Black Christmas

The Canadian slasher flick Black Christmas is notable because it featured virtually all of the traditional slasher mechanics several years before Halloween, which is considered by many to be the first pure slasher film. The truth is that it wasn't until Halloween that the subgenre became popular. But there was a Black Christmas movie before that, and it already featured, for example, subjective glimpses of a killer with raspy breathing, as well as threatening phone calls from a stalker (see the later films When a Stranger Calls and Scream). The plot isn't entirely convincing, and is somewhat illogical in places (especially with the surprise ending), but the central psychopath whining into the phone is quite creepy, and the atmosphere of a grave-silent Christmas night, full of decorative lights, is strangely depressing. (13/10/2005)

A rewatch after several years could not change the previous three-star verdict. This is a very slow early slasher where not much actually happens and the murders are barely visible. The atmosphere is quite effective thanks to the insane phone calls of the pervert hiding in the attic of a university sorority and terrorising its inhabitants. It also helps that the viewer is aware of that before the characters. Looking at my previous review, I liked the ending the first time, but that doesn’t quite apply now. The film actually finishes before it gets started and I didn’t get the chase between the killer and the final girl. The ending is actually quite bullshit, both in terms of the behaviour of the female lead’s boyfriend and the performance of the police. This film’s historical value can’t be denied, it was at the birth of a horror subgenre, but I don’t really think there is any particularly good reason to watch it today. (24/07/2008)

While this great-uncle of Carpenter's opus doesn't have as sophisticated a villain (here, it’s a whiny nutcase), it does have more likable characters (the grateful residents of the girls' home). Moreover, these characters behave relatively rationally within the genre, and while I could imagine better detail work and a more distinctive aura around the killer, I can't help but praise this sub-genre primary source. (23/02/2008)