Morris
Format: Laserdisc - Warner / Image (MSRP $29.95)
Letterboxed (1.85:1) / Digital Mono
The day before Christmas, the remaining girls at a college sorority and their house mother are getting ready for a long, cold holiday. However, their eggnog-drenched festivities are interrupted by an obscene phone caller whose frightening, distorted voice(s) set the young girls on edge. One of the girls, Claire (Lynne Griffin, later in Curtains and Strange Brew), is murdered that night, and her body is stored away in the attic by a deranged killer (seen only through point of view shots - later a cliche, but very creepy here). The police, led by John Saxon, investigate the disappearance, which they believe is linked to recent attacks on young town girls. Another sorority girl, Jess (Olivia Hussey at her loveliest), fights violently with her boyfriend, Peter (Keir Dullea), about her decision to have an abortion, and she begins to suspect he may be the killer at large. Meanwhile, the murders continue as Christmas morning passes into night...
Skillfully shot and edited, this film marks the final and strongest entry of Clark's all-too-brief horror career which also included Children Shouldn't Play with Dead Things and the eerie Deathdream (and, some argue, continued with Murder by Decree). Though it has been imitated countless times (When a Stranger Calls in particular), Black Christmas holds up thanks to very strong performances (fresh off her turn in Brian De Palma's Sisters, Kidder is a particular standout as an asthmatic foul-mouthed party girl) and an unexpected, welcome streak of irreverant humor running throughout the film. Of course, Clark also includes one of his trademark As part of Image's laudable quest to preserve some of Warner's most underrated cult titles on laserdisc while the format is still around, this title is one of the most welcome and overdue entries. The matted transfer looks far better composed than the VHS and TV prints, revealing much picture information on the sides and removing a sliver at the top. The print looks as good as we'll ever likely see; since this is a '70s title, it wasn't shot on the finest film stock and reveals some paleness during a few of the more shadowy scenes. However, the colors are consistently stable and vivid, with fine detail evident in the snowy street shots and cluttered sorority rooms. Sound quality is fine considering the film's technical limitations, but watch your volume during some of the louder telephone calls. Simply put, at this price, there's really no excuse for any self-respecting horror hound to turn this one down.
Years before he crafted the ultimate comic Christmas film experience, A Christmas Story, Canadian director Bob Clark put a completely different slant on the revered holiday with Black Christmas, a chilly little gem which has been popping up on cable over the years under the titles Stranger in the House and Silent Night, Evil Night. Though not as well known as many of its American imitators, this film is quite a class act and still manages to scare the living hell out of viewers while all the lousy Friday the 13th sequels have mercifully faded from memory.
scenes of cops cracking up for minutes on end (repeated famously in his later Porky's) and utilizes a marvelous sense of both visual and sound cutting (for example, the Hitchcockian moment when a grieving mother opens her mouth to scream only to cut to a ringing telephone). The rumbling, abstract score by Carl Zittrer alternates with chilly Christmas carols to create an unsettling soundscape-- a Dolby surround remix of this would be unbearably creepy. The killer's voice is one of the most nightmarish ever conjured up on film, prone to screaming and weird shifts in vocal tone that set the viewer on edge within the first five minutes. What really makes this film, though, are the scares. The first attack is a great seat-jumper, and from there Clark delivers one powerful jolt after another. The close-ups of the killer's eyes, reminiscent of The Spiral Staircase, are guaranteed to induce chills, and the wintry Canadian setting spotted with colorful splashes of Christmas lights manage to create a shuddery, chilling effect even when the film is viewed in the middle of summer. If it weren't for the bleak, open-ended final plot twist, Black Christmas would undoubtedly be recognized more widely as the visceral horror classic it truly is.
