“Staff Picks” is a deeper look into movies that we love here at Video CULTure. Each edition of this column will focus on a single film that we think you should check out, either for the first time or for a long-overdue revisit.
By Patrick Bartlett (Twitter: @alleywaykrew)
There’s a strong argument to be made that “Psycho” was the first slasher movie. I can’t really argue that. However, most people credit my beloved “Halloween” as being what truly launched the genre. That, however, is something I would dispute. It pains me to take anything whatsoever away from John Carpenter but I genuinely believe “Halloween” would not have come into existence in 1978 if not for “Black Christmas” in 1974. Granted, I’m not saying “Halloween” is a ripoff. Some do claim it as such. Either out of sheer laziness or the (possibly apocryphal) story that someone asked Bob Clark what he would do with a “Black Christmas” sequel, to which he answered that he would have the killer break out and go on a rampage on Halloween. Regardless of whether or not that’s the truth (I’m not even taking a bullet for Carpenter, I just have never actually seen proper evidence of the veracity of that story)…they’re both great films and they’re both incredibly different.
The plot of “Black Christmas” definitely forms a basic template for the legions of slashers that followed in its wake. A group of sorority girls are having a Christmas party before many of them head home for the holidays. While they’re distracted, a man (who is never named for us nor are we even given a particularly good look at) climbs the trellis into the attic. He starts by making bizarre phone calls to the girls. Soon after, he murders nice girl Claire and slowly goes about killing the remaining girls one by one in between his unnerving phone calls. The proper Final Girl of the piece, Jess (played by Olivia Hussey) is dealing with a lot even without a maniac menacing her and her sorority sisters. She’s pregnant and clearly in the denouement of her relationship with her pianist boyfriend, Peter (played by Keir Dullea, a choice that’s really pushing the limits of what could be considered a believable college student, but I digress…). She wants an abortion, her boyfriend is desperately trying to keep her and the baby seemingly to no avail.
Actually, there’s a fair number of subplots in general, which is one of the factors that sets “Black Christmas” apart from a lot that followed. Many of them often had really sparse stories that existed mostly to wring as much terror as possible. Not so in this case. In addition to Jess’s story, Claire’s father is in town to pick her up for Christmas (not knowing that she’s already dead obviously) and has thrown in with house mother Mrs. Mac (before she’s dispatched herself), Claire’s boyfriend Chris (Art Hindle, Canadian production staple), Jess, and Phyl (SCTV’s Andrea Martin) in more and more desperate attempts to find Claire. All of this despite the ludicrously terrible Sergeant Nash (Doug McGrath) at the police station unintentionally stymying their attempts at every turn. That is until his lieutenant (played by none other than John fucking Saxon) shifts his focus from a seemingly unrelated murdered girl found in a nearby park into trying to get to the bottom of whatever’s happening to these sorority girls before it’s too late.
Hell, I didn’t even mention Margot Kidder’s presence as the spoiled but ignored rich sorority sister, Barb! There is a lot going on in this film, which in many cases would be unwelcome but is very much the opposite in this case. The fact that all of the characters have importance and are people that you grow to be invested in and care about as the story goes on makes the horror that arises that much scarier. That shouldn’t make this an outlier in the genre but it certainly does, especially compared to a lot of what followed. Truth be told though, it would already be pretty goddamn scary anyway. To this day, “Black Christmas” still creeps me out. Not only is NOTHING ever explained as far as who the killer is or what their motivations are, as I previously mentioned, you never even really get a particularly good look at him. A lot of his presence is shot from his point of view, so the most you generally see are his hands and his wild eyes very occasionally. That and his nonsensical but creepy phone calls are all you get, which is so much scarier than any of his iconic slasher brethren. By that, I mean it’s all left to the viewer to sort through and deal with and the imagination is scarier than basically anything the filmmakers could show or tell you.
The whole endeavor is just masterfully put together by Bob Clark. The majority of his work, certainly the most well known stuff are comedies like “Porky’s” or “A Christmas Story” but he had more of a flair for horror than a lot of people that tried to follow in his footsteps. His greatest strength is the stuff that he did get to show off in films like I mentioned and that’s his character work. The characters are all memorable. They all matter. They’re all three dimensional and feel like real people. That’s the glue that holds the entire picture together, because the comedic elements and horror elements are way more disparate than you would generally expect. Most horror comedies have a specific tone or at least are going for a specific tone. A balance, if you will. I’ve talked about it in previous films that I love like “Re-Animator” or “The Frighteners” but the thing that makes “Black Christmas” unique is that there really isn’t a balance. Usually in films like this, the horror and comedy are played at a fever pitch, so they’re almost indistinguishable. In the case of “Black Christmas”, it’s very much both genres existing simultaneously but separately, in harmony. It feels as much like a traditional ’70s comedy about young people as it does like a genuinely terrifying horror film. It’s almost like it was two completely separate movies with a decision made in pre-production to combine them and it somehow ended up working anyway. It’s truly masterful and underrated work from Clark. He simply does not get enough credit for what he did here.
The other major factor is the cast, who is just outstanding from top to bottom. Even taking Keir Dullea very clearly being rather…seasoned…to be a college student into account, there is not a single weak link in this cast. John Saxon is a delight, as always. Margot Kidder shows why she would eventually be an icon in her own right with her very funny and tragic performance as Barb. Marian Waldman’s uproarious performance as house mother Mrs. Mac and Andrea Martin’s job of being tonally somewhere in the middle of the two of them. Moreover, you have the tragedy of James Edmond and Art Hindle as the men who love Claire Harrison and are doing everything they can to find her without knowing their mission is doomed before it even began. Keir Dullea being believably awful while simultaneously being sympathetic as Jess’ boyfriend Peter. In the end, Olivia Hussey ties it all together and effortlessly carries it on her back.
In recent years, “Black Christmas” has somewhat gotten its due as both the prototypical slasher…the O.G. if you will…as well as being a great film in its own right but it still deserves a stronger profile. Even with other movies being released with the same title in recent years, there truly is nothing quite like this particular film. It’s a great comedy. It’s a great horror movie. It’s everything you could possibly want as a fan of either genre. It really is a miracle of a film. “Black Christmas” absolutely deserves a place in anyone’s annual holiday viewing.
To find out where this film is available to stream, click here: Just Watch