Customer Reviews:
really good!.......2008-01-10
I watched the original when it came out at the cinema in the 70's and had me on the edge of my seat!! has just the right amount of creepiness and heart beating moments not to totally terrify you but also keeps the story!
The new 2006(I think it is) remake is not the same. Buy this one to be as near the original!!
Dead silence is the scariest.......2007-12-29
I have often wondered why there are so many bad horror movies these days. Movies that instead of focusing on suspense and real chills, just pour endless amounts of blood in your face, thinking this will do the trick, and hopefully become a cult classic. Film after film, more and more horror movies are becoming increasingly similair, and you can almost guess the whole entire plot of the movie, no more than 10 minutes into the film. Everything in horror these days is all about over the top special effects, numbingly loud thumping music, that is supposed to get you scared. Black Christmas (the original) is (IMO) one of the best and scariest horror movies ever made. Why? you ask. Let me tell you. There are so many reasons. First. In horror today, when someone (usually the pretty girl) is walking towards a door or a room (thinking someone will be there) - and they are. The film makers feel the need to spoil the moment with ridiculously loud music that is (intended) to get you all hyped up for the big surprise. When they don't realise that this spoils 99% of the scene. For instance, 10 minutes into the movie, one of the sorority girls "Claire" goes up stairs to her room, to pack some things, preparing for a trip. While entering the room she is greeted by the house cat "Claud". While packing, Claire hears a strange meow. At first she just ignores, but the meow gets more and more intense and chillingly creepy. She then notices that the meow is coming from the closet (not far from where she is standing) at the end of the room (and the closet door is open). She paces towards the closet (with a terrified stare) quickly realising that the meow is not coming from the house cat, asking "Who is that?" several times. The thing that makes this scene 'GOLD' is while walking to the closet and asking "Who is that?" there is no music! - just dead silence. This makes the scene and situation seem more real and 1000 times more scary. The viewers are at the edge of their seat, hanging on to pure silence while she walks further and further to the closet. This is far more terrifiying than continuous loud music, that spoils the moment, because you know by the music when the killer is going to approach. That scene is horror at it's best and everyone should see the film for that scene alone. Secondly, the entrance of the movie is shocking. The camera is filmed like a documentry (like the camera is the stalker, walking nearer and nearer to the house) While spying on his victims he realises he is able to climb to the top of the house where he can enter the attic. The directer's captured this amazingly and it gave off that feeling, that raw, real, scare, that this really could happen to anyone. One of the standout scares and scenes that stick in your brain are the chillingly disturbing phone call scenes. The girls recieve numurous phone calls from the same man, only there's a catch. It's not your typical Scream phone call were the killer asks "Are you alone?" and "What's your favourite scary movie?" he talks with himself, displaying what appears to be a severe split personality. The phone calls get more and more scary as the movie goes on. Especially near the end were the killer actually goes crazy portraying more than 4 different voices and characters - the horrific sound of his voice will haunt you after the movie is over (which I guess is great for the creater, as all the best horror movies make long lasting impressions). The last thing I will say is there are a lot of people, reviewers, saying the end was disappointing because they still don't know who the killer is. Huh? lets get this straight. The killer isn't a person in the movie who is coming across nice, nor is he pretending to be a close friend - infact he doesn't know any of the girls at all. He is merley a deranged, dangerous man who passed a sorority house and thought it would be fun to hide inside their attic and hack them off 1 by 1. I will not spoil the rest of the movie for those who haven't seen it. All I will say is if you want a great horror movie that when the credits role you will be affraid to walk upstairs, THIS IS THE MOVIE FOR YOU. You will also be staring at your attic door for about a week.
The first slasher movie.......2007-12-28
Many people think that Halloween was the first slasher movie, but Black Christmas was made four years earlier and is the first proper slasher movie that was made. There were a few gore movies in the sixties which featured death scenes throughout and of course "Psycho" and "Twitch of the Death Nerve" was made in 1972, but none of these movies properly followed the slasher movie forumla untill Black Christmas. So I think that this movie deserves credit for being (arguably) the first one of its kind out there.
A bunch of girls (aged somewhere between 18 and 22) in a college sorority house receive series of prank phone calls, which arent so much threatening as disturbing and then start getting killed off. These phone calls are the scariest part of the movie, in my opinion, the are REALLY creepy and disturbing. The movie relies on suspence and its creepiness rather than violence and the deaths (of which there are only a few) have almost no gore. Another element which adds to the suspence of the movie is that we know from very early on in the movie that the killer was in the house with the girls so one of them could be killed at any time.
