BLACK CHRISTMAS
aka Silent Night, Bloody Night

Why did I not perish at birth come forth from the womb and expire? Or why was I not buried away like an untimely birth, like infants that have never seen the light? JOB 3:15&16

Here I am again my faithful Zombies in Christ, back with another film review, this time it is 1974's Black Christmas! Formerly known as Silent Night, Deadly Night. This Gem stars Olivia Hussey- the Argentinean actress who has made a career out of B- movie horror films, such as Norma Bates Norman's mother in 1990's television prequel PSYCHO 4: The Beginning, 1988's THE GARDENER, and VIRUS- directed by Kinji Fukasaku, who brought us TORA! TORA! TORA!, and Keir Dullea best known as Dave in 2001: A Space Odyssey, Margot Kidder-Lois Lane in the Superman movies although I prefer to think of her in THE AMITYVILLE HORROR, and as having that breakdown a few years ago, where she cut off her hair, and removed her dental work, and hid under a neighbors porch. Ahh a lovely mental picture, do you not agree? This film also includes John Saxon, and Andrea Martin- yes, from SCTV and the Fruit fairy on Sesame Street, well I guess we all have to start somewhere.

Any way this film was written by Roy Moore and Directed by Bob Clark, with excellent creepy music composed by Carl Zittrer.

One could say that this film is simply a rip off of the other films virtually identical to it that all came out around the same time. Don't answer the phone, When a stranger calls, you know the ones I mean.

But actually this one is different. it opens the way you would think. Christmas Eve, in a sorority house, you know the one's they have on college campuses, where all the girls are in their late 20's to early 30's. it starts out trough the eyes of the killer as he climbs into the attic from the lattice on the outside, and it pretty much gets going from there.

Of course all the girls are drunk from their X-mas eve party, and Margot Kidder establishes her character as the troubled yet, drunken foul-mouthed whore of the film. She of course picks on our first victim Clare-the innocent one, who gets suffocated by a dry cleaning bag, and then the phone calls start coming. This is actually the freakiest part of the film. I personally would not consider these as obscene as I would deranged, and they are really frightening.

The killer spends most of his time upstairs spying on the girls and after Clare's father arrives the police Lieutenant Fuller- John Saxon, organizes a search party. Now this all seems in keeping with a typical plot in his type of film, but it is the sub-plot that actually provides the most intriguing elements of the story. Jess- Olivia Hussey, it turns out is pregnant, not by choice from her boyfriend Peter- Keir Dullea, they fight because she wants an abortion- let me stop here for a moment. This movie came out in 1974 very soon after the ROE V. WADE decision was handed down by the Supreme Court, and also just as the Feminist Movement was starting to really get going. So here is where it differs from all the other films in the same genre. This is actually thought provoking. The timeliness is hard not to miss, as is the message he director tries to send, I like the fact that Jess, is a strong and determined young woman, she is not portrayed as a bad person for her choice, and in fact she turns out to be the most reliable and decent of the girls. But the weirdness starts when the calls begin to get creepier and creepier, the killer uses more than one voice and always keeps saying "Agnes it is me Billy, we killed the baby", and then he screams and wails simultaneously as a child, baby, and adult woman. This is very bothersome.

Peter flips out and destroys his beloved Piano, he wants to be a concert pianist. He threatens Jess- not to have an abortion, and stalks her outside her dorm house.

the only comic relief in this film comes from Mrs.. Mack, the house Mother who has a whiskey bottle stashed into every crevice and place she can find. She is a drunk and you know what that means in these films, Bye-Bye Mrs.. Mack. Most of the girls meet their ends in some creative ways, but there is very little blood. I do not want to give away the ending, but it is obvious who the killer isn't and it ends on a very creepy note.

This is a good one to buy if you are into collecting the "Alone in the House" films, or for a particularly good time, you might try having your favorite girlfriends over and settling in for a night of all of them.

Enjoy, my zombie hordes, until we meet again. Sister Mary Mind-Suck