Black Christmas (1974) – Blueprint for Future Slasher Flicks
Bob Clark's "Black Christmas" appeared many years before the onslaught of slasher films featuring idiosyncratic, stalking killers. This killer likes to freak out future victims by calling them on the phone and issuing gibberish about his foul intentions. There are many POV impressions from the killer's vantage point. Victims are dispatched gruesomely and left in their lifeless, idle suspension to hang or sit undiscovered in the sorority house attic where some of the killer's work unfolds. Many of these motifs we would see again in other films.
Plenty of quirky characters inhabit this world and there are a few characters who exhibit inner turmoil that may or may not be related to the serial killer on the loose but it is up to the viewer to decipher who is the most likely suspect. Keir Dullea of "2001: A Space Odyssey" plays a pianist who may be harboring dark secrets. Anybody who smashes a defenseless piano is certainly going to be under the microscope. John Saxon plays another low key, baffled cop who needs to find the killer fast before he strikes again.
Bob Clark directed a few other dark fantasies. Namely, "Children Shouldn't Play With Dead Things" (zombies) and "Dead of Night" (reanimated corpse). And, "A Christmas Story"!
Bob Clark’s “Black Christmas” appeared many years before the onslaught of slasher films featuring idiosyncratic, stalking killers. This killer likes to freak out future victims by calling them on the phone and issuing gibberish about his foul intentions. There are many POV impressions from the killer’s vantage point. Victims are dispatched gruesomely and left in their lifeless, idle suspension to hang or sit undiscovered in the sorority house attic where some of the killer’s work unfolds. Many of these motifs we would see again in other films.
Plenty of quirky characters inhabit this world and there are a few characters who exhibit inner turmoil that may or may not be related to the serial killer on the loose but it is up to the viewer to decipher who is the most likely suspect. Keir Dullea of “2001: A Space Odyssey” plays a pianist who may be harboring dark secrets. Anybody who smashes a defenseless piano is certainly going to be under the microscope. John Saxon plays another low key, baffled cop who needs to find the killer fast before he strikes again.
Bob Clark directed a few other dark fantasies. Namely, “Children Shouldn’t Play With Dead Things” (zombies) and “Dead of Night” (reanimated corpse). And, “A Christmas Story”!
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