The Good things about the movie are that the phone calls are genuinely creepy and there is quite a lot of suspence throughout, and it was the first movie of its kind.
The Bad things are that therent arent many death scenes or much gore in the movie and also, even before the girls start to dissappear, all of the charactors seem to be clinically depressed, in a few scenes the main protagonist, Jess, looks as though she may burst into tears (although to be fair we later find out that she is planning on having an abortion) which made me feel sorry for them. The end is rather confusing too - it might just be me thing thick but after finishing the movie Im still not really sure who the killer was.
Overall quite a good slasher which I would reccomend viewing because of its at-the-time origionality and because its very creepy and suspenceful. Deffinately worth a watch.
You Better Watch Out..........!.......2007-12-02
Made in 1974, Black Christmas was one of the first "slasher" movies and on this dvd the print has been perfectly restored with modern sound added - although purists can watch it with the original mono sound if they choose.
Set at Christmas time, the story has a group of university female students living together in a house on campus where they are subjected to obscene telephone calls. Mouthy, drink loving Babs (Margot Kidder) likes to answer the caller back, but sensible Jess (Olivia Hussey) feels he should not be encouraged.
Before long the girls and their house mother are being murdered one by one. The suspense which builds to the killings is truly chilling and, unlike modern films of the type, there is no reliance of blood and gore to create horror. As the police battle to trace the source of the calls the girls must stand together and face the terror which has come to their door.
I suspect the 18 rating is caused by the frequent use of the C word in the obscene phone calls. There is little gore or blood and without the language this could easily have been rated 15.
Well worth purchasing for fans of a well made, well paced horror drama which keeps the viewer engaged with lively characters and a suspense filled plot.....
Just hope your phone doesn't ring while your watching!
Chilling.......2007-10-05
I only saw Black Christmas for the first time the other week and it's still lingering in my consciousness. To me that speaks volumes, just don't watch the remake....EVER
Amazon.co.uk Review
You may never have heard of Black Christmas, a neglected gem from 1974, but you've probably seen one of its many imitators. Olivia Hussey and Margot Kidder star as two residents of a sorority house that is emptying out as Christmas approaches. The atmosphere is jolly and carefree, except for an ongoing series of menacing telephone calls, and, oh yes, we've just seen someone climb into the attic with apparent ill intent. Kidder does some scene-stealing as the bad girl, Hussey illustrates one of the downsides to having beautiful long 70s hair and Keir Dullea does a nice turn as the creepy boyfriend. Director Robert Clark knows that the unseen is far scarier than what can be seen and he ratchets up the tension beautifully, making good use of ominous shadows, and putting in nice touches such as replacing the sound of a distraught woman's scream with the piercing ring of yet another ominous phone call. This is a terrific, well-made little movie that is genuinely sleep-with-the-lights-on scary. Don't miss it. --Ali Davis
Customer Reviews:
Silence is the scariest.......2008-01-24
I have often wondered why there are so many bad horror movies these days. Movies that instead of focusing on suspense and real chills, just pour endless amounts of blood in your face, thinking this will do the trick, and hopefully become a cult classic. Film after film, more and more horror movies are becoming increasingly similar, and you can almost guess the whole entire plot of the movie, no more than 10 minutes into the film. Everything in horror these days is all about over the top special effects, numbingly loud thumping music, that is supposed to get you scared. Black Christmas (the original) is (IMO) one of the best and scariest horror movies ever made. Why? you ask. Let me tell you. There are so many reasons. First. In horror today, when someone (usually the pretty girl) is walking towards a door or a room (thinking someone will be there) - and they are. The film makers feel the need to spoil the moment with ridiculously loud music that is (intended) to get you all hyped up for the big surprise. When they don't realise that this spoils 99% of the scene. For instance, 10 minutes into the movie, one of the sorority girls "Claire" goes up stairs to her room, to pack some things, preparing for a trip. While entering the room she is greeted by the house cat "Claud". While packing, Claire hears a strange meow. At first she just ignores, but the meow gets more and more intense and chillingly creepy. She then notices that the meow is coming from the closet (not far from where she is standing) at the end of the room (and the closet door is open). She paces towards the closet (with a terrified stare) quickly realising that the meow is not coming from the house cat, asking "Who is that?" several times. The thing that makes this scene 'GOLD' is while walking to the closet and asking "Who is that?" there is no music! - just dead silence. This makes the scene and situation seem more real and 1000 times more scary. The viewers are at the edge of their seat, hanging on to pure