| Black Christmas | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Credits | |
| Title: | Black Christmas |
| Director: | Bob Clark |
| Writers: | Roy Moore |
| Producers: | Findlay Quinn; Bob Clark; Gerry Arbeid; Richard Schouten |
| Composer: | Carl Zittrer |
| Cinematography: | Reg Morris |
| Editors: | Stan Cole |
| Production | |
| Distributed by: | Warner Bros. Canadian Film Development Corporation |
| Released: | October 11th, 1974 (CAN) December 20th, 1974 (US) |
| Rating: | R |
| Running time: | 90 min. |
| Country: | Canada |
| Language: | English |
| Budget: | $CAD686,000 [1] |
| Gross: | $4,053,000 [1] |
| Navigation | |
| Previous: | — |
| Next: | — |
Black Christmas is a Canadian horror film of the holiday/slasher subgenres. It was directed by Bob Clark and written by Roy Moore. It was produced by the Canadian Film Development Corporation and distributed in the United States by Warner Bros. Pictures. The film premiered in Canada on October 11th, 1974, but opened in the US on Christmas Eve, December 24th. The movie was remade in 2006 by Glen Morgan under the title Black Xmas. The film stars Olivia Hussey as Jess, Keir Dullea as Peter, Margot Kidder as Barb, Marian Waldman as Mrs. Mac, and John Saxon as Lieutenant Ken Fuller.
Plot[]
Sorority house.
The story begins with an unassuming but nonetheless impressive looking three-story sorority house in the small Canadian town of Bedford. An unseen maniac prowls the campus grounds. Staring through the windows he sees that the sisters of Pi Kappa Sigma are having a Christmas party. The prowler climbs a trellis and sneaks through an attic window as the revelers make Yuletide merriment. Downstairs, student Barbara Coard receives a phone call from her mother. Her mother decides to cancel out on plans to visit her daughter in favor of spending the holiday week with her new boyfriend. Barb calls her a "Gold plated whore" and hangs up the phone. Feeling fairly irritated, she downs some liquor and smokes several cigarettes.
Margot Kidder as Barbara.
Moments later, the telephone rings again. Jess Bradford answers the phone only to find a strange moaning on the other end. Apparently this prank-caller has called before, and Jess gathers her friend around her. The prankster begins making lewd comments about piggy cunts and slurping on his "fat juicy cock". Barb takes the phone from Jess' hand and tells the caller to leave them alone.
Clare Harrison gets it.
At this point, the party begins to break up. Many of the girls are returning home for the holidays and only a select few elect to stay behind. One of their friends, Clare Harrison goes up to her room to prepare her things for a holiday vacation. Little does she know however, that the killer is hiding inside of her closet. Using a dry-cleaning bag, he strangles Claire and takes her up to the attic. With the bag enclosed about her head, he props her in a rocking chair near the window.
Now while all this is going on, downstairs we meet Mrs. MacHenry, the sorority's housemother. Known affectionately as Mrs. Mac, she covers up the fact that she has a strong taste for the bottle, but still manages to hide some liquor in just about every room in the house. While Mrs. Mac is hunting around for more alcohol, Jess receives a telephone call from her boyfriend Peter. Peter is a music student who has been attending the conservatory for over eight years. Jess has something important to say to him, but she will only tell him in person.
"Uhh... where's my kid?"
The following day, Claire's father, Mister Harrison, arrives outside the college grounds. Mister Harrison is there to pick Claire up and is most perturbed to find that she isn't there to meet him. He goes back to the sorority house where he queries with Mrs. Mac. Mrs. Mac tries to settle the man's nerves while at the same time covering up some of her charges more lascivious decorations.
During this time, Jess has her conversation with Peter. She tells him that she is pregnant with his child. Peter is elated by the news, but Jess confesses to wanting to abort the pregnancy. Peter wants her to keep the child. He asks her to meet with him later to further discuss the issue, but Jess has her mind made up.
Olivia Hussey as Jess Bradford.
Upset, she returns to the Pi Kappa Sigma house where she receives another prank phone call. This time, the caller is talking in multiple voices and screeching and crying. The message is mostly inarticulate babbling about a baby and a guy named Billy. Presumably, the caller himself is this so-called Billy.
