Black Christmas (1974)
Starring Olivia Hussey and Margot Kidder
Directed by Bob Clark
A review written by: Joshua Taj Bozeman on Dec. 29, 2002

WARNING- MAJOR SPOILERS BELOW

Black Christmas is considered a horror classic by many, and I can see why they feel this way. This is, in my opinion, one of the best horror movies I have ever seen. It seems that so much of the best horror was done in the 1970's with Halloween and movies like it, and now Black Christmas, which came before all of them. This might be the original slasher movie. It predates other great movies as well...you could see, this film went a long way to start it all. It's all made even better when you see that the star is, none other than the gorgeous Olivia Hussey. She plays Jess, the somewhat stuck up sorority girl who, in the end, must fight to survive against a maniac who is in the sorority house she is in.

The film starts out with an outside scene of the house where all the sorority girls live. It's clearly Christmas, and many of the girls will be going off to be with families and loved ones. We meet some of the girls...the trash mouthed Barb, played by Margot Kidder, Jess (Oliva Hussey), and Phyl (yes, she's a girl.) We also get a meet the house mother, a loud mouthed drunk, who seems to have bottles of liquor stashed all over the house.

The girls at the house get an obscene call. The man or possibly a woman, keeps changing their voice and screaming nonsense into the phone. They have called a few times...and tonight is no different. Barb tells him to go to hell and to get a life...

We hear that many of the girls will be leaving the house to be with family soon, and only a few will stick around in the house over the holiday and break. One girl, Clare Harris, whom another character mentions is having trouble fitting in is the first one to be taken out by our mystery killer, who got into the house by climbing the trellis, and into the attic window. Clare returns to her room to pack some things for break...while doing so, she is attacked by a faceless maniac, who pulls her into the attic and kills her, covering her head with a bag, placing her limp body in a rocking chair facing the window. A site that we will see a few times later on in the film, and the picture that is shown on the original box cover for the video.

No one realizes the girl is missing until the next morning when her father is searching the campus for her. He was supposed to meet his daughter at a certain place at a certain time, but she never showed up. He makes his way to the house, where he talks to the house mother, who makes a very bad first impression- Mr. Harris is convinced his daughter is living in a filthy house surrounded by every sin imagineable. Mr. Harris asks around, but no one has seen her since the night before. They search her room, but find no clue of her whereabouts.

Jen, Phyl, and Barb seem to be the only girls that haven't left the house for holiday so they try to go to the police for help, but they offer little assistance. There is news that a young teenage girl never made it home from school, and her mother has called the police. There is a search, and the girls, along with various boyfriends, and the police show up to conduct a search for the girl. Her body is discovered, and this raises tensions concerning Clare. I know she's dead, Phly says...I can feel it.

We meet Peter, Jess' boyfriend. Jess talks to him about how she is pregnant, and she has decided she will get an abortion. Peter is angry and tells her she has no right to make that decision without him. He wants a child. He wants to marry her. She doesn't feel the same way, and makes it very clear. He tells her to just leave. He is practicing for a piano recital later that day. Jess leaves, still set on getting an abortion. We see Peter a few times thru the movie when he appears at the house and talks to Jess again, running out after yet another argument...plus, we see him hiding behind a tree outside the house, watching the cops pull up.

We are introduced to Lt. Fuller of the police, played very well by John Saxon, who you might recognize as the father in the first Nightmare on Elm Street. He is famous for these types of horror movies, I discovered. He seems to be a good cop who will do anything he can to help find the killer. He learns of the phone calls that the girls have been getting quite frequently, so he has the phones in the house tapped. Maybe they can track this guy down that way. He talks to Jess, and tells her to keep him on the line when he calls...there is a phone at the station where he can hear the call himself, and there will be a man at the telephone company trying to track where the call is coming from.

Like clockwork, the calls start again...Jess is at home, the house mother has left for the holiday (so they think...we see her get killed by the guy in the attic earlier...her body hung on the wall behind Clare, still sitting in the rocking chair), Barb is there, but in bed sick from drinking, and Phyl is there, but so shocked about the missing Clare and discovering the young girl's body in the park, that she's off to rest in bed as well. Jess is alone downstairs, where she answers the calls. More nonsense from the caller, and he keeps hanging up before they can make a trace. Lt. Fuller calls Jess back after every call to make sure she is alright and to try to get her to keep the guy on the line longer.

We see the killer come and go every now and then, removing the small board that separates the attic and the stairs leading downstairs. He goes into Barb's room and kills her, yet still no one knows there is someone in the house.

They finally trace one of the calls, and they warn her to get out of the house now...whatever you do, don't go upstairs, just go straight out the door, Lt. Fuller is on his way...It turns out, the calls are coming from inside the house on a second line that is used by the house mother. Jess listens and starts to go outside, yet she goes upstairs and looks into the bedroom where she finds Barb's body as well as everything else...She runs into the basement after the guy comes down from the attic. She locks the door and eventually he stops trying to push his way thru, and you hear footsteps down the hall.

Next, Jess is downstairs in the dark, trying to find somwhere to hide, when she sees a shadow walking past the basement windows. She hears a voice calling her name...it's Peter, who breaks open a window and climbs in. He doesn't understand what's wrong with her...she's backing away into a corner. She lunges out at him and ends up killing him, thinking him the killer.

The police arrive, and a doctor soon after. Jess lies in a bed in the house, everyone looking over her. She's in shock, so it'll be quite sometime before they can ask her any questions.

I'll be honest, and tell you, I'm not exactly sure what happened at the end. I know the cops left one by one, and the doctor, and eventually, everyone in the house besides Jess, still lying in the bed unconcious. It made little sense, because they all just left her there alone, in the same house where the murders took place, not even thinking of taking her to a hospital. She is lying there alone, all the lights are turned off by those who leave, then you hear the maniacal voice of the killer, mumbling something. Peter obviosuly didn't kill anyone, and the real killer is still in the house. The movie ends with a shot of the house from outside, snow on the ground, christmas lights aglow, and the phone starts to ring....

Now, Black Christmas is a great movie, and the acting is very well done...no bad performances if you ask me. The direction was average, tho I did like the killer's POV shots...felt like he was right there with you. Nothing stood out in the way of direction or cinematography, but the acting was above average, and the story was very well written. An original idea, which reminds of the old babysitter in the house with the killer who calls from inside the house...the old urban legend. There is a lot of that in this movie. You get that whole feeling that this is one big urban legend waiting to be told. There is very little in the way of tense moments up until the end...you know the murders are coming, so they're not much of a shock, but near the end, that's a different story. Your heart starts to race as Jess finally realizes she's in the house with the killer, and she has no one but herself to depend on...then, in the basement when she is waiting for what she thinks is the killer outside, his shadow going by one window, then slowly walking to the next, you feel like you're gonna jump out of your seat.

A great mix of horror, tense moments, and a few bits of comic relief, Black Christmas can easily go on my list of the best horror movies ever. No wonder it's gained the cult following it has...it deserves it completely. Despite a weak ending that is nearly laughable, because it's so unbelieveable, the story is very solid and very thrilling. Oliva Hussey does wonders with this part, you can't help care about her character, she's so cute.

Tho many will be left with a bad taste in their mouth from the ending, I think you still come out on top. The nearly 2 hours watching this classic is definitely not time wasted.