silence while she walks further and further to the closet. This is far more terrifying than continuous loud music, that spoils the moment, because you know by the music when the killer is going to approach. That scene is horror at it's best and everyone should see the film for that scene alone. Secondly, the entrance of the movie is shocking. The camera is filmed like a documentary (like the camera is the stalker, walking nearer and nearer to the house) While spying on his victims he realises he is able to climb to the top of the house where he can enter the attic. The directer's captured this amazingly and it gave off that feeling, that raw, real, scare, that this really could happen to anyone. One of the standout scares and scenes that stick in your brain are the chillingly disturbing phone call scenes. The girls receive numerous phone calls from the same man, only there's a catch. It's not your typical Scream phone call were the killer asks "Are you alone?" and "What's your favourite scary movie?" he talks with himself, displaying what appears to be a severe split personality. The phone calls get more and more scary as the movie goes on. Especially near the end were the killer actually goes crazy portraying more than 4 different voices and characters - the horrific sound of his voice will haunt you after the movie is over (which I guess is great for the Creator, as all the best horror movies make long lasting impressions). The last thing I will say is there are a lot of people, reviewers, saying the end was disappointing because they still don't know who the killer is. Huh? lets get this straight. The killer isn't a person in the movie who is coming across nice, nor is he pretending to be a close friend - in fact he doesn't know any of the girls at all. He is merely a deranged, dangerous man who passed a sorority house and thought it would be fun to hide inside their attic and hack them off 1 by 1. I will not spoil the rest of the movie for those who haven't seen it. All I will say is if you want a great horror movie that when the credits role you will be afraid to walk upstairs, THIS IS THE MOVIE FOR YOU. You will also be staring at your attic door for about a week.
An Atmospheric Classic.......2007-07-12
"Black Christmas" is often cited as the pioneering feature of the slasher genre, paving the way for a succession of celluloid knife-wielding maniacs via John Carpenter's "Halloween", released four years later. However, slasher fans are likely to be disappointed with "Black Christmas" since it mainly relies on the use of suspense and atmosphere for its shocks rather than sickly violence and gore.
Of course, for mainstream audiences, this makes it rather superior to genuine slasher fare. Director Bob Clark utilises the principle that true fear arises from what we don't see and don't know - the audience never get to see a tangible perpetrator. Unlike the tiresome backstories of invincible homicidal maniacs which diffuse rather than heighten the fear factor in the typical slasher plot - there is absolutely no exposition hinting what the source of death could be. The director's insistence on ambiguity lends the macabre proceedings a demonic, supernatural quality, during which the audience are invited to imagine and speculate feverishly without any relief for their trouble.
The unerringly wooden but undeniably beautiful lead Olivia Hussey ("Romeo & Juliet") suspects her very melodramatic, creepy and bizarre boyfriend Keir Dullea, to whom all the circumstantial evidence points to. Whether Dullea has put in a great performance or is simply this creepy in real life isn't clear - I certainly wondered whether HAL wasn't actually rather justified in his attempt to jettison him in space in "2001: A Space Odyssey". There are better performances from the then unknown likes of Margot Kidder and Andrea Martin as Hussey's fellow sorority girls, and a guest star turn from B-Movie legend John Saxon ("Enter the Dragon") as a baffled Police Lieutenant.
The biggest star of the show for me is the use of sound - Clark's team juxtapose the mundane and sinister sounds of the empty house to brilliant effect, and the guttural voices on the telephone calls are truly terrifying! Generally the film is well worth a visit and Tartan have produced a very decent package with some nice retrospective interviews from some of the original cast.
One of the best slasher horrors out there.......2006-12-30
Black Christmas first and foremost set the trend for any psycho slasher movie out there. Psycho gave our first chills, but we're talking 2 deaths amongst what is widely regarded as a thriller not horror.
It's simply down to the atmosphere of the film, the real settings, the 70's decor, the dim lighting... Many people have thought the killer's phone calls are over the top and laughable - but the deeper you travel into the film, the more you relate to the girl's fear that this is a real threat not just prank calls. The music is minimal which suits the ambience.
I'm rarely impressed with many films in all honesty, but when I first saw this it was the straw that broke the camel's back in terms of pure refined horror. See it alone and wait for Olivia Hussey's discovery of the killer.
a bit boring to be honest.......2006-11-21
I thought this film was a bit boring to be honest. There wasn't a great deal of gore in the film. Although the ending was quite good and had a bit of a twist, I could have fallen asleep halfway through the film. I'm looking forward to the remake.
