Happy Horror-day! Black Christmas (1974)

Christmas day, Merry Christmas to you all! I rather like Black Christmas, and I must confess that I watch it each year alongside Gremlins, It’s a Wonderful Life and Muppets Christmas Carol but I usually watch it during the run up to Christmas not on the day!  One of (how many has it been now?) Canadian, holiday themed slasher films to feature in this challenge the film was produced and directed by Bob Clark, and written by A. Roy Moore having been inspired by the "The babysitter and the man upstairs" urban legend. Originally called Stop Me the title was one of many changes made including changing the setting to that of a university , the completed story tells of a group of sorority sisters that receive threatening (and genuinely disturbing) phone calls while being stalked and (spoilers, murdered) by a unseen deranged killer during the Christmas season. Shot in Toronto in 1974 on an estimated budget of $620,000, the film was distributed by Warner Bros and stared Olivia Hussey, Keir Dullea, Margot Kidder, Andrea Martin, Marian Waldman, Lynne Griffin and John Saxon and was released in the United States on December 20^th as Silent Night, Evil Night before it was once again changed to the one we know it as today. NOT the first slasher by any means but the film does at least deserve the honor of being the holiday themed horror that influenced John Carpenter to make Halloween effectively kicking off the sub-genera. One factor that makes this one different from all the others is that it’s impossible to spoil in a review, as the killer’s identity is never given away (is my telling you that a spoiler?) either way, be sure to see it- but I guess you will be done with Christmas by the time you read this, so instead watch it next year!  

© Arfon Jones 2019. All images are copyrighted throughout the world.