Holiday Slashers We Love: “Black Christmas” (1974)

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I have finally watched Black Christmas (1974) for the first time. I had seen the 2006 ‘remake’ a few years ago and thought it was fun but very cheesy. It definitely didn’t take itself seriously which made it ‘so bad its good’ in my opinion. I still like that movie for the actresses and the beautiful and bright Christmas setting. I was always curious to see how the much praised 1974 original would turn out to be like. I probably own the DVD of the original for almost two years. Well I’ve finally watched it and I gotta say it is one of the, if not THE scariest horror movie I’ve ever seen.

The amount of tension through out the entire movie was crazy, I was definitely creeped out and disturbed at some parts. Such an atmospheric, startling and original horror classic. The acting performances were all around top notch with a tour-de-force performance by the beautiful and lovely Olivia Hussey who was the heart and soul of this movie. I also really liked Margot Kidder, John Saxon, Marian Waldman, Andrea Martin and Lynne Griffin in this classic. The characters were everything I was expecting AND more! So resourceful, fun and fantastic in their own ways, the character developments were superb. This movie feels like the perfect combination of drama, comedy, slasher, thriller and mystery. I was on the edge of my seat the entire time and hooked from start to finish. The directing by Bob Clark was splendid and the cinematography was really outrageous. The soundtrack is very effective and does its job perfectly. The movie manages to have a lot of frightening scenes, together with emotional scenes and hilarious moments. That’s a pretty rare feat for a horror movie to pull off.

Not gonna make any comparisons to the 2006 remake because the original is far superior and the stories and setting can’t be compared with each other. The remake is fun but it works more as an homage to the 80’s slashers than as a direct remake to the original Black Christmas. This movie sent chills down my spine, even though there are some slow parts its interesting to solve this big mystery and to see the multiple ‘suspects’. Also props to the witty but well written script! The ending is perfect and leaves the audience thinking for themselves what will happen next. I highly recommend anyone to watch the original ‘Black Christmas’, I am definitely re-watching this movie every year around Christmas time! Happy holidays!

–Ferdi Akkulak

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