TEN REASONS: Why I Love Black Christmas

We’re starting a new feature here on Fascination with Fear called Ten Reasons. Not necessarily a countdown, just ten reasons…..to watch something, to love something….or even to dislike!  

I’m starting with perhaps my favorite Christmas horror, 1974’s Black Christmas. Please note there are spoilers within this post—so if you haven’t seen the film (and if you haven’t, get on that!) you may want to wait until you have! 

{I still find it crazy that the same director was behind both Black Christmas and one of the most popular family holiday films, A Christmas Story. What range!}

Anyway—-here’s ten reasons I LOVE Black Christmas! 🖤🎄

1. 
   
   Barb.  Foul-mouthed, crass, and perpetual drunk Barb is one of the best if not the best character in the film. She has several great moments, with the “fellatio” discussion with the clueless cop and the turtles having sex for three days straight speech being the stand-outs.  She knows she’s ignorant and uses that to her every advantage. But we see she does have a heart….when her mom ditches her on Christmas to spend the holiday with some guy, we know Barb’s feelings are hurt—but she quickly brushes it off with more humor.  The late great Margot Kidder exceeds expectations and elevates the fun here. 
2. 
   
   Mrs Mac.  Housemother of the sorority house, she’s a closet drinker with a loud personality.  With booze hid in places like the toilet tank and a book with a bottle size cut out inside, she’s both covert as well as resourceful. It’s clear she loves the girls and pretty much lets them get away with murder…whoops, poor choice of words! 
3. 
   
   Chris Hayden.  Chris is the boyfriend of Clare Harrison, our first victim. While she sits, dead, in a rocking chair in the attic, Chris leads the stampede to find her. When the cops don’t take her disappearance seriously Chris stomps angrily into the police station and demands something be done. In his fur coat and sporting movie star hair, Chris is a good looking and obviously caring boyfriend who is present for all aspects of the search. 
4. 
   
   Pi Kappa Sigma. That house! With its big rooms and gorgeous woodwork, it’s a star in and of itself. With the roaring fireplace as a backdrop for all the festivities of the house, holiday decorations abound while half the girls get toasted and the other half listen to lewd phone calls. And its pleasing Christmas lights on the outside make it the perfect setting for murder and mayhem. 
5. 
   
   Inventive kills. This is not your average slasher flick.  First of all, it pre-dates 1978’s Halloween, so it could be considered the OG slasher (if you’re not counting Norman Bates!) Secondly, there’s none of that just going around slashing folks with a knife! This killer uses suffocation by plastic bag, a crane hook (which was in the attic for some reason), a crystal unicorn figurine…truly imaginative. 
6. 
   
   The phone calls. Doubtful that any film has more ringing phones than this one—except the similar storyline of When A Stranger Calls (1979).  But what sets this one apart is the vulgarity. They hold nothing back in this script, using all manner of indecent and foul language. It’s so dirty it’s almost laughable, if it weren’t coming from someone so perverse. 
7. 
   
   Creepy-ass Peter.  Poor Jess. Her neurotic boyfriend is one weird son of a bitch. He is quite deluded and apparently thinks he can control Jess’s decision whether or not to get an abortion. He tries to say she can’t do that, but I assure you buddy, she can.  He has a whole future planned out for them that Jess has no desire to be a part of. When he fails to perform well at his classical piano audition, soon thereafter he utterly trashes the grand piano. This leaves us (the movie  audience) wondering if Peter may be the killer. He’s kind of fun to watch become more and more unhinged. 
8. 
   
   The police station.  Oh man, there is a scene at the police station that when I think about it, I can still get a good chuckle. Barb convinces Sergeant Nash that the new phone number at the sorority house is “fellatio” 20880.  The clueless cop even has her spell it.  Funniest of all are the other cops reactions when he tells them about the new exchange. The one cop’s laughter can set anyone off in a fit of giggles. We also need to praise the movie gods for placing John Saxon (in a similar role as his Nightmare on Elm St character) in this film. 
9. 
   
   Jess.  Olivia Hussey is great as the main protagonist in Black Christmas. She takes most of the calls from “The Moaner”.  Good hearted and kind, Jess seems to be the heart of the sorority, and much of the focus is on how she deals not only with the obscene caller but with the situation with her bonkers boyfriend once he finds out she wants to have an abortion. She sticks to her guns even though she knows Peter is essentially threatening her. She breaks up with him, searches for Clare and a local high school girl who is lost, helps Barb with an asthma attack, keeps the killer on the phone so they can trace the call, settles roomie Phyl when she becomes terrified, and is pretty good with a fire poker in a pinch.  A role model for sure. 
10. 
    
    Billy/The Prowler— From the moment we see the killer climbing the rose trellis to the attic of the sorority house, we know this jackass is off his rocker. Those phone calls!! Flagrant profanity and disgusting innuendoes! And the killing, when it starts, is cold hearted and seemingly random.  Add to that the fact that he continues to talk about Billy and Agnes—who are still unknown to us at movie’s end. We never find out his reasoning for being a psychopath. And that’s truly the scariest part of the whole film. 

*Black Christmas poster art by Gary Pullin 🖤🎄