"Black Christmas"/&/"My Bloody Valentine"Click on Select Pictures for Audio Clips.
(1974)
aka "Silent Night, Evil Night" or "Stranger In The House"
Olivia Hussey, Margot Kidder, Andrea Martin, John Saxon,Keir Dullea & Marion Waldman
Directed by Bob Clark
It seems that there has been a horror movie made for every holiday except as far as i know: Easter and Chanukah.
Before "Halloween" and "Friday the 13th" there was Black Christmas leading the list of horror at it's best. Bob Clark known for his hit films "Porkys" and "A Christmas Story" had directed this little Canadian horror before such a film as "Silent Night, Deadly Night" ever came around to stir up controversy. "Black Christmas" had hit theater goers with some holiday fright with a much more interesting plot then all those killer Santa movies.
This low budget horror/thriller opens to the music of "Silent Night" with the camera panning up close to a warm cheerfully decorated sorority house.
The girls in this sorority house are having a little party the night before most of them leave home for Christmas break. As we learn right away there's a stranger lurking outside. Through the camera's lenses the viewer see's out through his eye's as he finds his way in this house and climbs up into the attic.
The phone rings and we are introduced to one of the girls played by Olivia Hussey who is best known as Juliet in "Romeo and Juliet". When she answers the telephone she screams out to the others "Hey quiet..It's him again...the moaner!" with that all the girls circle around the phone to try and listen in on the obscene call.
Hussey holds the phone out to the girls and an unspeakable horror of moaning and foul language utter out like a loud speaker...powerful phone!
This goes on for what seems like a very disturbing 5 minutes as the mysterious caller spits out different voice's. For a second i thought it was Mercedes McCambridge doing her infamous demonic ("The Exorcist") voice.
The tough foul mouth alcoholic of the group played by Margot Kidder takes over the phone attacking back to hear the final words "I'm Gonna Kill You".
After this chilling incident one of the girls goes upstairs to pack her suitcase. She suddenly hears the house mothers missing cat growling strangely from within her closet. As she enters slowly , we see through the strangers eyes again. A plastic dry cleaner bag is then wrapped around her head suffocating her to death. The mysterious killer then is seen closing the attic door keeping the dead girl seated on a rocking chair by a small window with a doll in her hands.
The film then moves on to the next day and the dead girls father waiting to meet his daughter, then following to the concern that she's missing.
While all the girls have already left the sorority home except for Jess (Hussey),Barb (Kidder) and Phyl (Martin) who stayed with Miss. Mac (Waldman). Who like Barb (Kidder) is also an alcoholic that keeps booze hidden in different places within the house including a toilet!
All become more concerned with the disappearance of the girl.
They report her missing to the police lead by Saxon, who's also investigating another missing girl.
The obscene calls continue to flood the sorority house but now they're more violent and stranger with ramped voice changes of one of the most disturbed psychotic killers to ever hit the screen.
There's a sub plot between Hussey and her boyfriend Dullea ("2001 Space Oddesey").. involving him as a possible suspect.
In the films conclusion the viewer is left with an unanswered question that had left me to wonder if maybe an alternative ending was made for this movie.
I first saw this on HBO in the 80's under it's title "Stranger in the House" matter of fact HBO was continuously playing this movie every November as i remember for a few years. Though now even though it's out dated it still has a sense of raw horror suspense that reminds you that they just don't make movies like this anymore. This movie is nowhere near the best in it's genre but was made before a lot of those movies with the same formula plot. Makes me wonder if the 80's Carol Kane thriller "When a Stranger Calls" didn't steal a little from this.
Originally released on what now is a long out of print Warner Home Video Vhs and more recent on Laserdisc. The film is hard to find...though you maybe able to find it for rental at your local video chain. Check it out.
2002 UPDATE: Black Christmas - Collector's Edition DVD Pre-Order Now! Being released December 3rd! 2002
This Brand new edition includes:
Some great new features including a
segment revisit of the original house where Black Christmas was
filmed with some of the original cast and crew. Also included are
commentary tracks with Bob Clark, John Saxon and Keir Dullea. 2001 UPDATE: There is a USA DVD(2001) Verson that had been released with the same box art and full frame version as the Canadian version. But it doesn't contain the 3 minute interview with John Saxon.
You can buy "Black Christmas" from Amazon.com Click Here! 2000 UPDATE: An independent Canadian company by the name of Critical Mass has released "Black Christmas" as a 25 th anniversary edition onto DVD and VHS on December of 2000.
The DVD is full frame as per directors request. It only contains the films original trailer and a 3 minute interview with John Saxon. This DVD and VHS is only available in Canada.
Starring: Paul Kelman, Lori Hallier,
Neil Affleck, Keith Knight, Alf Humphreys & Cynthia Dale
Directed by George Mihalka
Valentine's Day will never be the same again...
Once again another Holiday Horror hit the big screen in the early 80's. This one pays homage to Valentine's Day with a killer who was born in the depths of a coal mine. Carrying a pick axe in this cult classic, this cold blooded killer rips the hearts out of his victims and then delivers them in a nicely wrapped valentines candy box. Along with a message of warning with a deadly valentines poem this crazed lunatic turns the town of Valentine into a bloody massacre.
Audio Clip.
Audio Clip.
The year is 1960. A group of miners are down in the mine and a cave in takes place. The miners are all buried alive. All but one that is. Trapped alive and before disappearing this miner goes mad and warns the town of Valentine Bluff never to throw a Valentine's Day Party or revenge will be his.
Now, 20 years have passed and just when the town thought it was safe to once again have their annual valentines party. Our killer emerges to take a sweet revenge on a town about to begin their Valentine festivities.
After receiving a bloody heart wrapped in candy box, the town's sheriff calls off the annual Valentine's Day Party. Despite his warning the towns teenagers decide to have a party and wind up taking the party down into the mine. Good Choice.
"My Bloody Valentine" a low budget Canadian slasher rip off of Box Office hits such as "Friday the 13th" and "Halloween". More laughable then scary like most in the early 80's, "My Bloody Valentine" is a bad Killer B movie.
Ummm Heartdog! Audio Clip.
The murder scenes in this film look as they were altered by it's distributor Paramount Pictures, like in the "Friday The 13th" series...where the gore was toned down for it's R Rating. It's obvious that the death scenes in this flick where badly edited by Paramount.
Now a cult classic and one of my personal favorites I highly recommend you take this one home off that dusty shelf of your local video store. The screams are there as well as Bloody Hearts!(But Cut..no pun intended).
This film was available from Paramount Home Video for quite some time, but is now out of print, though i don't believe it should be that hard to find.
I seriously doubt Paramount will grace us with a new remastered and Uncut DVD or VHS anytime soon, one can only hope.
2002 UPDATE:
This past September Paramount Home Video had released "My Bloody Valentine" onto DVD.. Unfortunately this DVD contains the cut "R" Rated version as predicted. Also this DVD contains no extra features at all, not even the films original theatrical trailer. Paramount Home Video is the only major studio that seems to have this policy with releasing unrated films. If Paramount continues to release movies with this policy and maintain the rights to this film, don't ever expect to see the original uncut version.
In the meantime you can purchase the "R" rated version of
My Bloody Valentine here!