Don't bother with the remake..........2006-10-31
The fact that this is still 18 rated thirty odd years after it's release is proof that this is as bad (= good) as it ever was. Still freaking over it now....
Amazon.co.uk Review
You may never have heard of Black Christmas, a neglected gem from 1974, but you've probably seen one of its many imitators. Olivia Hussey and Margot Kidder star as two residents of a sorority house that is emptying out as Christmas approaches. The atmosphere is jolly and carefree, except for an ongoing series of menacing telephone calls, and, oh yes, we've just seen someone climb into the attic with apparent ill intent. Kidder does some scene-stealing as the bad girl, Hussey illustrates one of the downsides to having beautiful long 70s hair and Keir Dullea does a nice turn as the creepy boyfriend. Director Robert Clark knows that the unseen is far scarier than what can be seen and he ratchets up the tension beautifully, making good use of ominous shadows, and putting in nice touches such as replacing the sound of a distraught woman's scream with the piercing ring of yet another ominous phone call. This is a terrific, well-made little movie that is genuinely sleep-with-the-lights-on scary. Don't miss it. --Ali Davis
Customer Reviews:
Silence is the scariest.......2008-01-24
I have often wondered why there are so many bad horror movies these days. Movies that instead of focusing on suspense and real chills, just pour endless amounts of blood in your face, thinking this will do the trick, and hopefully become a cult classic. Film after film, more and more horror movies are becoming increasingly similar, and you can almost guess the whole entire plot of the movie, no more than 10 minutes into the film. Everything in horror these days is all about over the top special effects, numbingly loud thumping music, that is supposed to get you scared. Black Christmas (the original) is (IMO) one of the best and scariest horror movies ever made. Why? you ask. Let me tell you. There are so many reasons. First. In horror today, when someone (usually the pretty girl) is walking towards a door or a room (thinking someone will be there) - and they are. The film makers feel the need to spoil the moment with ridiculously loud music that is (intended) to get you all hyped up for the big surprise. When they don't realise that this spoils 99% of the scene. For instance, 10 minutes into the movie, one of the sorority girls "Claire" goes up stairs to her room, to pack some things, preparing for a trip. While entering the room she is greeted by the house cat "Claud". While packing, Claire hears a strange meow. At first she just ignores, but the meow gets more and more intense and chillingly creepy. She then notices that the meow is coming from the closet (not far from where she is standing) at the end of the room (and the closet door is open). She paces towards the closet (with a terrified stare) quickly realising that the meow is not coming from the house cat, asking "Who is that?" several times. The thing that makes this scene 'GOLD' is while walking to the closet and asking "Who is that?" there is no music! - just dead silence. This makes the scene and situation seem more real and 1000 times more scary. The viewers are at the edge of their seat, hanging on to pure silence while she walks further and further to the closet. This is far more terrifying than continuous loud music, that spoils the moment, because you know by the music when the killer is going to approach. That scene is horror at it's best and everyone should see the film for that scene alone. Secondly, the entrance of the movie is shocking. The camera is filmed like a documentary (like the camera is the stalker, walking nearer and nearer to the house) While spying on his victims he realises he is able to climb to the top of the house where he can enter the attic. The directer's captured this amazingly and it gave off that feeling, that raw, real, scare, that this really could happen to anyone. One of the standout scares and scenes that stick in your brain are the chillingly disturbing phone call scenes. The girls receive numerous phone calls from the same man, only there's a catch. It's not your typical Scream phone call were the killer asks "Are you alone?" and "What's your favourite scary movie?" he talks with himself, displaying what appears to be a severe split personality. The phone calls get more and more scary as the movie goes on. Especially near the end were the killer actually goes crazy portraying more than 4 different voices and characters - the horrific sound of his voice will haunt you after the movie is over (which I guess is great for the Creator, as all the best horror movies make long lasting impressions). The last thing I will say is there are a lot of people, reviewers, saying the end was disappointing because they still don't know who the killer is. Huh? lets get this straight. The killer isn't a person in the movie who is coming across nice, nor is he pretending to be a close friend - in fact he doesn't know any of the girls at all. He is merely a deranged, dangerous man who passed a sorority house and thought it would be fun to hide inside their attic and hack them off 1 by 1. I will not spoil the rest of the movie for those who haven't seen it. All I will say is if you want a great horror movie that when the credits role you will be afraid to walk upstairs, THIS IS THE MOVIE FOR YOU. You will also be staring at your attic door for about a week.
