Black Christmas
Genre: Horror/Slasher
Director: Bob Clark
Run time: 98 minutes
Rating: R
Format: Blu-Ray

The Lowdown: Bob Clark had an amazing career, one that likely wasn’t appreciated until his untimely death in 2007.

No matter the genre, Clark had a finger on the pulse of America unlike many of his peers. He constantly took genres and transformed them, creating original visions out of premises that other directors could hardly match.

He did it with “Porkys,” a re-invention of the teen sex romp; “A Christmas Story,” a family holiday film that has become part of our collective consciousness; and, possibly most notably, “Black Christmas,” a gussied-up Grindhouse slasher that elevated beyond its B-movie trappings to inspire scores of future horror directors.

If this film didn’t get in the craw of John Carpenter, and lead him and Debra Hill to concoct Michael Myers, I will eat my notebook.

“Black Christmas” is a taunt, tight thriller that largely takes place in a sorority house in the days leading up to Christmas Eve.

It features a slew of familiar faces – John Saxon, Keir Dullea, Olivia Hussey, Margot Kidder – who bring their youthful energy to this twisted tale of a faceless, almost nameless killer terrorizing co-eds with terrifying phone calls and random blunt objects found inside their sorority house.

I had never seen the original, but suffered through the woeful 2006 remake that tried to replace genuine creepiness with over-the-top gore.

Yes, it has its flaws. The depiction of a lacksidasical small-town police department is hardly believable.

But it nails the final act, ramping up the tension with a genuinely unsettling cat-and-mouse game as the cops try to trace the source of the obscene calls. And it offers a satisfyingly bleak ending, one that doesn’t rely on cheap jump scares or the obligatory “gotcha!” that so many movies today try to thrust on viewers.

With one long tracking shot, from bedroom to attic trapdoor, Clark gets under your skin, forcing you to question the outcome that seemed so plausible a few moments before.

The Stuff You Care About:
Hot chicks – Margot Kidder as the boozy bigmouth. Olivia Hussey as the not-so-innocent sorority girl with a secret.
Nudity – No.
Gore – Much like other classics from the 1970s, the emphasis was on tension, not blood, and it worked just as well.
Drug use – Sorority girls didn’t party in 1974 like they do today.
Bad Guys/Killers – “Billy,” the little-seen psychopath who stalks the sorority house, is chilling in his anonymity.
Buy/Rent – This is a must-have purchase for fans of classic horror. The Blu-Ray transfer isn’t the best. The picture is pretty grainy at times. But Somerville House should be applauded for bringing this cult favorite to high-def.
Release Date – Nov. 11, 2008