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Black Christmas [1974]Snagging.org In association with Amazon.co.ukOnline Shop | Property Guides | Kitchen & Home | Garden Tools | Power Tools | Consumer Electronics Get the Snagging Checklist Here! Black Christmas [1974] starring: Olivia Hussey, Keir Dullea, Margot Kidder, John Saxon, Roy Moore directed by: Bob Clark ![: Black Christmas [1974]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/513MTWSVE0L._SL160_.jpg) List Price: £15.99 Price: £8.47 You Save: £7.52 (47%)Prices subject to change. Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
Audience Rating: Suitable for 18 years and over Binding: DVD EAN: 5023965372222 Format: Anamorphic, PAL Label: Tartan Video Languages: Manufacturer: Tartan Video Number Of Items: 1 Publisher: Tartan Video Region Code: 2 Release Date: December 04, 2006 Running Time: 98 minutes Studio: Tartan Video Related Items:
Average Rating:
 Rating:  - Good for its day but has aged terriblyBlack Christmas was released in 1974, making it the first slasher flick and while the film must have been scary for its day, it hasn't aged well at all and this unfortunatly makes the film boring for modern horror audiences. There is no gore, you don't see the killer, the deaths are pretty lame and most of the film is girls sitting around talking about crap. If you want a gorey film, avoid this and watch the remake but if you prefer a suspenseful film, there are worse choices out there than Black Christmas. Rating:  - really good!I watched the original when it came out at the cinema in the 70's and had me on the edge of my seat!! has just the right amount of creepiness and heart beating moments not to totally terrify you but also keeps the story! The new 2006(I think it is) remake is not the same. Buy this one to be as near the original!! Rating: - Dead silence is the scariestI have often wondered why there are so many bad horror movies these days. Movies that instead of focusing on suspense and real chills, just pour endless amounts of blood in your face, thinking this will do the trick, and hopefully become a cult classic. Film after film, more and more horror movies are becoming increasingly similair, and you can almost guess the whole entire plot of the movie, no more than 10 minutes into the film. Everything in horror these days is all about over the top special effects, numbingly loud thumping music, that is supposed to get you scared. Black Christmas (the original) is (IMO) one of the best and scariest horror movies ever made. Why? you ask. Let me tell you. There are so many reasons. First. In horror today, when someone (usually the pretty girl) is walking towards a door or a room (thinking someone will be there) - and they are. The film makers feel the need to spoil the moment with ridiculously loud music that is (intended) to get you all hyped up for the big surprise. When they don't realise that this spoils 99% of the scene. For instance, 10 minutes into the movie, one of the sorority girls "Claire" goes up stairs to her room, to pack some things, preparing for a trip. While entering the room she is greeted by the house cat "Claud". While packing, Claire hears a strange meow. At first she just ignores, but the meow gets more and more intense and chillingly creepy. She then notices that the meow is coming from the closet (not far from where she is standing) at the end of the room (and the closet door is open). She paces towards the closet (with a terrified stare) quickly realising that the meow is not coming from the house cat, asking "Who is that?" several times. The thing that makes this scene 'GOLD' is while walking to the closet and asking "Who is that?" there is no music! - just dead silence. This makes the scene and situation seem more real and 1000 times more scary. The viewers are at the edge of their seat, hanging on to pure silence while she walks further and further to the closet. This is far more terrifiying than continuous loud music, that spoils the moment, because you know by the music when the killer is going to approach. That scene is horror at it's best and everyone should see the film for that scene alone. Secondly, the entrance of the movie is shocking. The camera is filmed like a documentry (like the camera is the stalker, walking nearer and nearer to the house) While spying on his victims he realises he is able to climb to the top of the house where he can enter the attic. The directer's captured this amazingly and it gave off that feeling, that raw, real, scare, that this really could happen to anyone. One of the standout scares and scenes that stick in your brain are the chillingly disturbing phone call scenes. The girls recieve numurous phone calls from the same man, only there's a catch. It's not your typical Scream phone call were the killer asks "Are you alone?" and "What's your favourite scary movie?" he talks with himself, displaying what appears to be a severe split personality. The phone calls get more and more scary as the movie goes on. Especially near the end were the killer actually goes crazy portraying more than 4 different voices and characters - the horrific sound of his voice will haunt you after the movie is over (which I guess is great for the creater, as all the best horror movies make long lasting impressions). The last thing I will say is there are a lot of people, reviewers, saying the end was disappointing because they still don't know who the killer is. Huh? lets get this straight. The killer isn't a person in the movie who is coming across nice, nor is he pretending to be a close friend - infact he doesn't know any of the girls at all. He is merley a deranged, dangerous man who passed a sorority house and thought it would be fun to hide inside their attic and hack them off 1 by 1. I will not spoil the rest of the movie for those who haven't seen it. All I will say is if you want a great horror movie that when the credits role you will be affraid to walk upstairs, THIS IS THE MOVIE FOR YOU. You will also be staring at your attic door for about a week. Rating:  - The first slasher movieMany people think that Halloween was the first slasher movie, but Black Christmas was made four years earlier and is the first proper slasher movie that was made. There were a few gore movies in the sixties which featured death scenes throughout and of course "Psycho" and "Twitch of the Death Nerve" was made in 1972, but none of these movies properly followed the slasher movie forumla untill Black Christmas. So I think that this movie deserves credit for being (arguably) the first one of its kind out there. A bunch of girls (aged somewhere between 18 and 22) in a college sorority house receive series of prank phone calls, which arent so much threatening as disturbing and then start getting killed off. These phone calls are the scariest part of the movie, in my opinion, the are REALLY creepy and disturbing. The movie relies on suspence and its creepiness rather than violence and the deaths (of which there are only a few) have almost no gore. Another element which adds to the suspence of the movie is that we know from very early on in the movie that the killer was in the house with the girls so one of them could be killed at any time. The Good things about the movie are that the phone calls are genuinely creepy and there is quite a lot of suspence throughout, and it was the first movie of its kind. The Bad things are that therent arent many death scenes or much gore in the movie and also, even before the girls start to dissappear, all of the charactors seem to be clinically depressed, in a few scenes the main protagonist, Jess, looks as though she may burst into tears (although to be fair we later find out that she is planning on having an abortion) which made me feel sorry for them. The end is rather confusing too - it might just be me thing thick but after finishing the movie Im still not really sure who the killer was. Overall quite a good slasher which I would reccomend viewing because of its at-the-time origionality and because its very creepy and suspenceful. Deffinately worth a watch. Rating: - You Better Watch Out..........!Made in 1974, Black Christmas was one of the first "slasher" movies and on this dvd the print has been perfectly restored with modern sound added - although purists can watch it with the original mono sound if they choose. Set at Christmas time, the story has a group of university female students living together in a house on campus where they are subjected to obscene telephone calls. Mouthy, drink loving Babs (Margot Kidder) likes to answer the caller back, but sensible Jess (Olivia Hussey) feels he should not be encouraged. Before long the girls and their house mother are being murdered one by one. The suspense which builds to the killings is truly chilling and, unlike modern films of the type, there is no reliance of blood and gore to create horror. As the police battle to trace the source of the calls the girls must stand together and face the terror which has come to their door. I suspect the 18 rating is caused by the frequent use of the C word in the obscene phone calls. There is little gore or blood and without the language this could easily have been rated 15. Well worth purchasing for fans of a well made, well paced horror drama which keeps the viewer engaged with lively characters and a suspense filled plot..... Just hope your phone doesn't ring while your watching!  Try searching the Internet for "Black Christmas [1974]" or Ebay for "Black Christmas [1974]". You might also be interested in the following great products:
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