An Atmospheric Classic.......2007-07-12
"Black Christmas" is often cited as the pioneering feature of the slasher genre, paving the way for a succession of celluloid knife-wielding maniacs via John Carpenter's "Halloween", released four years later. However, slasher fans are likely to be disappointed with "Black Christmas" since it mainly relies on the use of suspense and atmosphere for its shocks rather than sickly violence and gore.
Of course, for mainstream audiences, this makes it rather superior to genuine slasher fare. Director Bob Clark utilises the principle that true fear arises from what we don't see and don't know - the audience never get to see a tangible perpetrator. Unlike the tiresome backstories of invincible homicidal maniacs which diffuse rather than heighten the fear factor in the typical slasher plot - there is absolutely no exposition hinting what the source of death could be. The director's insistence on ambiguity lends the macabre proceedings a demonic, supernatural quality, during which the audience are invited to imagine and speculate feverishly without any relief for their trouble.
The unerringly wooden but undeniably beautiful lead Olivia Hussey ("Romeo & Juliet") suspects her very melodramatic, creepy and bizarre boyfriend Keir Dullea, to whom all the circumstantial evidence points to. Whether Dullea has put in a great performance or is simply this creepy in real life isn't clear - I certainly wondered whether HAL wasn't actually rather justified in his attempt to jettison him in space in "2001: A Space Odyssey". There are better performances from the then unknown likes of Margot Kidder and Andrea Martin as Hussey's fellow sorority girls, and a guest star turn from B-Movie legend John Saxon ("Enter the Dragon") as a baffled Police Lieutenant.
The biggest star of the show for me is the use of sound - Clark's team juxtapose the mundane and sinister sounds of the empty house to brilliant effect, and the guttural voices on the telephone calls are truly terrifying! Generally the film is well worth a visit and Tartan have produced a very decent package with some nice retrospective interviews from some of the original cast.
One of the best slasher horrors out there.......2006-12-30
Black Christmas first and foremost set the trend for any psycho slasher movie out there. Psycho gave our first chills, but we're talking 2 deaths amongst what is widely regarded as a thriller not horror.
It's simply down to the atmosphere of the film, the real settings, the 70's decor, the dim lighting... Many people have thought the killer's phone calls are over the top and laughable - but the deeper you travel into the film, the more you relate to the girl's fear that this is a real threat not just prank calls. The music is minimal which suits the ambience.
I'm rarely impressed with many films in all honesty, but when I first saw this it was the straw that broke the camel's back in terms of pure refined horror. See it alone and wait for Olivia Hussey's discovery of the killer.
a bit boring to be honest.......2006-11-21
I thought this film was a bit boring to be honest. There wasn't a great deal of gore in the film. Although the ending was quite good and had a bit of a twist, I could have fallen asleep halfway through the film. I'm looking forward to the remake.
Don't bother with the remake..........2006-10-31
The fact that this is still 18 rated thirty odd years after it's release is proof that this is as bad (= good) as it ever was. Still freaking over it now....
Amazon.co.uk Review
You may never have heard of Black Christmas, a neglected gem from 1974, but you've probably seen one of its many imitators. Olivia Hussey and Margot Kidder star as two residents of a sorority house that is emptying out as Christmas approaches. The atmosphere is jolly and carefree, except for an ongoing series of menacing telephone calls, and, oh yes, we've just seen someone climb into the attic with apparent ill intent. Kidder does some scene-stealing as the bad girl, Hussey illustrates one of the downsides to having beautiful long 70s hair and Keir Dullea does a nice turn as the creepy boyfriend. Director Robert Clark knows that the unseen is far scarier than what can be seen and he ratchets up the tension beautifully, making good use of ominous shadows, and putting in nice touches such as replacing the sound of a distraught woman's scream with the piercing ring of yet another ominous phone call. This is a terrific, well-made little movie that is genuinely sleep-with-the-lights-on scary. Don't miss it. --Ali Davis
Customer Reviews:
Silence is the scariest.......2008-01-24
I have often wondered why there are so many bad horror movies these days. Movies that instead of focusing on suspense and real chills, just pour endless amounts of blood in your face, thinking this will do the trick, and hopefully become a cult classic. Film after film, more and more horror movies are becoming increasingly similar, and you can almost guess the whole entire plot of the movie, no more than 10 minutes into the film. Everything in horror these days is all about over the top special effects, numbingly loud thumping music, that is supposed to get you scared. Black Christmas (the original) is (IMO) one of the best and scariest horror movies ever made. Why? you ask. Let me tell you. There are so many reasons. First. In horror today, when someone (usually the pretty girl) is walking towards a door or a room (thinking someone will be there) - and they are. The