Rating: 
Summary: Up In The Attic-Click-Click-Click-Uh-Oh! It Ain't St. Nick!
Review: A sorority house is having one last bash before emptying out for Christmas. Meanwhile, someone has just climbed a trellis outside, and slipped through an attic window. After the party, the phone rings downstairs and it's "him again", a sick pervert who's been calling a lot lately. The girls listen as he makes his odd noises and obscene suggestions. One of the girls is offended by Barb's (Margot "Sisters/Superman" Kidder) vulgar remarks and goes upstairs to her room to pack. She is met by sudden death at the hands of our attic dweller, who now has full run of the house. Mrs. Mac, the lushy house mother, is next as she simply must find her cat that's somehow gotten into the attic. She sticks her head up there and WHAM! Jess (Olivia Hussey) is pregnant and having a battle with her boyfriend (Keir Dullea) over her decision to get an abortion. He is definitely against the idea, and grows increasingly (and suspiciously) furious. Later, Jess and the other girls plead with the police to do something about their friend's disappearance. A detective (John Saxon) finally listens and gets involved. Of course, we know that the girl is up in the attic with dear old Mrs. Mac! In the neighborhood, a 13yo girl has gone missing and a search party is assembled. Alas, the girl is found dead in a nearby park. Was she yet another victim of the attic man? Jess, Barb, and Phyl (Andrea Martin) are in the house trying to survive 'til new year's. Will anyone make it? Who is the utterly evil, twisted attic man? Why has he come to this particular address? Will we ever know for sure? BLACK CHRISTMAS is an overlooked, totally under-rated shocker from Bob Clark (Children Shouldn't Play With Dead Things). The building horror is slow and effective. The characters are well played, especially Margot Kidder's "super-tongue" Barb! She is fun to watch and a trip to listen to! I loved her "potty mouth" and outspoken cynicism. Though Carpenter's Halloween (released 4 years AFTER Black Christmas) got all the press and accolades, BC stands as a unique take on the "looney-killer-on-the-loose" storyline. The fact that few seem to remember this movie is a crime! Watch it now and see what I mean. Highly recommended...
Rating:
Summary: Black Christmas, 30 years later....
Review: Few people have heard of this film, compared to the large numbers who made "Halloween" a smash hit in 1978."Black Christmas", as has often been noted, is the founder of the stalker/slasher/sorority killer/obscene phone call/etc. horror film. It does not fail to deliver, even thirty years later. First off, and to my knowledge not noted previously, "Black Christmas" is a social commentary on the abortion issue, legalized in the US only a year before the film was released. The film isn't pro- or anti- abortion: it simply raises the thesis that legalizing abortion might open new cans of worms. Olivia Hussey...lovely as always...wants an abortion, and Keir Dullea, her erstwhile boyfriend, doesn't want her to have it. Margot Kidder is hilarious. John Saxon, as always, is a competent actor. The finest scene in the film is Kidder's murder, choreographed to the little dears singing "O Come All Ye Faithful". That scene trumps anything in Carpenter. "Black Christmas" was out of print for years...scandalously. Be sure to get the DVD with the extras.
Rating:
Summary: Better Than Halloween
Review: BLACK CHRISTMAS is one of the best of the horror genre and HALLOWEEN, although a great film itself, borrows much from this film - John Carpenter was friends with Bob Clark and even had asked Clark if he was going to do a sequel. Bob Clark, director of the excellent CHILDREN SHOULDN'T PLAY WITH DEAD THINGS and DEATHDREAM, told Carpenter that he was not going to do a sequel, but, if he was, it would be called HALLOWEEN. Carpenter's opening is very similar in style to Clark's opening, as if the killer POV camera work and the killer lurking out of the frame. Olivia Hussey is not the virginal heroine (her character is pregnant and determined to abort the baby) and a lot of film books and reviews incorrectly identify Keir Dullea as the killer when he is obviously not. I have heard complaints regarding the ending and the unknown identity of the killer because most viewers have been conditioned to have everything explained to them & tied up in a neat little package, a la the ending of PSYCHO, but that only makes the film more unique. It was one of the first and the acting is superb for this type of effort. In a fair world it would be every bit as popular as HALLOWEEN, but given the amount of posts for this film, it shows that BLACK CHRISTMAS is very much appreciated by horror fans. I read an interview with Bob Clark on FANGORIA'S web site that a remake of BLACK CHRISTMAS is in the works, as well as a remake of DEATHDREAM and either a remake or sequel to CHILDREN SHOULDN'T PLAY WITH DEAD THINGS. Another great Bob Clark film worth checking out is MURDER BY DECREE, in which Sherlock Holmes takes on the Jack the Ripper slayings. It's a shame that Clark turned his back on the horror genre after BLACK CHRISTMAS and directed crap like the PORKY'S movies and LOOSE CANNONS. If he would have kept his hand at horror, I predict that he would have been one of the biggest names in the field today.