Meanwhile, the rest of the Bedford sorority sisters are down at the police station with Mister Harrison. He reports his daughter's disappearance to the incompetent Sergeant Nash, who replies that his daughter is likely shacking up with some boyfriend. Claire's boyfriend Chris Hayden arrives later and berates Nash for his tasteless comments. The affair is ultimately plopped into the hands of Lieutenant Ken Fuller. Ken has his hands full with another matter as well. A distraught mother comes to him mentioning that her thirteen-year-old daughter, Janice Quaife, is missing. Fuller regards the Quaife case as a higher priority than the Harrison case.
Barb is inappropriate.
While everyone is down at the police station, we find Peter playing the piano at a recital. The judges are obviously not very impressed by Peter's performance and he later destroys the piano.
That night, there is a small dinner party at the sorority house. Mrs. Mac has prepared supper for Mister Harrison as well as for Phyl and Barb. Barb is completely inebriated and stumbles about making comments regarding the mating rituals of turtles and zebras. Barb is obviously embarrassing everyone and Phyl tries to calm her down. Barb's attitude changes from one of joviality to anger. She thinks that everyone blames her for Claire's disappearance. She goes upstairs to sleep it off.
Lieutenant Fuller has orchestrated a search party to try and track down the missing Janice Quaife. Many of the college students including Phyl, Jess, Chris Hayden and Mister Harrison join in the search leaving Mrs. Mac at the sorority house. They eventually find Janice's dead body in the town park.
The last moments of Mrs. Mac.
Mrs. Mac has made plans to leave the college during the holiday. This works to the prowler's favor since no one will become suspicious when she suddenly turns up missing. Mrs. Mac meanders about the school looking for her cat, Claude. She keeps hearing the animal mewling from somewhere upstairs. The old woman climbs the steps up into the attic and finds the shrink-wrapped body of Claire Harrison sitting in the rocking chair. She doesn't realize that the killer is standing right behind her with a pulley hook. He swings the hook downward catching Mrs. Mac in the face with it. He hoists her up into the attic and she becomes part of his collection.
Jess on the phone.
A short while later, Jess returns home and receives another prank phone call. The killer drones on about "Billy" and someone named "Agnes". He's fairly inarticulate, but his wild screaming freaks Jess out nonetheless. Shortly after the call, they find that Peter is in the house. He let himself in and took a nap while Jess was out with the search party. They start arguing over Jess' proposed abortion and Peter comments about how she's "...talking about killing a baby as if you were having a wart removed". Jess cannot be bothered with him right now and proceeds to report the phone calls to the police. Lieutenant Fuller and a man from the phone company arrive just as Peter is leaving. Peter bursts right past the two cops and Fuller eyes him warily. The phone man, Graham, installs a tap onto the house phone.
Phyl talks to Jess.
Phyl eventually returns and expresses her concerns over Claire. She believes that she may actually be dead. Overwhelmed with grief, she goes upstairs to lie down. Jess hears strange sounds coming from Barb's room. Racing upstairs, she finds that Barb is suffering from an asthma attack in her sleep. Jess settles her down and returns to the foyer where a group of Christmas carolers have begun singing at the front door.
Billy enters Barb's room and stands above her sleeping body. He picks up a glass unicorn figurine and drives the horn end down into Barb's stomach multiple times, killing her. Because of the loud crooning of the Christmas carolers, Jess doesn't hear her friend being murdered upstairs. They leave just in time for Jess to answer the telephone.
Fuller listens in on the call.
It's the same caller as before, but this time Lieutenant Fuller is listening in on the conversation back at the police station. The caller makes a remark about "just like having a wart removed" and Jess hangs up in fright. Fuller is angry that the killer didn't stay on long enough to establish a trace. Jess is now convinced that Peter is actually the caller. Fuller calls Jess up and inquires about the nature of the call. Jess tells him that it may be Peter and reveals the nature of her pregnancy to him.
While all this is going on, Phyl goes up to her room. She is pulled into the dark room by an unseen hand and that is never seen again.
"The killer is in the house, dummy!"
Billy makes another call to the house. He torments Jess on and on about killing a baby, however he is speaking in the past tense, calling into question exactly which baby he is referring to. This call however is longer than the others and Fuller is able to get a trace on it. The call is coming from #6 Belmont Street; the address of the dormitory. Sergeant Nash calls Jess in an effort to get her to quietly leave the house without alerting her to the fact that the killer is actually calling from one of the rooms. He screams at Jess, "The killer is in the house!", which sends her off in a panic.
