Fantastically scary horror movie both in terms of having a few good scares, but mostly because of the outstanding use of atmosphere to create a completely unsettling feeling for the viewer. Lots of claustrophobic camera angles and bizarre zooms. The phone call voice is ridiculously creepy. The humor is dark and well placed. A great horror film, and one of the few slasher movies that I would actually compare to my favorite, Halloween.
Overlooked classic. People recognise Halloween as the slasher starter but 4 years prior, Black Christmas was there. It doesn't rely on violence and gore to tell the horror, the horror is the extreme suspense that is built throughout the film. And never seeing the killer, besides his eye, is just extremely well done. You barely even see the kills. Only flaw is the slow pace for the first half hour, seeing as it's only a 90+ minute film.
Thank God, as I'd heard, this film was MUCH better than the pathetic waste of space that was the 2006 remake.
It's not hard to enjoy this film, despite the fact that it was made 34 years ago. Yes, you have to do your best to put yourself in the shoes of a 1974 moviegoer, but it's not too hard.
It was actually creepy, and funny in parts too (intentionally). Also, I laughed at some of the fashion/style of dress (what's up with the white people 'fros?)
Spooky horror flick from the 70s, one of the first slasher flicks, which has a killer stalking a sorority. Ironic that this Clark dude directed Porky's.,
A slower pace horror movie, but it works i its favor. Bob Clark, who is well known for his other Christmas movie A Christmas Story, did an excellent job directing this movie and giving it a creepy atmosphere. The acting was nothing special and the profanity used seemed to be a bit forced. Hey I don't mind profanity, but it just felt way too forced by the actressess.
The rarest of horror films - a slasher where I care about the victims, and a movie that pulls off the "killer is in the house" angle very well. With likeable characters, actual acting, and the few bits of violence coming off as genuinely terrifying, Black Christmas is an undoubted classic. Superior to Friday the 13th and just a rung below Nightmare on Elm Street, this is like Halloween with less blood and without the tight action-movie editing. Also, the killer's eyes scared the absolute shit out of me. People don't call this a classic for no reason - it is. All you need is a plastic bag and a noose.... (well not all you need, but this movie makes damn good use of just those two things).
A Classic, forgotten about but a must see by anyone intrested in film. keeps the terror high and employs film school techniques into a commericla horror enviroment. Invented the single killer idea 6 years before halloween did, created the genre of teen horro before it existed, the influence of this film, just cant be denied!
This is one of the earliest greatest slasher films of the beginning of modern era. Some of the acting, the settings, and the thrilling horror that this classic horror gem causes is fantastic. A horror film that should get even more recognition: Black Christmas.
I remembered being bored by this film as a kid, so I went out and bought a copy thinking I just didn't appreciate a classic because I had no attention span. Well about twenty years later, I certainly appreciated it more, but unfortunately in parts it's still boring. Yeah I know, I know. This is one of those "classics" that I don't really think is worth nearly the hype it's recieved but it's still got some good moments. It is one of the better Canadian horror films I've seen, but how many are there even?
Anyhow, there are frightening calls being made to these girls at a sorority, but who is responsible? Will they make it out alive? The Police are less than helpful, until a body turns up but will more die before the mystery is solved? Another case of I don't care, and although I'm sure this was one of the first with this "twist" plot it's not very suspenseful.
Perhaps more modern takes on this story have sullied me, but perhaps this just could have been done about a thousand times better. At least some of the deaths are interesting and the '70s atmosphere is a bit fun to soak in, even if the story did tend to get a bit dull in places. It has it's moments and it's a worthwhile film, but it's hardly amazing is all!
preposturous premise...the girls from the college are suposedly under 22 yrs of age alll ook on south side of 30, especialy margo... worth seeing for young olivia though! You have the shelly winters wannabe boozer, the maniac who you never see, and a bumbling police force..this film has a cult following..all star (I use that term loosely) canadian cast..worth noting its style was original back in the day..movies such as halloween borrowed liberally from the movie's style,,,,if you are a fan of the slasher genre go see it..
I'm amazed I'm giving this such a high rating. Although, by no means, was this the highest rated movie of the weekend, it was the one most talked about and that's gotta say something for the film.
I'll come right out and say it. This is a half-an-hour movie stretched out over the course of an hour-and-a-half. But that half hour? AWESOMELY SCARY! Now, this is the kind of movie that just can't be made anymore, as probably proven by the remake. (Although I am going to give the remake a try because I hate to judge and it has Dawn from Buffy in it.) The voice in this movie is fantastic. Sure, the murders are gruesome, but nothing we haven't really seen before, besides a music-video style unicorn impalement death. But that voice still kind of haunts me. Apparently, When a Stranger Calls took credit for the original "The Killer's in the House" motif, but this movie came first. It came first by a lot and actually has the line "The calls are coming from inside the house." I WAS TERRIFIED WHEN I HEARD THAT SH*T! Hell, I knew he was inside the house and I was still terrified!
I tried listening to Billy's conversation. (Through my terror, that is!) Yeah, you really can't make out what he is saying. I then decided to visit IMDB, Wikipedia, and multiple message boards only to get kind of weak ideas about what the back story is. Yeah, I really want to know, but to what end?
Now the crappy part. I never thought I'd be dogging John Saxon, but his scenes were kind of unnecessary outside of being the cop who cares bit. Then there are all these really unncessary subplots that don't really do much for the film. The meat of the movie is the phone calls and the murder. Really, this would have been a perfect Tales from the Crypt episode.
I didn't realize that there was such a fanbase behind this movie. I can understand why. It is genuinely creepy and people should really jump all over this movie, if you can waste about a good hour out of an hour and a half.
An absolutely disturbing film, where the audience is all-knowing and yet deceived. The director doesn't want us to be terrified of the phone call and instead makes sure we are terrified of the fear of who is making the call and the link of it to the killings. Very well shot in particular.
Just thinking about this movie makes me creeped out. The suspense is at times almost unbearable. For about a half hour I was on the edge of my seat waiting to see what would happen next. There are hardly any times when you're bored or when something scary isn't happening. This is a great achievement for the horror genre.
Well all I can say is that this was better than the remake, I still don't like it that much though. I was never really a fan of Christmas horror. The story about this movie was great, the acting wasnt too bad, and there wasn't much blood which is even better. It just wasn't a movie I felt was good enough for a high rating. I'll give it 2 and a half stars.
OH MY GOSH, this movie CREEPED ME OUT!!!!!!! It was Creepy, Scary, and downright AWESOME!!!!!!! Classic horror movie with a twist because really who is the killer? The telephone calls to the house were just plain creepy, this is BILLY!!! ha ha
MCT:September 26, 2008
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