Christmas is associated with many things both positive and negative- religion, consumerism, toys, snow, family, stress, and Santa Claus. One thing not, however, traditionally associated with Christmas is murder. In Black Christmas (1974), though, Christmas and death sit side by side, like the red and white stripes of a candy cane.The story begins in a sorority house, filled with students on the eve of their winter break. As the party approaches its end, the house receives an obscene phone call from an unknown man. While most of the girls brush the caller off as a harmless prankster, one of the students (the cliche "good girl"), warns the others to be more careful before storming to her room to pack for the upcoming vacation. Ironically, this character is the first to die, as the killer is waiting for her when she enters the room. Strangled to death, her dead body is kept in the attic in a dusty rocking chair for the rest of the movie. This image, accompanied by the maniacal laughter of the killer, is the most striking, memorable, and iconic image in Black Christmas.
As you could probably guess from the description of the body in the attic, the tone of Black Christmas is...black. While the slasher movies of the '80's would grow more and more outlandish and tongue in cheek, Black Christmas is grounded in realism and grittiness. The murders in Black Christmas are memorable not for their outrageous gore, or humorous extravagance, but rather for their subtlety and believability. Nitpickers may find fault with the body in the attic, and how it remains remarkably well-preserved over the course of the film. Things like this didn't bother me, though. To me, the world of Black Christmas, while realistic, is still a stylized fantasy realm. Thus, while a murder later in the film, in which a girl is stabbed repeatedly with a miniature glass figure, is haunting in its subtlety, it is also visually interesting.
To lighten the mood, Black Christmas is packed with humorous dialogue, mainly from the drunken, disgruntled house mother, and a drunken, sex-obsessed sorority member. While the humor sometimes falls flat, there are some entertaining moments. The house mother, in particular was funny, and likable, despite being very over-the-top in her sloppy drunkenness. Interactions between the liberal sorority girls and the uptight father of a murdered student, added to the humor.
Black Christmas unfolds at a slow pace, which is a perfect fit for the movie's previously mentioned subtlety and realism. The story here works well when viewed alone, on a cold night in December, when you've grown tired of the glitter and joy of Christmas and want to experience something a little more "black".
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