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Black Christmas is enjoying a bit of a revival at the moment, via the release of this DVD, as well as a modern day remake being gifted to the world right in time for Christmas 2006. Up until about a month ago though, I had never heard of this film, nor was I aware of it's apparent cult status. (While I don't have an exact definition of what qualifies a film for cult status I think if there's an unbelievably extensive fan site, named after a memorable piece of dialogue from the movie, where you can find out all you've ever wanted to know about it and more, you should qualify; and yes, this movie has one. Check it out here) Of course, movies achieve cult status for all sorts of reasons, and sometimes for no real reason, so that doesn't necessarily mean anything. The fact that it's being remade also doesn't necessarily mean anything and, I must admit, that part didn't excite me all that much. Seeing as how remakes tend to suck. But my curiosity was suitable peaked by the original so I gave this a whirl and was pleasantly surprised by what a genuinely creepy movie it was. And before you start envisioning a maniacal dude in a Santa suit or some such gimmick spending his holiday offing people with Christmas themed objects (who could blame you, that's basically the premise of Silent Night, Deadly Night) be forewarned, this is not that kind of horror movie. This is a psychological thriller, and a quite effective one at that. Which is not to say pretty girls don't get killed, they do, but part of the whole deal here is you never really see the murderer. No one does, until right before he kills them. You do, in a Giallo-esque way, get to see his hands a few times but other than that and the disturbing sound of his voice(s) he is a complete mystery, wrapped in an enigma, wrapped in a veil of psychotic perversion and the quiet of a slightly off campus sorority house during Christmas break. The story revolves around a sampling of sisters who happen to be "home" - uh, you know, in the away from home sense - for the holiday while everyone else in home in the more literal and traditional sense. All seems to be going relatively well, all things considered… well, except for the repeated rounds of confusing and obscene phonecalls they keep receiving… until one unfortunate girl goes upstairs to pack a bag and turns up missing. (By this point the viewer already knows that there's a killer loose inside the house and that the girl isn't really missing per se, so much as her plastic wrapped corpse is sitting in a rocking chair in the attic keeping the killer company.) I think it's safe to say the fates that befall the majority of remaining women are not wholly unexpected, but the way the film progresses and how the tension builds before reaching it's somewhat anti-climactic ending make Black Christmas stand out from other high body count films of the era.
—Bunny
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