5 out of 5

Director: Bob Clark

Amazingly polished. Black Christmas mixes a couple of horror tropes to come up with a composite that bests much of its competition (then and now) by providing a truly creepy killer and characters that are recognizable enough (and with enough personality) that were following the story and not just waiting for various demises. All the same, Black Christmas can be summed up as a holiday slasher film: its Christmas time, and at a particular sorority house, girls are starting to be picked off in rather garish ways. Whos the killer? Why? Whos going to die next? Who will survive? And all your usual questions. Black Christmas is a winner from the start: a nicely lit shot of the sorority as the credits play, which, after the credits play, without cutting swoops into the opening shots of the door. Its a wonderful transition, and several stylistically similar shots are spread throughout. We are also then thrown right into the perspective of our slasher, who climbs into the attic… this would seem to be a tension killer, but Bob Clark handles it perfectly – there is no anti-climactic reveal at a ruinous point, and the killers behavior (and creepy phone calls that the sorority house starts to get) is unnerved to the point of actually being… unnerving, and not just the usual creepy-killer antics. Every actor also gets their due: excepting an idiotic lieutenant, we get to see serious, uptight, joking, and frightened sides of almost everyone. Everyone gets to be human (and not just one-dimensional fodder), which grounds the story even more. Gore fans might find the spread of blood not to their expectation, but aficionados of horror can agree that this is a supremely made, effective film.