film makers feel the need to spoil the moment with ridiculously loud music that is (intended) to get you all hyped up for the big surprise. When they don't realise that this spoils 99% of the scene. For instance, 10 minutes into the movie, one of the sorority girls "Claire" goes up stairs to her room, to pack some things, preparing for a trip. While entering the room she is greeted by the house cat "Claud". While packing, Claire hears a strange meow. At first she just ignores, but the meow gets more and more intense and chillingly creepy. She then notices that the meow is coming from the closet (not far from where she is standing) at the end of the room (and the closet door is open). She paces towards the closet (with a terrified stare) quickly realising that the meow is not coming from the house cat, asking "Who is that?" several times. The thing that makes this scene 'GOLD' is while walking to the closet and asking "Who is that?" there is no music! - just dead silence. This makes the scene and situation seem more real and 1000 times more scary. The viewers are at the edge of their seat, hanging on to pure silence while she walks further and further to the closet. This is far more terrifying than continuous loud music, that spoils the moment, because you know by the music when the killer is going to approach. That scene is horror at it's best and everyone should see the film for that scene alone. Secondly, the entrance of the movie is shocking. The camera is filmed like a documentary (like the camera is the stalker, walking nearer and nearer to the house) While spying on his victims he realises he is able to climb to the top of the house where he can enter the attic. The directer's captured this amazingly and it gave off that feeling, that raw, real, scare, that this really could happen to anyone. One of the standout scares and scenes that stick in your brain are the chillingly disturbing phone call scenes. The girls receive numerous phone calls from the same man, only there's a catch. It's not your typical Scream phone call were the killer asks "Are you alone?" and "What's your favourite scary movie?" he talks with himself, displaying what appears to be a severe split personality. The phone calls get more and more scary as the movie goes on. Especially near the end were the killer actually goes crazy portraying more than 4 different voices and characters - the horrific sound of his voice will haunt you after the movie is over (which I guess is great for the Creator, as all the best horror movies make long lasting impressions). The last thing I will say is there are a lot of people, reviewers, saying the end was disappointing because they still don't know who the killer is. Huh? lets get this straight. The killer isn't a person in the movie who is coming across nice, nor is he pretending to be a close friend - in fact he doesn't know any of the girls at all. He is merely a deranged, dangerous man who passed a sorority house and thought it would be fun to hide inside their attic and hack them off 1 by 1. I will not spoil the rest of the movie for those who haven't seen it. All I will say is if you want a great horror movie that when the credits role you will be afraid to walk upstairs, THIS IS THE MOVIE FOR YOU. You will also be staring at your attic door for about a week.
An Atmospheric Classic.......2007-07-12
"Black Christmas" is often cited as the pioneering feature of the slasher genre, paving the way for a succession of celluloid knife-wielding maniacs via John Carpenter's "Halloween", released four years later. However, slasher fans are likely to be disappointed with "Black Christmas" since it mainly relies on the use of suspense and atmosphere for its shocks rather than sickly violence and gore.
Of course, for mainstream audiences, this makes it rather superior to genuine slasher fare. Director Bob Clark utilises the principle that true fear arises from what we don't see and don't know - the audience never get to see a tangible perpetrator. Unlike the tiresome backstories of invincible homicidal maniacs which diffuse rather than heighten the fear factor in the typical slasher plot - there is absolutely no exposition hinting what the source of death could be. The director's insistence on ambiguity lends the macabre proceedings a demonic, supernatural quality, during which the audience are invited to imagine and speculate feverishly without any relief for their trouble.
The unerringly wooden but undeniably beautiful lead Olivia Hussey ("Romeo & Juliet") suspects her very melodramatic, creepy and bizarre boyfriend Keir Dullea, to whom all the circumstantial evidence points to. Whether Dullea has put in a great performance or is simply this creepy in real life isn't clear - I certainly wondered whether HAL wasn't actually rather justified in his attempt to jettison him in space in "2001: A Space Odyssey". There are better performances from the then unknown likes of Margot Kidder and Andrea Martin as Hussey's fellow sorority girls, and a guest star turn from B-Movie legend John Saxon ("Enter the Dragon") as a baffled Police Lieutenant.
The biggest star of the show for me is the use of sound - Clark's team juxtapose the mundane and sinister sounds of the empty house to brilliant effect, and the guttural voices on the telephone calls are truly terrifying! Generally the film is well worth a visit and Tartan have produced a very decent package with some nice retrospective interviews from some of the original cast.
