Black Christmas

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4:04

Poster for

Black Christmas

R

1974

1h 38m

Holiday

Horror

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

73%

Tomatometer

62 Reviews

76%

Popcornmeter

10,000+ Ratings

As winter break begins, a group of sorority sisters, including Jess (Olivia Hussey) and the often inebriated Barb (Margot Kidder), begin to receive anonymous, lascivious phone calls. Initially, Barb eggs the caller on, but stops when he responds threateningly. Soon, Barb's friend Clare (Lynne Griffin) goes missing from the sorority house, and a local adolescent girl is murdered, leading the girls to suspect a serial killer is on the loose. But no one realizes just how near the culprit is.

Critics Consensus

The rare slasher with enough intelligence to wind up the tension between bloody outbursts, Black Christmas offers fiendishly enjoyable holiday viewing for genre fans.

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Martin Knelman

Globe and Mail

5d

It's amazing how many familiar performers have been talked into risking their reputations by playing this material as if they believed it.

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Almar Haflidason

BBC.com

5d

3/5

Made in 1974, this effective Canadian stalk'n'slash movie mixes dark humour with sinister tension.

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Mark Dinning

Empire Magazine

6d

3/5

Fascinating as opposed to wholly enjoyable, Bob Clark's Canadian sorority house slasher is largely gore-free, but bolsters the anaemia with a genuinely disturbing tone that draws on the creepy Old Dark House thrillers of old.

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Ed Hayman

Flint Journal

5d

"Black Christmas" is begun expertly... but finally deflated by a clumsy finale that betrays its gore-gore-gore's-sale comic-book mentality.

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Noel Taylor

Ottawa Citizen

5d

Black Christmas is a film of routine horror and no great surprises.

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Jon Abrams

Daily Grindhouse

5d

The ensemble is perfectly cast.

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Jorge H

@jorge02 Mar 26

The Step Father of the Slasher films 10/10

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bret A

@RT57082650 Mar 12

love margot kidder and john saxon

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Doctor who fan 1

@Autons1970. Feb 27

A Horror Classic that need to be seen by more people as it is underrated.

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Anna B

@Aaiko Feb 8

É um daqueles raros filmes de terror que envelhecem com dignidade — e até com certo frescor. Não por se manter atual, mas justamente por nunca ter dependido das modas que viriam a dominar o gênero. A ambientação natalina funciona como um contraste cruel e inteligentíssimo: luzes coloridas e canções festivas convivem com a sensação constante de uma presença invisível que nunca abandona a narrativa. O horror não irrompe — ele se infiltra. Está sempre ali, à espreita, transformando o cotidiano em algo ameaçador. O filme compreende que o verdadeiro terror nasce da vulnerabilidade emocional, e não apenas do perigo físico — um gesto radical para o cinema de horror de sua época. E então há o desfecho: seco, cruel, deliberadamente ambíguo. Um verdadeiro golpe de mestre, que se recusa a oferecer conforto, catarse ou fechamento moral, prolongando o mal-estar para além da última imagem. O filme entende algo essencial: o medo mais duradouro é aquele que nunca se revela por completo.

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Carlos I

@carlosFibarra Jan 5

Bob Clark’s 1974 masterpiece Black Christmas is a masterclass in atmospheric dread, utilizing chilling POV shots and a truly unsettling soundscape to redefine the genre. This stood as my favorite movie for a time, so to say this is the granddaddy and my favorite of Christmas horror films is an understatement; it effectively laid the blueprint for the slasher movement while maintaining a level of sophisticated tension that many of its successors lacked. By blending a bleak, wintry aesthetic with a genuinely terrifying mystery, it remains the definitive holiday nightmare that proves some gifts are better left unopened.

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dyana T

@dydy127 Dec 25

okay movie, policeman reminded me of Zac Efron ngl

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Bob Clark

Director

Olivia Hussey

Jessica Bradford

Margot Kidder

Barbie Coard

Keir Dullea

Peter Smythe

John Saxon

Lt. Ken Fuller

Marian Waldman

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Black Christmas: Trailer 1

4:04

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Synopsis

As winter break begins, a group of sorority sisters, including Jess (Olivia Hussey) and the often inebriated Barb (Margot Kidder), begin to receive anonymous, lascivious phone calls. Initially, Barb eggs the caller on, but stops when he responds threateningly. Soon, Barb's friend Clare (Lynne Griffin) goes missing from the sorority house, and a local adolescent girl is murdered, leading the girls to suspect a serial killer is on the loose. But no one realizes just how near the culprit is.

Director: Bob Clark
Producer: Bob Clark
Screenwriter: Roy Moore
Distributor: Eclectic DVD Distribution, Warner Home Vídeo, Warner Bros.
Production Co: Film Funding Ltd. of Canada, Famous Players, August Films, Vision IV, Canadian Film Development Corporation (CFDC)
Rating: R
Genre: Holiday, Horror
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Dec 20, 1974, Wide
Release Date (Streaming): Dec 13, 2016
Runtime: 1h 38m
Sound Mix: Mono
Aspect Ratio: Flat (1.85:1)