Black Christmas
Often cited as the original slasher film , Black Christmashelped to create and specify the genre , while pay picayune esteem to the rule that its successor would stick by to . release in 1974,Black Christmasinitially received motley reviews and criticism for its wildness , which was consider as senseless and exploitative . It is now considered a religious cult classic and has been cited as an inspiration for other genre - defining films , such asJohn Carpenter’sHalloween .
Inspired by the urban legend of “ The Babysitter and The Man Upstairs,”Black Christmastells the fib of a group of sorority girls who begin receiving chevy earpiece calls . Although the call are initially send away as a harmless , if disturb buffoonery , Jess ( Olivia Hussey ) maturate concerned after one of her friends goes absent . Her fears step up after the soundbox of a thirteen - year - older girl is find in the park , and the phone telephone call develop increasingly vulgar and wild . Two more of her friends are murdered before Jess receives the horrifying news that the margin call are coming from inside the mansion .
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Threatening phone calls coming from inside the house are a conversant figure in horror , but what makesBlack Christmasstand out from stories of this ilk is how the photographic film predate upon the awe of the unknown . Black Christmasdoesn’t bring out the killer ’s indistinguishability , leaving his motive and history deliberately equivocal . Unlike the films that it would inspire , neither the audience nor the character ever learn the the true aboutwhois hunting down the girl , or why they ’re being targeted . Only a few contingent about him are let on over the course of the motion-picture show - the name “ Billy , ” glance of an eye peeking through a room access and deal grasping a hook , and several scarey point - of - view shot . Rather than smash the mystery , these pocket-sized moment add to it and heighten the film ’s overall unsettling tone . This approach , in turn , helpsBlack Christmasstand apart from other subsequent slasher flick while simultaneously place the fundament for what made the genre so successful .
Although factor ofBlackChristmasare leave behind on purpose vague , one thing the film does n’t shy away from is its portrayal of distaff characters and the misogynistic world they live in . Their concern regarding their miss friend are push aside until Lieutenant Fuller ( John Saxon , A Nightmare On Elm Street ) begin an investigation , and Jess ’ boyfriend becomes progressively unhinge after learn she plans to have an miscarriage . In maliciousness of the backlash and casual misogyny that Jess and her friend experience , the girl themselves never finger ashamed of their action , nor does the narrative condemn them for it . Jess is one of the first final girlfriend , and the frank depiction of her sexuality and bodily autonomy help to set her apart from her successor , many of whom were see as virtuous good young woman . It ’s common for slasher photographic film to penalise those who enter in activeness such as drunkenness and pre - marital sex , but not inBlack Christmas . By having a killer with unknown motives and a sexually fighting final girl , it manages to avoid the cliches that would dominate the genre in the class to come .
virtually fifty years after its release , Black Christmasremains an influential piece of revulsion cinema , pep up numerous films and breed two deficient remakes . It was able to establish several tropes and themes of the music genre , without being restrict by the conservative rules that later celluloid would follow , making it a timeless and essential horror film . In all its simplicity , it handle to be both empowering and bone - chillingly terrific , even several decennium after its release .
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