This dark holiday classic ranks as one of the screen's very first slasher flicks.
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05/26/06
Black Christmas (1974)
64
%
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Reviews Counted:22
Fresh:14
Rotten:8
Average Rating:5.9/10
Runtime: 1 hr 40 mins
Genre: Horror/Suspense
Synopsis: The few remaining residents of a Canadian sorority house are celebrating the onset of Christmas vacation when a thirteen year-old girl is found dead in the park. Soon, it is discovered that one of... [More]
Starring: Olivia Hussey, Keir Dullea, Margot Kidder, John Saxon
Director: Bob Clark
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Reviews for Black Christmas
It's guaranteed to put you in the 'ghoul-tide' spirit.
02/13/01
Like Carpenter, Clark avoids graphic gore, focussing instead on suggestion and using careful mise-en-scene, editing and use of music to build suspense.
12/12/03
Generally heralded as the first of its kind, Black Christmas may actually be one of a kind.
12/05/08
If nothing else, Black Christmas will always be remembered as the inferior older brother to Clark's other Christmas flick, the Tito of the Jackson clan.
12/01/03
Perhaps frightening in 1974, it really doesn't hold up today unless you can forget the 12,000 films exactly like it, which is difficult.
07/23/07
Cold, classy, and straightforward, Black Christmas also has the advantage of good acting by the female leads played by Margot Kidder and Olivia Hussey.
12/08/02
its progeny would improve quite a bit on the formula
11/24/02
...a sporadically effective slasher...
12/30/06
Corrodes jolly yuletide cheer with some cruel prank calls, sexual tension and sorority girl slayings.
02/16/06
Only Marian Waldman as the house-mother comes across with any life.
12/27/06
Top CriticAlthough strictly standard fare, the material is elevated somewhat through Clark's skillful handling of such plot devices as obscene phone calls from the killer to the girls via the upstairs phone and a nicely handled twist ending.
12/04/06
Top CriticA whodunit that begs the question of why it was made.
05/09/05
Top CriticThe film still manages a good slice of old-fashioned suspense.
06/24/06
Top CriticClick to read the article
02/28/02
Confused and confusing, but creepy
10/02/02
Clark consegue crier uma atmosfera incômoda a partir de um fiapo de roteiro, sendo auxiliado também pela performance contida da bela Hussey.
04/13/07
From the director of "A Christmas Story," but don't let that fool you!
07/25/02
No review available.
08/12/05
Latest News for Black Christmas
December 25, 2008:
Further Reading: Seasonal Slaying - The 12 Horrors of Christmas
Thanks to Charles Dickens and A Christmas Carol, the Yuletide season has long been associated with ghost stories -- often with hard-won uplift at the end, like Scrooge being... More...
April 04, 2007:
"Christmas Story" Director Bob Clark Dies In Crash
Bob Clark, director of "A Christmas Story," "Porky's," and many other works in a career that spanned four decades died in a car crash early this morning in... More...
December 28, 2006:
Critical Consensus: "Dreamgirls" Hits The High Notes; "Black Christmas" Gets A Lump Of Coal
This week at the movies, we've got the rise and fall of a girl group ("Dreamgirls," starring Jamie Foxx, Beyonce Knowles, and Eddie Murphy) and some yuletide splatter... More...
December 20, 2006:
RT's Top Holiday Thrillers -- Christmas Countdown, Day Three
Welcome to Day Three of RT's Five Days of Christmas Countdown, in which we serve up a different list each day of the best holiday flicks around. Today, we've got the... More...
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