Black Christmas [IMPORT]

Rating:
Summary: Beyond praise...
Review: What more could you want? Black Christmas is one of the most underappreciated and magnificent horror films ever made. John Carpenter stole most of his Hallowe'en ideas from Black Christmas...a film which stars the wonderful Olivia Hussey and a very young Margot Kidder as sorority sisters terrorized by a killer over the Christmas holidays. The print for the DVD is probably the best this film will ever see...certainly it tops the poor quality VHS print that existed previously (and was out-of-print for so long). The gore is absolutely minimal, though the language is more profane than is likely to be heard in most any movie (it beats The Exorcist for this by a long margin). Don't miss Andrea Martin's hilarious boyfriend in his ludicrous hair and Santa costume.

Rating:
Summary: A very creepy film that will leave scared of the dark
Review: The film rocked. I was expecting a small horror film that would just end and I would forget it five minutes later. But no, it stayed with me for sometime. This was way before "When A Stranger Calls", before "Halloween", "Friday the 13th", "Nightmare On Elm St". In some ways it was better. It had mystery, and some slice and dice killings, and that ending had me jumping out of my seat.I haven't wathced it again, but I know I will only to figure out who the killer really was. I didn't find out due to me falling out my seat. I did the stupid thing of watching it in the dark, all my self with the television sound on loud. "WARNING!" Never watch horror films alone, it might be risky to your health. Especially with great seventy horror films, and some late sixties horror fims too. I thought Olivia Hussey was beautiful with her seventies style long hair. She was perfect for the role and smart to boot. Now why can't scream queens go back to be feminine and not be all karate fighting-wise-cracking-Sarah Connor-Ripley type heroine. I seriously don't think a regular girl being stalked by some madman would turn into a female fighting machine. I know there has to some out there in the real world, but in every horror movie so far she sure knows her karate , kickboxing, tae-boe or whatever you call it. I just don't feel sorry for the tough girl in in horror movies these days cause I know sooner or later she's going to kick... and the boogey is going down before the end credits. I want see Olivia Hussey run to save her life and use her brains, I want to see Jamie Lee Curtis scream her lungs out, and I want to see Marilyn Burns run, and run for her life. I want to really care for the girl and shout "run girl run, don't go back into the house, you dummy". And at the end of the film I want to feel glad she made it and say "that girl was smart, she used her brain and she fought hard and she made it." Hey, in horror films the girls rule. Check out a chain smoking, sailor talking Margot Kidder. If you decide to watch this film and think it a bit sick because of the phone calls that "When a Stranger Calls" stole from, watch then only for Olivia Hussey seventies long beautiful hair. Byt the way watch her as Juliet in "Romeo and Juliet", the role that capulated her to stardom worldwide. She was and still is the perfect girl who every played Juliet. Yeah , yeah I know I have a huge crush on Olivia Hussey. Like Duh!

Rating:
Summary: Excellent Print. Memorable Film.
Review: A rare treat for fans of the genre. Two short interviews with John Saxon are an added bonus.

Rating:
Summary: Twisted Tale of Christmas Terror!!!!
Review: Before there was Friday the 13th, before there was Halloween, there was Black Christmas. This movie kind of layed out the groundwork or blueprint so to speak of those future horror movies.

The movie takes place in a sorority house, A killer has secretly entered the house and stays in the attick. The girls begin getting obscene phonecalls, these phonecalls are the freakiest part of the movie if you ask me, these calls are especially eerie and frightening. The girls then begin disappearing one by one. They go to the police about the missing girls and the obscene phonecalls. When the police are able to trace the calls they find out that the calls are coming from inside the house. Even though we never get to see the killer (except for his eyes) it's very obvious who the killer is. Or is it????????

This movie was very entertaining and suspensful. I liked the affect of the howling wind and the slamming of the piano keys in the backround. It greatly adds to the eerieness of the film. Also you can definitely see the difference between this movie (made in 1974) and a typical 80's slasher film. No T & A and not much gore but it takes nothing away from the movie at all. Make sure you see Black Christmas, it's well worth a look.

Rating:
Summary: 25th Anniversary Edition DVD
Review: Black Christmas is a fantastic film upon first viewing. Very eery and ideal for a cold winters night. It probably doesn't hold the same appeal on second viewing but that's understandable. To this day, I still don't know who the killer is, because it wasn't revealed.
DVD EVALUATION:
There are 2 DVD's floating around. The first one is the 25th ANNIVERSARY Copy which boasts a digitally remastered print. The film was never shot in widescreen so you get it in full screen. The 25th Anniversary only contains mono soundtrack, but features wise, includes two interviews with John Saxton, and a theatrical trailer.

The second DVD available is the SPECIAL EDITION which came out in late 2002. The picture quality has been further improved on the 25th Anniversary copy, but is only a marginal difference. However, they have tried to make it look widescreen by chopping the top and bottom off of the original film and putting black bars. This gives the impression of widescreen, but as mentioned above, the film was originally shot full screen. The Special Edition boasts a documentary, more interviews, a theatrical trailer, better sound ... and much more.

