Black Christmas (1974)

For James:

The remake was lousy. Bad acting, bad script, bad everything. However, I must say that the "best" horror movies from the 80's also suffered from these things, and yet they live on in our hearts as some of the best. Its always worth a watch right?

Yeah Good Movie

I love this film!

thats my kind of X-Mas

Wow. Excellent review. Who would of thought that the director from Black Christmas worked with the director from Halloween? I do have to say that they did start the slasher genre.

I never heard silent night used in such a way that it would disturb me so much! o.O

A Canadian film that actually had an impact on horror cinema. I love the hell out of it.

i love it :)

great review
i love when you do histories like this

I have both DVD editions of this film, having become fascinated with its production when I discovered it years ago. It was shot in my city of Toronto, Canada, and stars some classic actors well-known to Canadian viewers, like Margot Kidder and John Saxon, and future SCTV alumnus comedienne Andrea Martin. The college exterior shots were at the University of Toronto. Other landmarks pop up here and there. (Side note, even today, perhaps more so these days, Toronto doubles as New York and Chicago quite often in "American" movies...as recently as "Kickass"...but I digress).
And yeah, the connection to "Halloween" is by far a seriously neglected fact when so-called horror fans talk about the evolution of the modern slasher film. It's getting more recognition now, but (as noted in the review) without a killer-personality (like Myers, Voorhees, Kruger or Leatherface) to attach to it, it's been overshadowed by its successors. Truly, though, if "Halloween" is the father of modern slashers, it's children are "Friday The 13th" and "A Nightmare On Elm Street" (which also has John Saxon, lest we forget). "Halloween"'s parents, the grandparents of the modern slasher: equal parts "Black Christmas" and "The Texas Chain Saw Massacre".
Great review, James, and on behalf of Canadian horror fans, thanks for giving "Black Christmas" its due!
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Actually the "subjective POV" cam goes farther back than the 60's. In 1947 Humphrey Bogart starred in a really awesome film noir called "Dark Passage." The first 1/3 of the film chronicles Bogart's character's escape from San Quentin, all from his POV without showing his face. It isn't until the one hour mark or so when his character gets reconstructive surgery and his face is revealed (as Bogie)

It's a great film and it's the second film where Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall worked with each other.

A great movie, planning to see it again on blue-ray on Christmas night ^_^

nice little bonus, christmastime Monster Madness episode sort of.

I hate the remake.

apparently the real life serial killer Tsutomo Miyazaki did the same thing when it comes to phones. Except that when the Some projects were not saved properly the last time Audacity was run.
Fortunately, the following projects can automatically be recovered:oeple answered the phone, he didnt answer but stayed silent. But if they didnt answer, it would continue ringing for 20 minutes sometimes. He killed 4 little girls between 4 and 6.

The first true slasher film has to be Mario Bava's "Twitch of the Death Nerve". Seriously, watch this film! It is so politically incorrect that it opens with a handicapped woman being strangled by being pushed out of her wheelchair with a noose around her neck. Incredible. It's also quite an Italian art-horror film. Enjoy!

"Black Christmas" (1974) is my 3rd favorite horror film EVER!

I watch "Black Christmas" and "A Christmas Story" every Christmas. Sort of a tradition for me.

2:54 "Alice, Sweet Alice" (1977) nie touch. Brooke Shields made her debut in that.
"Peeping Tom" is AWESOME! I wanna add that shit to my collection, but it's fucking expensive.

You never saw "Black Xmas" James? Consider yourself lucky you didn't subject yourself to 100 minutes of fucking horseshit

James. Can you please put your Black Christmas review & your top 30 favorite movies on YouTube? I really enjoyed those videos & I would like to download them &enjoy them on the go!

sorry what i meant to say first is that i didn't know what the kid said thats what i meant to say sometimes i just don't remember to check my typing skills before i post these comments

I did not know what the craptomatoe he just said. U know this could be a prequel to halloween. HEY james u could make a video of how many curses this movie has.I also know a guy named tom and each time i think of tom i always think of peeping tom now.

Very thorough and informative review, kudos.

Very informative review, thanks a lot, I'll have to check this movie out. Also, I'll never watch A Christmas Story the same way again.

Woah, that's so fucked up. Freaky....

I liked this movie,never seen the remake (i never like remakes),but i'm sure I'll watch it. I think T.N.T. should play this movie on a 24 hour loop at chirstmas time. lol

"The Spiral Staircase" predates "Peeping Tom" with the POV shot about 2 decades earlier in 1946

when you said everyone begins at horror you were right about even yourself, and if an acting career is going to come out of this then I and the rest of the fans hope you don't abandon the website and forget about the fans that were with you all the way.
my point is(no connection to the movie review) that you have a god luck with Plan 9, but don't forget about the fans

HAHA! the scene were the chicks talk on the phone was weird and funny.

@Paulballsftw

the fact that they give an identity to the killer is the cardinal sin of the remake.

Hey James I just got to tell you that I love your reviews. I am about the same age as you and so far we kinda like the same stuff. I saw the new Black Christmas before the original and I got to say I enjoyed the remake. You get to see the killer in the remake and its kinda different then the original. Its funny that you had Silent Night Deadly Night and Jack Frost in the review. I own Jack Frost and the sequel to it. Good comedy killer like Freddy Kruger.

Even though I'm not a big fan of the slasher genre, you did a great job expressing the history of the slasher genre through this movie! You're like a movie history professor, and we (the fans) are your students!

What's the name of the movie at 6:05 with the black guy stabbing that guy's chest?

Hey James, have you ever heard of, or seen a movie called Rare Exports? It's a Finnish horror/comedy film about Santa Claus.

If you haven't seen it then you should, and if you have you should review it. Actually, you should review it either way.