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Best movie ever!

The acting in this movie is really good.

True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.

It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties. It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.

This 'slasher' offers little to no blood, with most of the violence happens off-screen. Come to think of it, this movie offers little to nothing. The score is almost non-existent, as there is hardly any music. The pacing can be equated to drying paint. Of note, you get to see a pre-Superman Margot Kidder and a John Saxon who was hot-off-the-heels of Enter the Dragon, plus a very attractive female protagonist. This one is a non-recommend.

Based on a series of Canadian murders and the urban legend of calls coming to a babysitter from within the house (also see When a Stranger Calls), Bob Clark and A. Roy Moore created what many feel is one of the precursors to the slasher film genre.Bedford is a small college town, complete with a sorority house filled with victims, err, characters. While they're celebrating at a holiday party, Jess (Olivia Hussey, who was told by her psychic to do this movie) gets a phone call from "The Moaner," a crank caller who has been bothering the other sisters: Barb (Margot Kidder, Sisters), Phyllis (Andrea Martin, SCTV) and Clare (Lynne Griffin, Strange Brew). Barb is a real firecracker, provoking the caller, who tells the girls that he will kill them all.Clare goes upstairs to pack and is suffocated by plastic wrap by an unseen killer and placed on a rocking chair in the attic.The next day, Clare's dad comes to take her back home for Christmas. The girls and their housemother, Mrs. MacHenry (Marian Waldman, Phobia), are surprised, as they thought she already went home. While all that is going on, Jess tells her boyfriend Peter (Keir Dullea, 2001: A Space Odyssey) that she is getting an abortion. He argues with her but can't change her mind.Meanwhile, the police get involved after learning that another girl, Janice, has gone missing. Jess also tells Chris (Arthur Hindle, Porky's), Clare's boyfriend, that something is up.While everyone else joins police lieutenant Fuller (John Saxon!) to search for the missing girls, Mrs. Mac is killed inside the house. Sadly, her life of hiding booze and yelling at everyone was cut short. As the girls return home, they find Jess' body and get another obscene call, which she reports to the police, who decide to bug the line so they can trace the calls. Then, Peter sneaks into the house for another argument.Black Christmas is unafraid of using holiday traditions to allow its killer to get away with murder. While carolers sing outside, Barb's screams go unheard as she is stabbed to death by a glass unicorn.Another phone call happens - one that quotes the argument Jess had with Peter. And while that's occurring, Phyl goes to check on Barb and is killed. Finally, Jess keeps the obscene caller on the line long enough for a trace, which reveals that the calls are coming from inside the house. She goes upstairs, armed with a fireplace poker, to get the rest of the girls, only to find their dead bodies. The killer chases her into the cellar and when Peter appears outside the window, she assumes that he is the killer and murders him with the poker.The police arrive to find Jess sitting with Peter's dead body. They're convinced that he is the killer, although they can't find Clare or Mrs. Mac's bodies. After she is sedated, the cops leave while one officer remains behind to wait for forensics. Then, we hear a voice whisper, "Anges, it's me, Billy." Jess' phone rings, which means her fate - and who the killer is - will remain a mystery.One of the most frightening parts of the film are the obscene phone calls, which were performed by Clark and actor Nick Mancuso (Under Siege), who stood on his head while recording to make his voice sound more insane. Mancuso would come back to record a "Billy Commentary" on the film, which is on the recent Scream Factory! release.Warner Brother studio executives hated the ending and demanding that Clark change the final scene to have Chris appear before Jess and say, "Agnes, don't tell them what we did" before murdering her. However, Clark stuck to his guns and kept the ending that he believed in. The studio further tinkered with the film, calling it Silent Night, Evil Night in its original release.When NBC aired the film as Stranger in the House on the January 28, 1978 edition of Saturday Night at the Movies, it gave stations the option of airing Doc Savage, as the Ted Bundy murders had just occurred two weeks earlier.There's an urban legend that this was Elvis' favorite horror movie. It definitely made an impression on Steve Martin, who told Olivia Hussey "Oh my God, Olivia, you were in one of my all-time favorite films" when she was being considered for Roxanne. She thought he meant Romeo and Juliet, but he told her that he meant Black Christmas, claiming that he had seen the film 27 times.There's another urban legend - how many can one film have - that says that Halloween was originally intended as a sequel to this movie.Clark would go on to direct Porky's and a film that failed at first before becoming a holiday tradition, 1983's A Christmas Story. Yep - he pretty much made both the happiest and darkest films about the Yuletide, which is pretty awesome.I love this movie. It's a true classic that's unafraid to go against conventions even as it creates them. Nearly every actor and actress in this movie went on to do more and play their roles perfectly here.

The movie was good, the only coons was that we don't get to know the characters much because most of them die off so fast. We also don't get to know who the actual murderer is. I just wish they would have worked on a better ending instead of leaving us wondering. Other than that, the movie was watchable, especially during Christmas.

Catching the fizzy Pop-Rock (sort of) Slasher Happy Death Day,I decided that I would stay in the sub-genre,and watch a Slasher flick the next day at home. Planning for it to be The Burning,I got caught completely by surprise,when a very kind IMDber sent me a parcel. Despite seeing A Christmas Story every year since childhood,I've never seen Bob Clark's "Horror" take on the holiday,which led to me finding out how black this X-Mas could be."The plot:At a sorority house Christmas party, a stranger sneaks in and climbs into the empty attic. During their partying,Jess gets a call from a stranger. Allowing fellow students Barb Coard/Phyllis "Phyl" Carlson and Clare Harrison to listen in,Jess is told by the caller that he is going to kill them all. Whilst they debate if the threat is serious,Harrison goes to pack her bags for the holidays. Hearing a noise as she walks upstairs,Harrison finds out how serious this cold Christmas call is.View on the film:Becoming Elvis's favourite horror,the level of care (un- credited) co-writer/(with Roy Moore) director Bob Clark & cinematographer Reginald H. Morris put in,allow this to remain The King of the Slasher genre. Opening in the middle of a holiday party,the screenplay by Clark and Moore impressively alters the image of the pretty young gang with impressive layers of maturity,as Jess goes to the cops to unmask the identity of the caller,and the initial sweet romance image is changed to a frank,adult discussion on abortion (with the writers breaking a big taboo at the time by letting Jess have a free-choice.) Along with the tough personal dramas they each face,the writers unwrap winning Slasher cuts,via each call building anticipation to the next appearance of the stranger, an eerie passage of time between the incredibly macabre killings,that give the final an unpredictable,nail-biting chill.Wisely keeping the identity of the killer vague, (three people dubbed the "voice") Clark and Reginald H. Morris build on the stylisation of the Giallo, via smoothly handled,extended first- person tracking shots that slither in the background of the house,and an ending (which Clark had to fight for) which covers the winters tale in a haunted,ghostly atmosphere,of the mystery being unfinished. Backed by the spine-tingling score of Carl Zitter (who got the sound by playing the strings of his piano with forks, combs, and knives!) Clark melts the snow away with a jet-black comedic strike,as the pile of bodies look out on the Christmas scenery.Only working for the first week of production, (with clever editing making him appear more prominent) Keir Dullea hits icy notes of doubt as Jess's boyfriend Peter,and Margot Kidder pours merry cheer as Jess's close friend Babs. Advised by a psychic to take the role (!) the elegant Olivia Hussey gives an excellent performance as Jess,thanks to Hussey bringing across Jess's thoughtful, rational solutions to closing the book on this bloody Christmas carol.