The Film (5/5)

**This review is based on a check disc, and may not accurately the reflect the contents and quality of the final retail disc.**

Spoilers Ahead: Beware!

We open on a shot on a large house decorated in Christmas lights while Silent Night rolls dirge-like on the soundtrack, spooky and solemn, simultaneously. We're watching one of if not THE most important pre Halloween 70's slasher films. (Let's argue protoslasher vs. slasher another day, shall we? It IS Christmas, however black.) We go point of view with the camera and go along as someone approaches the house, climbs a trellis, and gains entry through an upstairs window.

Soon after, Jess (Olivia Hussey - Romeo And Juliet) gets a disturbing obscene phone call from 'The Moaner'. As some other girls listen in, brassy Barb (Margot Kidder - Sisters, Superman) provokes the caller and he responds that he will kill them all. Clare  (Lynne Griffith - Curtains) is immediately worried that Barb has gone too far and they argue amongst themselves as Clare goes upstairs to pack for Christmas at home. While packing she hears a noise coming from the closet and while investigating she is smothered with clear plastic and placed in a rocking chair in the attic.

Clare's father arrives to pick her up the next day and Mrs. Mac (Marian Waldman - When Michael Calls) and the other girls tell him they had thought she left the night before as they hadn't seen her. This ultimately leads them along with Clare's boyfriend Chris (Art Hindle - Invasion Of The Body Snatchers 1978, The Brood) to the police and Lt. Fuller (John Saxon - Greatest Man In The World, Tenebre, Enter The Dragon) begins an investigation into Clare's disappearance, the obscene calls and their possible connection. Jess' unstable boyfriend Peter (Keir Dullea - 2001: A Space Odyssey, Devil In The Brain, Bunny Lake Is Missing) is pretty upset that Jess wants to get an abortion and gives a terrifying piano recital that ruins his college piano career. Peter is suspect #1.

Sorority sisters are dropping like flies in a variety of manners while they are still getting obscene, threatening phone calls from 'Billy' who incoherently addresses someone named Agnes. Lt. Fuller engages the telephone company to trace the calls and three guesses as to where they are coming from. INSIDE THE HOUSE. Yep, this may not be the first instance of the trope, but it is arguably the most influential. Girl after girl fall to the crazed killer until there's a final girl. The phone rings and rings and rings.

Bob Clark is responsible for two of the best Christmas films, this and 1983's beloved A Christmas Story. Black Christmas hit Canadian theaters October 11, 1974 and American theaters December 20, 1974 under a few different titles: Silent Night, Evil Night and Stranger In The House, attempts to avoid it being mistaken for a blaxploitation Christmas film. The film outside of the suspenseful terror is filled with scenes and little moments to flesh it out: a search for a missing girl, caroling, Margot Kidder as Barb screwing with a naive Sergeant Nash over a 'new' telephone exchange at the police department, and the deterioration of Jess and Peter as a couple. You also get Mrs. Mac hiding her alcoholism from the girls, trying to cover up for the girls' 'free' 70's attitudes from Clare's father, and getting a final scene that is spine chilling.

My wife Elizabeth and I watch Black Christmas every Christmas Eve, (along with the 2006 remake, that I will defend to my dying day. Move along.) It's a tradition that I eagerly look forward to with the same amount of excitement that I do for a last day in October viewing of Halloween. It pairs extremely well with another, similarly themed Christmas thriller, Silent NIght, Bloody Night from two years prior, 1972. Try that double feature. You're welcome.

Audio/Video (4/5)

You have several choices with Black Christmas when it comes to releases. This is the FOURTH bluray I own. Unless someone does a 4K scan, this is as good as it is getting. I have no training other than personal experience and what I've learned from Scott doing reviews here and to my eyes the Scream Factory edges out the 101 Films visual presentation. They are very comparable and may even be the same 2K scan, but checking back to back it seemed the Scream Factory was a tad more vibrant. What does that mean really? It means if you are in the States, I wouldn't double (triple, quadruple) dip but if I'm in the United Kingdom, I'm rushing to buy it. The dictionary defines 'tad' as "a small amount of something'. And that is what we have here, a tad. But it looks good and is no doubt better than the dvd.

The information included with the check disc did not make mention of the audio. It sounded good to me however there were no English SDH subtitles for the hard of hearing. Every bluray should come with subtitles these days.

Extras (3.5/5)

101 Films includes the following:

Film And Furs: Remembering Black Christmas With Art Hindle

Victims And Virgins: Remembering Black Christmas With Lynne Griffin

Black Christmas Legacy

Original TV And Radio Spots

40th Anniversary Reunion Panel: Fan Expo Canada 2014

What is missing is any kind of audio commentary, of which the Scream Factory bluray has three. I don't hold it too much against it though, as I don't know what's up for licensing or what that situation is. Would have been nice though.

Overall (4/5)

This is a big one folks. There's a story floating around (one that contradicts other stories) that John Carpenter originally envisioned what became Halloween as a sequel to Black Christmas. Regardless of the provenance they are intertwined as two very important films in the horror genre as well as to the development of the slasher film. Perhaps without Black Christmas there's no Halloween, and then there's no Friday The 13th, and so on and so on. 101 Films has done a service to the UK by bringing a domestic release of one of the most influential horror films of all time, and they should be commended for doing so. Write down the word 'favorite'. Did you put a U between the O and R? If so, buy this bluray. Unless you are in Canada. That is a whole other story. Agnes, it's me BILLY.

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