Customer Reviews

Black Christmas [Blu-ray] [1974] [US Import]

5 star:		(31)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

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!

Curl up on the sofa and turn off the lights...A classic 1970's horror. If you're a fan of horror flicks from this era then this is a good one for you. Dark and creepy with a few good scares this really is one of the better movies in this genre. I really enjoyed Black Christmas, thinking it would be quite naff, I was pleasantly surprised...give it go it's worth a watch.

In 1976, a friend recommended this film. Although she outlined the story, I went to see it anyway. I've never been so scared and never has a film left such a lasting impression... 30 years on and I am still talking about it. Maybe, as a young student at the time, I could empathize with the girls in the house. The director certainly knew how to capture the tension and create fear in the minds of the viewers. The fear of not knowing was such a fitting angle for this film. I dare you to watch it alone!

Unlike some other horror movies from the 1970's (Halloween, Friday the 13th, Suspiria) Back Christmas has unfortunately become a bit of a lost gem. I must admit that I had not seen or heard of Black Christmas until very recently when recommended by a friend.. but I'm really glad I've discovered it now. It reminded me of how well they used to make horror movies in the 1970's, every shot in this lost classic keeps you well and truly on a knifes edge. The film may not be as gory as it's brothers and sisters from that decade, but it certainly makes up for it in suspense and JUMPS! and it hasn't dated to badly either after more than thirty years. From the horridly twisted telephone calls to the scary as hell eye that look's through the crack in the door.. there's plenty here for all fans of the slasher/stalker genre.. see it NOW.

The Duvada also comes with some very informative documentaries that give you a detailed account as to how the film was made. Using interviews from producers and actors, even revisiting some of the main locations.. there's more here than most highly regarded horror movie packages.

This is a real classic horror film,a must for all horror fans.

I cannot believe this film is not more well known.it has great suspence, and a real atmosphere, truly chilling.
I only found out about this film when it was re released on dvd, it was originally made in 1974 and has much more impact than any of these new horrors.
This film has a fantastic story line, it will leave you checking over your shoulder and your loft (if you have one). My advice is do not watch this on your own or at night, as you probably won't be able to sleep!!!

There arn't really any bloody scenes in this movie, which is great as i think it would have spoiled it slightly.
Sometimes what you don't see can be a hell of a lot more eerie than what you do see.

All in all a fantastic horror!!!! you've got to see it!!!!!

I was in my teens when I watched this for the first time, and had never been so scared in my life. I watched it again recently, and was just as afraid to go to bed this time! Loft hatches will be a problem for evermore once you see this. My neice and her fiance were put off watching it by the age of the film,( they are in their early twenties and think the seventies were the olden days), but they both agreed that it was far scarier than its modern imitators.

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.

WOW, this film is THE Horror film in my Eyes. Everything About it is creepy, including the house which plays an integral role in the film, with its varying levels and several doors. I actually live 30 minutes away from this house in Toronto Canada and visit it at least once a year during the Holiday season to pay homage to the greatest horror film existence....BLACK CHRISTMAS

How creepy ... only yesterday I was telling my teenage daughter about the scariest Xmas film I'd ever seen and the next day it pops up to be released on Monday !
In 1974 it was the 'b' movie to some 'A' film I've forgotten but to this day 30 yrs later I do not like the attic door to be left open ! It's the only film I've ever been to when the whole of the audience actually screamed in places and I can remember people shouting at the screen for the girl not to go in there ! Yes truely.
At 14 (how I got into an X I'll never know) maybe I was impressionable although I loved horror films, but this film certainly had something if 30 years later I still talk about it and nobody has ever heard of it, so this Xmas, sit down with a very large drink and prepare to be scared to death (especially if you have a child at university, like I now do ) !!!!!

"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.