One of the best slasher horrors out there.......2006-12-30
Black Christmas first and foremost set the trend for any psycho slasher movie out there. Psycho gave our first chills, but we're talking 2 deaths amongst what is widely regarded as a thriller not horror.
It's simply down to the atmosphere of the film, the real settings, the 70's decor, the dim lighting... Many people have thought the killer's phone calls are over the top and laughable - but the deeper you travel into the film, the more you relate to the girl's fear that this is a real threat not just prank calls. The music is minimal which suits the ambience.
I'm rarely impressed with many films in all honesty, but when I first saw this it was the straw that broke the camel's back in terms of pure refined horror. See it alone and wait for Olivia Hussey's discovery of the killer.
a bit boring to be honest.......2006-11-21
I thought this film was a bit boring to be honest. There wasn't a great deal of gore in the film. Although the ending was quite good and had a bit of a twist, I could have fallen asleep halfway through the film. I'm looking forward to the remake.
Don't bother with the remake..........2006-10-31
The fact that this is still 18 rated thirty odd years after it's release is proof that this is as bad (= good) as it ever was. Still freaking over it now....
Amazon.co.uk Review
You may never have heard of Black Christmas, a neglected gem from 1974, but you've probably seen one of its many imitators. Olivia Hussey and Margot Kidder star as two residents of a sorority house that is emptying out as Christmas approaches. The atmosphere is jolly and carefree, except for an ongoing series of menacing telephone calls, and, oh yes, we've just seen someone climb into the attic with apparent ill intent. Kidder does some scene-stealing as the bad girl, Hussey illustrates one of the downsides to having beautiful long 70s hair and Keir Dullea does a nice turn as the creepy boyfriend. Director Robert Clark knows that the unseen is far scarier than what can be seen and he ratchets up the tension beautifully, making good use of ominous shadows, and putting in nice touches such as replacing the sound of a distraught woman's scream with the piercing ring of yet another ominous phone call. This is a terrific, well-made little movie that is genuinely sleep-with-the-lights-on scary. Don't miss it. --Ali Davis
Customer Reviews:
Silence is the scariest.......2008-01-24
I have often wondered why there are so many bad horror movies these days. Movies that instead of focusing on suspense and real chills, just pour endless amounts of blood in your face, thinking this will do the trick, and hopefully become a cult classic. Film after film, more and more horror movies are becoming increasingly similar, and you can almost guess the whole entire plot of the movie, no more than 10 minutes into the film. Everything in horror these days is all about over the top special effects, numbingly loud thumping music, that is supposed to get you scared. Black Christmas (the original) is (IMO) one of the best and scariest horror movies ever made. Why? you ask. Let me tell you. There are so many reasons. First. In horror today, when someone (usually the pretty girl) is walking towards a door or a room (thinking someone will be there) - and they are. The film makers feel the need to spoil the moment with ridiculously loud music that is (intended) to get you all hyped up for the big surprise. When they don't realise that this spoils 99% of the scene. For instance, 10 minutes into the movie, one of the sorority girls "Claire" goes up stairs to her room, to pack some things, preparing for a trip. While entering the room she is greeted by the house cat "Claud". While packing, Claire hears a strange meow. At first she just ignores, but the meow gets more and more intense and chillingly creepy. She then notices that the meow is coming from the closet (not far from where she is standing) at the end of the room (and the closet door is open). She paces towards the closet (with a terrified stare) quickly realising that the meow is not coming from the house cat, asking "Who is that?" several times. The thing that makes this scene 'GOLD' is while walking to the closet and asking "Who is that?" there is no music! - just dead silence. This makes the scene and situation seem more real and 1000 times more scary. The viewers are at the edge of their seat, hanging on to pure silence while she walks further and further to the closet. This is far more terrifying than continuous loud music, that spoils the moment, because you know by the music when the killer is going to approach. That scene is horror at it's best and everyone should see the film for that scene alone. Secondly, the entrance of the movie is shocking. The camera is filmed like a documentary (like the camera is the stalker, walking nearer and nearer to the house) While spying on his victims he realises he is able to climb to the top of the house where he can enter the attic. The directer's captured this amazingly and it gave off that feeling, that raw, real, scare, that this really could happen to anyone. One of the standout scares and scenes that stick in your brain are the chillingly disturbing phone call scenes. The girls receive numerous phone calls from the same man, only there's a catch. It's not your typical Scream phone call were the killer asks "Are you alone?" and "What's your favourite scary movie?" he talks with himself, displaying what appears to be a severe split personality. The phone calls get more and more scary as the movie goes on. Especially near the end were the killer actually goes crazy portraying more than 4 different voices and characters - the horrific sound of his voice will haunt you after the movie is over (which I guess is great for the Creator, as all the best horror movies make long lasting impressions). The last thing I will say is there are a lot of people, reviewers, saying the end was disappointing because they still don't know who the killer is. Huh? lets get this straight. The killer isn't a person in the movie who is coming across nice, nor is he pretending to be a close friend - in fact he doesn't know any of the girls at all. He is merely a deranged, dangerous man who passed a sorority house and thought it would be fun to hide inside their attic and hack them off 1 by 1. I will not spoil the rest of the movie for those who haven't seen it. All I will say is if you want a great horror movie that when the credits role you will be afraid to walk upstairs, THIS IS THE MOVIE FOR YOU. You will also be staring at your attic door for about a week.