So which copy to get? If you are a die-hard fan of the film, it's wise to get the 25th ANNIVERSARY copy because you get the full uncropped image of the film. Sure, all the extras features on the new SPECIAL EDITION are a bonus, but you can probably live without them. Like most DVD extras, they often only get looked at once or twice ....

Rating:
Summary: A Classic .....And Overlooked For Too Long
Review: I'm old enough to remember when Black Christmas first came out in 1974.It caused quite a stir with the young people.As a child then....I'm 34 now....I'd heard about it's shocking elements like this chiller's scene where the housemother is pulled off a ladder by a hook and rope that lifts her out of the view of the audience never to be seen alive again or when the murdered child is found in the park by the search party.As a fan of well made horror films,I'm very surprised that this went out of print because it is an excellent chiller that puts films like Scream and it's sequels to shame.Until I found this classic for sale on Amazon.Com(I spent several years trying to find it)...searching for it in videostores was a lost cause.This like Psycho and the original Halloween is a groundbreaking film in the madkiller genre.Ironically enough I found this gem shortly before this last Xmas and although I'd never seen it,but I'd long heard about it's very effective elements and plot that have been overused by other horror films with a great degree of nonsuccess.I had never seen this film but had heard about it for so long that I felt it was a lucrative investment. When it came and I finally watched this film I knew that I'd made a winning choice.As I watched this movie from 1974,I kept saying to myself"I've never seen anything like this movie!"It has long been out of print and overlooked by too many people because the folk that love a good fright film would love this classic.This movie was made in Canada by Bob Clark and it stars Olivia Hussey,Keir Dullea,Margot Kidder and John Saxon.How ironic that Bob Clark would make the ultimate Xmas chiller(the killer is'nt dressed as Santa Claus as or any other holiday character for that matter) would also go on to make a classic Xmas family film called A Christmas Story....that's versatility!By the way,this is scary movie and it still has all it's power in 2002!

Rating:
Summary: A Black Christmas Horror
Review: Directed by Bob Clark of "Porky's" fame this 1974 horror-tale take's place in a girl's sorority house during a bitter winter pre-christmas setting filmed independetly in Canada.
Series of bizarre obscene phone-call's and numerous slaying's make this watchable taught suspense-thriller a joy given an excellent ensemble cast of Margot Kidder(scene stealing) foul-mouthed drunk,Keir Dullea as an unhinged pianist boyfriend to lead heroine Jess(Olivia Hussey).
Rounding out the player's are Andrea Martin as a sorority-sister and John Saxon as the detective-cop following the trail of murder's and traces of the call's to the house.
Finale still leave's one guessing was it Peter or the crazed individual still remaining in the attic.
Mrs.Mack the house-mother is hysterical and deserved of mention.
A very good movie given reasonable transfer to DVD, color's and cleaner picture far imroved over the VHS tape's. Include's a trailer and cast bio's with oddly about only five-min interview with John Saxon.
Unfortunately isn't presented in widescreen but a remastering for sharper picture and re-mixed sound could've elevated this film to much deserved higher standard.
Recommended dvd viewing!

Rating:
Summary: One of the best in horror
Review: A madman sneaks into a seriority house and terrorizes the people inside.

Great movie! I heard this movie was one of the movies to first use the "The call is coming from inside the house" bit; if it did, the movie's filmmakers pulled it off the bit brilliantly.

What I really liked about the movie was that the audience was prevented from seeing the killer's face; this left the audience guessing as to who the killer really was. In one scene, the camera is in front of the killer, but the killer's face is hidden in the dark; the only thing we really get a good look on are the killer's eyes (we would later see these eyes again later in the movie).

Probably the best part about this movie is the ending. The ending kind of makes you want a sequel.

Rating:
Summary: Pretty creepy movie
Review: Girls in a sorority house get disturbing phone calls from some weirdo(very disturbing phone calls). That is until he sneeks inside the sorority house creeping around the attic. HE stalks them and..................yep, murders them in a variety of cool ways. Margot Kidder is great at playing a drunk. Very disturbing movie. Two thumbs up

Rating:
Summary: Okay, but not a CLASSIC.
Review: Black Christmas is another one of those movies that seems to have gained a reputation of being better than it actually is.

At a certain holiday (I won't spoil it for you) a group of sorority sisters is killed off one-by-one by a maniac who calls and breaths heavily into the phone. Both Halloween and When a Stranger Calls took elements from this movie. I'd rank this movie somewhere above Stranger and well below Halloween.

The one thing that separates Black Christmas from all the slashers that followed Halloween is the fact that these girls have a lot of depth. They are not just given problems for the sake of having something to talk about. The problems actually build character and figure into the main story.

The murders (the benchmark of all slasher movies) are creative if not suspenseful. And the killer has as good a reason as any other I've heard for killing in these movies.

The Canadian DVD apparently has some things that the U.S. DVD doesn't, so if you really like the movie and want to make the extra effort try to find it instead.

Mildly recommended for historical value and Margot Kidder's performance.