Seems like there's a lot of movies that are said to be the first slasher film. BLACK CHRISTMAS is another one of them.This time we have a sorority house full of chicks ready to go home for winter break. The house mother is a drunk (Marian Waldman) and the most dominant sorority girl is also a drunk (Margot Kidder). The house has been getting obscene telephone calls, and as we see from the opening point-of-view scene, a stranger has broken into the house and is lurking in the shadows of the attic.
It's not long before the first girl (Lynne Griffin) disappears and is hauled into the attic by the killer where she's propped up in a rocking chair like Norman Bates' mom from PSYCHO, another flick that's supposedly the first slasher movie and predates this one by 14 years. Her dad (Jamed Edmond, Jr.) shows up on campus looking for her, and the investigation begins, led by Lt. Fuller (John Saxon of ENTER THE DRAGON and NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET fame).
Meanwhile, another sorority girl (Olivia Hussey) wants to have an abortion, but her tortured artist boyfriend (Keir Dullea) won't hear of it. He wants to get married, she wants a life. He wants to give up on his dreams, she wants to pursue hers. It's a match made in heaven.
Meanwhile, again, the bodies keep piling up and the phone keeps ringing.
Classy cast, huh? Let's review. Margot Kidder owns the first half of the movie as the drunk and sarcastic sorority sister and shows lots of real comic timing and personality. Then, she went on to play Lois Lane. Then we've got the afore mentioned John Saxon, Keir Dullea of 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY fame and Olivia Hussey from Zeffirelli's ROMEO AND JULIET. These are not the thespians you'd normally expect to see popping up in a low budget horror flick and the movie is stronger for it.
The movie was directed by Bob Clark, who is probably most famous today for the nostalgic comedy A CHRISTMAS STORY. That film has gained such popularity over the years that it has supplanted even PORKY'S as the crowning achievement of Clark's resume. BLACK CHRISTMAS benefits from slightly more interesting direction than your average low budget horror film, including several creative point of view shots that couldn't have been easy to pull off. Clark also shows an obvious flair for comedy, so where some slasher movies are heartless and grim (FRIDAY THE 13th) this one at least has some good character moments.
Another strength of the film is the totally bizarre nature of the killer -- we never find out who he is, what his deal is, and why he's doing what he's doing, which makes him more realistic and frightening, in my opinion. He's simply crazy. And, listening to his insane rambling during the obscene phone calls really is chilling. Yes, it's exaggerated, but the sheer unexplained audacity of them and the fact that they seem to hint at something more gives the movie a little more depth than it otherwise might have had.
A few words on Olivia Hussey. Here's the thing: she is HOT. Like, really hot. Like, hotter than most actresses. What happened? How come she didn't have much of a career after ROMEO AND JULIET? How'd she go from that one to BLACK CHRISTMAS? They could have just made a documentary where they just had one continuous shot of her face for 2 hours and it would have been awesome. But no, she just kind of flew under the radar for decades. She's worked consistently, which is great, but. . . she should have been a super star. When people talk about famous hot chicks, Olivia Hussey should be at the top of the list every time.
I love you, Olivia Hussey.
Seriously.
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