Jess however, is still not totally convinced that the killer is not her boyfriend Peter. Arming herself with a fire poker, she proceeds to go upstairs. She finds the massacred remains of Barb and Phyl lying on top of one another inside one of the bedrooms. The killer leaps out and attacks Jess. She screams and turns to flee. Racing downstairs, she barely escapes the killer's grasp. She runs down into the basement and bolts the door. The killer tries in vain to break the door down. After a few intense moments he stops.
Jess stops the killer... or does she?
Minutes later, Jess hears Peter's voice coming from outside. He tells her that he is worried about her and wants to apologize for being such a jerk earlier. He breaks through the window of the basement and enters the room. He approaches the terrified girl who beats him down with the fire poker. Peter falls to the floor dead, and Jess is in shock.
The cops eventually arrive and it is accepted that Peter was the killer. They take Jess up into an upstairs bedroom where they administer medication for the shock. They leave the house with the intent of returning in order to fully investigate the building. A single guard is left waiting outside making sure no one else enters the dorm.
Meanwhile, from somewhere deep inside the house, a telephone begins ringing.
Cast[]
| Actor | Role |
|---|---|
| Olivia Hussey | Jess Bradford |
| Keir Dullea | Peter |
| Margot Kidder | Barbara Coard |
| John Saxon | Lieutenant Ken Fuller |
| Marian Waldman | Mrs. MacHenry |
| Andrea Martin | Phyllis "Phyl" Carson |
| James Edmond | Mister Harrison |
| Douglas McGrath | Sergeant Nash |
| Art Hindle | Chris Hayden |
| Lynne Griffin | Clare Harrison |
| Michael Rapport | Patrick |
| Les Carlson | Graham |
| Martha Gibson | Mrs. Quaife |
| John Rutter | Laughing detective |
| Robert Warner | Doctor |
| Syd Brown | Farmer |
| Jack Van Evera | Search party |
| Les Rubie | Search party |
| Marcia Diamond | Woman |
| Pam Barney | Jean |
| Robert Hawkins | Wes |
| Dave Clement | Cogan |
| Julian Reed | Jennings |
| Dave Mann | Cop |
| John Stoneham | Cop |
| Danny Gain | Cop |
| Tom Foreman | Cop |
Notes & Trivia[]
- Black Christmas (1974) redirects to this page.
- The tagline to this film is, "If this movie doesn't make your skin crawl... it's on too tight!"
- Production on Black Christmas began in February of 1974. Principal photography commenced on March 25th, 1974 and concluded on May 11th, 1974. Scenes of the town of Bedford were filmed in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The police station scenes were filmed at 97 Main Street. The college scenes were filmed at Victoria College, University of Toronto, but the sorority house scenes were filmed at 6 Clarendon Crescent. [1][2]
- Director/producer Bob Clark provides the voice of Billy, the enigmatic obscene phone caller and antagonist of the film. Clark is uncredited in the film in this capacity.
- Director of photography Reginald H. Morris is credited as Reg Morris in this film.
- Actor Doug McGrath is credited as Douglas McGrath in this film.
- Actor Leslie Carlson is credited as Les Carlson in this film.
- Actor David Clement is credited as Dave Clement in this film.
- Actor John Stoneham, Sr. is credited as John Stoneham in this film.
- The trope of the killer calling from within the house begins with this film. However, the idea has actually become more popularized in a later thriller movie, When a Stranger Calls, which was released in 1979 - five years after Black Christmas.
- This movie is listed at number 1 on the 50 Best Horror Movies You've Never Seen documentary in 2014.
Awards[]
- Black Christmas won two Etrog awards at the 1975 Canadian Film Awards. Kenneth Heeley-Ray won for the category of Best Editing and actress Margot Kidder won for the category of Best Performance by a Lead Actress.
- Screenwriter Roy Moore was nominated at the 1976 Edgar Allan Poe Awards for Best Motion Picture for Black Christmas.
- Black Christmas was nominated for the 1976 Golden Scroll award for Best Horror Film at the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films.
Recommendations[]
- Christmas Bloody Christmas
- Deadly Games: Dial Code Santa Claus
- Krampus
- Silent Night, Deadly Night
- Violent Night
External Links[]
- Black Christmas at AMG
- Black Christmas at IMDB
- Black Christmas at Wikipedia
- Black Christmas at Rotten Tomatoes
- Black Christmas at Horrormovies.org
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 IMDB; Black Christmas (1947); Box office & business.
- ↑ IMDB; Black Christmas (1974); Filming locations.