An Atmospheric Classic.......2007-07-12
"Black Christmas" is often cited as the pioneering feature of the slasher genre, paving the way for a succession of celluloid knife-wielding maniacs via John Carpenter's "Halloween", released four years later. However, slasher fans are likely to be disappointed with "Black Christmas" since it mainly relies on the use of suspense and atmosphere for its shocks rather than sickly violence and gore.
Of course, for mainstream audiences, this makes it rather superior to genuine slasher fare. Director Bob Clark utilises the principle that true fear arises from what we don't see and don't know - the audience never get to see a tangible perpetrator. Unlike the tiresome backstories of invincible homicidal maniacs which diffuse rather than heighten the fear factor in the typical slasher plot - there is absolutely no exposition hinting what the source of death could be. The director's insistence on ambiguity lends the macabre proceedings a demonic, supernatural quality, during which the audience are invited to imagine and speculate feverishly without any relief for their trouble.
The unerringly wooden but undeniably beautiful lead Olivia Hussey ("Romeo & Juliet") suspects her very melodramatic, creepy and bizarre boyfriend Keir Dullea, to whom all the circumstantial evidence points to. Whether Dullea has put in a great performance or is simply this creepy in real life isn't clear - I certainly wondered whether HAL wasn't actually rather justified in his attempt to jettison him in space in "2001: A Space Odyssey". There are better performances from the then unknown likes of Margot Kidder and Andrea Martin as Hussey's fellow sorority girls, and a guest star turn from B-Movie legend John Saxon ("Enter the Dragon") as a baffled Police Lieutenant.
The biggest star of the show for me is the use of sound - Clark's team juxtapose the mundane and sinister sounds of the empty house to brilliant effect, and the guttural voices on the telephone calls are truly terrifying! Generally the film is well worth a visit and Tartan have produced a very decent package with some nice retrospective interviews from some of the original cast.
One of the best slasher horrors out there.......2006-12-30
Black Christmas first and foremost set the trend for any psycho slasher movie out there. Psycho gave our first chills, but we're talking 2 deaths amongst what is widely regarded as a thriller not horror.
It's simply down to the atmosphere of the film, the real settings, the 70's decor, the dim lighting... Many people have thought the killer's phone calls are over the top and laughable - but the deeper you travel into the film, the more you relate to the girl's fear that this is a real threat not just prank calls. The music is minimal which suits the ambience.
I'm rarely impressed with many films in all honesty, but when I first saw this it was the straw that broke the camel's back in terms of pure refined horror. See it alone and wait for Olivia Hussey's discovery of the killer.
a bit boring to be honest.......2006-11-21
I thought this film was a bit boring to be honest. There wasn't a great deal of gore in the film. Although the ending was quite good and had a bit of a twist, I could have fallen asleep halfway through the film. I'm looking forward to the remake.
Don't bother with the remake..........2006-10-31
The fact that this is still 18 rated thirty odd years after it's release is proof that this is as bad (= good) as it ever was. Still freaking over it now....
UK DVD:
- Blade Runner (The Director's Cut) [1982]
- Blade [UMD Mini for PSP] [1998]
- Blood And Chocolate [2007]
- Blood of Beasts [2005] (REGION 1) (NTSC)
- Bram Stoker's Dracula [1993]
- Bram Stoker's Dracula (2 Disc Deluxe Edition) [1992]
- Buffy The Vampire Slayer [1992]
- Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 6 (New Edition) [2001]
- Cabin Fever [2003]
- Candyman : Collectors Edition [1992]
UK DVD List
UK DVD
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