Rating: 
Summary: scary movie
Review: this is a good movie. And some parts are very scary. and like the other ratings said the acting is very good and the movie will keep you guessing.
Rating:
Summary: Should Get It's Due Credit
Review: Before Halloween or Friday The 13th there was Black Christmas. Black Christmas wasn't the first slasher flick(we have Mario Bava to thank for that, or even Hitchcock if you really wanna trace it back), but it's one of the best. Why? For starters, we're not dealing with the horny teen cliche. The character development in this is actually quite good with interesting characters. There's plot and story going on around the killings. Many people found this boring, but to me it's realistic. The phone tracing, the neighborhood watch, it all made it seem real. What else? The killer. Find me another killer like this one and I'll eat my hat. The phone calls he makes are MESSED UP and extremely disturbing. It sounds like three people screaming at each other, and the conversation is bizarre coz it deals with a "Billy", "Agnus" and assorted names that are made so creepy coz they're never fully explained. You never see the killer-only his eye in one particularly terrifying shot. He whispers and .....I can't explain it all-just see it. Starring the man who never ages, John Saxon, an extremely attractive Olivia Hussey and a very sexy Margot Kidder. Directed by Bob Clark, who ironically gave us a more appreciated christmas movie a few years later with A Christmas Story.
Rating:
Summary: This movie is a HOOT!
Review: This movie was both scarey and hilarious, I love the house mother, she just made the movie! And bravo to Margot Kidder! I really wanted to keep this in my collection but had to sell it, it would be a fantastic addition to your horror DVD's! I could not find the movie to rent anywhere, it is worth buying new or used.
Rating:
Summary: Go Margot Kidder!
Review: The script here is pretty run-of-the-mill, killer in the sorority house film. There's nothing surprising in the script, and this would be a monumentally dull film, if it weren't for the superior acting. The acting here is so good, you pay rapt attention to a film that would otherwise put you to sleep. Here is a house full of college girls, and one character could easily blur into another, but the great actresses here present fully developed characters from the first line. Olivia Hussey plays everyone's friend; her character is not quirky, or really very interesting, yet Hussey manages to present a dull character in an interesting way, a difficult thing. Margot Kidder is especially notable here: she steals every scene she's in, and turns this film into a personal triumph. In fact, you may find yourself rewinding and replaying the first scene she's in over and over just to enjoy her brilliant presentation. Without her, this would be just a three star film. It's too bad there are so many films like this, making the plot predictable. I'd like to toss out the other dead sorority girl films, and let this one stand as the most worthwhile in the genre.
Rating:
Summary: Eerie and Well Executed
Review: This film really stands the test of time. Kidder, Hussey and saxon turn in top notch performances and the voice on the other end of the phoen will absolutely send chills down your spine. rarely does a scary film effect me, but I caught this for the 1st time late one night a few years ago and really had a hard time going to sleep. The highlight of the film has to be the lush for a den mother and Claude the cat.
Rating:
Summary: What a horror - I warn you!!!!
Review: In the summer of 1981 (at the frightfull age of 8), the Luxurama theatre in Wittebome, Cape Town ran a double feature. The films screened were The Cannonball Run (with Burt Reynolds and Roger Moore)and Black Christmas. The latter played first, and I was scared sh*tless from the start. Having seen When a Stranger calls the previous year, I could almost marry the 2 films together. The legacy about 70's horrors was it's haunting film scores. Lalo Schifrin did a brilliant job on Amityville Horror, as did John Carpenter with the Halloween movies. My memories of the film brings me back to the girl with the clingwrap plastic over her face in the rocking chair - also the hook coming through the attic door and pulling the victim up at the throat (The only scene to top this one was in Friday the 13th part 2 when, the guy does a handstand up the staircase and ol' Jason axes him between the nuts!!!!!). The attic door in our house was in the bathroom - damn I was scared to splash with the door locked. I'm hoping to get my hands on a DVD copy soon. But first, The Wild Geese and the Kentucky Fried movie must fall on my lap!!!!!!
Rating: 
Summary: Scary and Creepy?
Review: Am I missing out? I think I have the same DVD that everyone else has. Covers sure are decieving these days. This movie was far from "scary as hell". Only a short list of 70's horror is considered great, and this is not one of them. I guess I am the only one that picked up this DVD and was greatly disappointed. It got such great reviews, as you can see here, but I was the least bit scared. I actually laughed through out pretty much of the film. I must admit though, that ending was a good one. I wasn't expecting it. All in all though, if you score it cheap, like I did. I picked this baby up at a Flea-Market for $5, then the loss isnt that great. Lastly, I guess this movie is loved for its cinemegraphic style, and the boundaries it seem to break for a 70's movie. I like vulgarity of it, also.
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