1974's Black Christmas

BLACK CHRISTMAS

It may be after Christmas, but its never too late to talk about one of the best slasher films that inspired some of the horror movies that we love today, I'm talking about Bob Clark's 1974's Black Christmas. Most people that I am friends with know my pure love and obsession with this film and that it is my all time favorite slasher film. So it is only right that I dedicate a whole blog post to this superb slasher flick.

LOVE AT FIRST VIEW It all started way back in the 70's when this movie came to the US and hit the theaters. My mom who is a horror junkie went to go check it out and she instantly fell in love with it, even though when she came home after the showing to a quiet house and she quickly checked every closet. When she heard the film was going to be aired on television in the 80's she automatically popped in her VHS tape and hit record and its a good thing she did.That would be the only time the film would air on regular television with the title being "Stranger in the House". She still has the VHS tape to this day. My mother never held back on letting me sit down and watch scary movies with her, so she needless to say was very eager to show me this movie. It was actually one of my very first scary movies that she introduced me to. I of course never was shown the unedited version, because as previously stated, she recorded it off cable tv so I was never exposed to all the crude talk of Billy and the drunken foul mouthed Barb. I certainly witnessed the rest though! I was hooked and my mom and I would watch it every Christmas together growing up. I was in smitten with the actress, Olivia Hussey who plays the character Jess. I wanted to be just like her when I was younger but I also had a thing for the early 70's. So that my friends is how I was introduced to this killer film that would forever become my all time favorite. However, since I saw it being called "Stranger in the House" that is how I would reference it and no one ever knew what I was talking about. It took me a long time to be able to call it "Black Christmas" but eventually I had no choice but to call it that because now that it is popular amongst the horror community, you all would think i'm crazy. One thing I might mention about myself is that I never enjoy liking things that everyone else does. It always makes me feel that if I post something that has always been a favorite of mine and it has become popular, that people will think I am just talking about it because everyone else is. So when I saw last year that pretty much everyone was posting about Black Christmas, I thought to myself "welp there goes that, its no longer my special movie". I am glad though that so many people can enjoy such a well made movie and I have to stop being so selfish! Okay, that is enough about me, time to get into some facts that some of you may or may not know about "Black Christmas" and my view on the remake

A NAME IS JUST A NAME Why so many titles? As you already probably know, Black Christmas has had a few different names. When the script was written it was titled "Stop Me" but Bob Clark decided to change it to "Black Christmas" because he liked the Irony of something dark occurring during the holiday season. Let's just be glad "Stop Me" didn't stick! "Black Christmas" is a Canadian film so it was first released on October 11th 1974 in Canada. The film did really well at the box office but it can't be said the same for how it did in the United States. Warner Brothers purchased the film, changing the title to "Silent Night, Evil Night" supposedly due to the American Distributor fearing that the title "Black Christmas" might cause the film to be taken as a "blaxploitation" movie. Unfortunately the film didn't do well under the new title so it was then changed back to "Black Christmas". In the 80's NBC wanted to air the movie during prime time but the title was changed once again. This time it was renamed "Stranger in the House" hoping it would get viewers to check it out and maybe draw in a bigger crowd, but apparently this movie was just doomed in the U.S. because it was pulled off the air for being "too scary" so that was the one and only time it was shown on television under that title. I never realized how lucky I was that my mother recorded it the one and only time it was shown as "Stranger in the House" and we still have it, although the quality in some parts aren't the best because its old as dirt now, and I just insulted my own age on that one! I always found it very interesting that this film kept changing its name. "Black Christmas" is the best suited title in my opinion.

BLACK XMAS (2006) Why ruin a good thing? I know there are people who won't agree with me, but one thing I always loved about Black Christmas (spoiler alert) was the fact you never found out who the killer was nor did you know anything about him and to me sometimes that is a good thing because it makes for a more eerie, spine chilling film. If I can fully see the face of a killer then yes I want to know their backstory and why it is that they choose to kill, but when you have no clue who that mainiac is or why they are slashing up so many pathetic, clueless people, it creeps you the fuck out. So yes, I got really aggravated when they thought it would be a good idea to create a remake and totally ruin my image of Billy. Don't get me wrong, the whole back story to him is cool and making Christmas cookies out of flesh is never a bad thing in any horror movie. The setting of the remake is the one thing I did enjoy, it could not have a better Christmas feel to it and I found it amusing that they had Andrea Martin play the house mother who played curly haired phyl, but frankly it was just an unnecessary remake. When I first began to watch it I was confused. The first kill of the movie is the same as in the original and she was named Clare, just like the original character, so my thoughts were that all the characters were going to be the same as in the first, wrong! So i'm not quite sure where they were going with that whole name and scene. They did have a drunk but her name wasn't Barb, and Andrea Martin played Mrs. Mac which was also the name of the original house mother so they lost me on that whole thing, why not just give all the girls the same names as the first? Is the movie entertaining? Yes, as any lame Christmas horror movie is. I'm sure a lot of people saw this film first before ever seeing the 1974 one, which if I were to see the remake first then the original, it would totally ruin it for me. The part that I really cringed at was when you could see what Billy looked like as an adult, don't do that! I did not want that God awful image of him to be what I think of now when I think of who Billy is. I mean, his eyeball being the only thing you see of him besides a quick glimpse of part of his face is what made the original so menacing. I'm sorry if you happened to enjoy this one but I just was not a fan.

A FEW FAVORITE FACTS Now comes the time to talk about a few of my favorite Black Christmas facts! What about that ravishing murderous house? Filmed in Toronto, Canada at the University of Toronto and also the Victoria college sites, The Hart house was used for the deadly sorority house located at 6 Belmont Street in Toronto. It is now known today unambiguously as the "Black Christmas House". Although if you try to visit the home today you will be sadden to see it does not look the same as it once did. It has since been renovated completely and the outside is now a different color, also the big tree that you saw in the front yard has since been removed, what a bummer!

In the late 70's Bob Clark and John Carpenter spoke about doing a sequel to Black Christmas, but Clark was not in the business to make horror films, he simply was using horror films to establish himself. He did however state that if he were to make a sequel it would take place a year later where the killer escapes from the insane asylum on Halloween and he would title the film "Halloween". He then let Carpenter take the idea for the sequel and that is how the movie Halloween came to be.

Bob Clark is known for directing another Christmas movie, but this one wasn't about college girls being murdered, it was about a Red Ryder BB gun and pink bunny pajamas. You know i'm talking about A Christmas Story. He also directed 1981's movie "Porky's". Sadly Clark and his son died tragically in a head on collision with a drunk driver in 2007.

The ending of "Black Christmas" has one of the creepiest endings to a slasher movie to date. If you haven't seen the film yet then you shouldn't be reading this, and also, what the Merry Christmas are you freaking waiting for?? The movie ends with the character named Jess, played by actress Olivia Hussey, laying upstairs in her bed after she assumed she killed the killer, who was actually her boyfriend. Police leave her upstairs to rest and the movie ends with just a ringing of the phone, no credit music, just the eerie..phone..ringing. When Warner Bros bought the film they wanted Clark to change the ending to give the audience more of a conclusion, but luckily Clark didn't agree and left it the way he intended it to be. The ending is one of the reasons I love the movie so much so.

If you haven't checked out this movie yet I strongly suggest you do! You wont be disappointed. It has most certainly become a cult classic. You can now own the film on blu ray. Also Waxwork records was awesome enough to make a soundtrack for the film on vinyl last year and it is still available so go check that out! Hope you all had a very Gory Christmas!