8 reasons why Black Christmas is the most terrifying movie ever made.

 8 reasons why Black Christmas is the most terrifying movie ever made.

It's officially December, which means a line up of holiday/winter themed movies are on the serving platter. Just recently the original Bob Clark's 1970's horror classic Black Christmas has been getting the attention it truly deserves. With a brand new blu-ray release, a beautiful release from Waxwork records, and several stunning new prints, this year we're celebrating Christmas in style! Here is a list on how in my eyes, this film is one of the scariest ever made.

8) It's soundtrack.

- I actually had to admit, I laughed when I found out Waxwork Records was releasing this film's soundtrack. Now don't get me wrong, the records and cover artwork is beyond beautiful, but as far as I remember there's little to no music in this film. Instead very loud piano cues. Still, very creepy. In fact funniest story had to be when me and my friend Jeanette were driving back famous composer Christopher Young from the airport, when he asked what did she think was the scariest movie ever? Her response was this film, and what made it so scary was the fact there's barley any music in it. Dead.

7) The gritty 1970's feel.

- 70's movies all ready have a creepy feel to them. They are gritty, scratched, damaged, and feel all the more real and intense, almost like you're watching a documentary. This was the perfect decade for this movie to be made in. Between the frightening fashion (that sweater with the giant hands on the front) and how cheerful yet unsettling all of the sets are captures the perfect mood of this movie. 

6) The house.

- There are certain houses that really strike my eye in the world of horror. This giant house in Canada, is one of those very houses. First off, it's massive, like a giant mansion. Turned into a sorority house, the wood work, large windows, giant staircase, and attic are the perfect places for the killer to lurk around in. The P.O.V shots are the worst. You seriously couldn't pay me to spent one night alone in that massive house. No thanks!

5) The phone calls.

- What really killed the cheesy 2006/7 remake for me was the phone calls. Now I understand that movie was PG-13, but what made the whole film so unsettling and scary was the phone calls the sorority sisters recieve. This is from an unseen killer called Billy, who pretty much admits his entire fucked up backstory over the phone if you can understanding his crazy rambling. What makes these phone calls worse is the fact the killer uses several different voices during all of the phone calls, each taking place after each murder. You'll seriously get goosebumps when you hear "It's me…Billy."

4) The unseen killer.

- To go along with the above post, the reason why Black Christmas is so scary is the fact you never truly see the killer. The film opens with a P.O.V of him breaking into the house by climbing up the side during a Christmas party and getting in by an open attic window where he hides out during most of the movie. You watch as he creeps down, lurking from room to room stalking the girls. The worst is Claire's closet death with the plastic bag, or the fact he keeps the corpses in the freezing attic with him. My favorite death of course is Barb's with the crystal unicorn, and how you just see the outline of his shadow with his crazy eyes staring down. The most famous shot in the movie is of course his eye glaring down at the character of Jess between the door. This movie tries to pin the murders on the crazed boyfriend, and you seriously believe the entire time it's him since they look nearly alike. There have been major theories with who exactly this killer was. Some say an escaped mental patient, or a homeless person, others believe it was a man who once lived in this very house years ago who was insane. If you listen to the phone calls you'll basically hear that he raped and killed his baby sister before getting caught. One of the scariest and subtle moments in the entire film is when two of the girls are in the living room with just the Christmas tree on talking when you see faintly in the background the shadow of the killer lurking around. It's times like this I have to honor the late Bob Clark on being able to make such a scary film. To think, years later he directed A Christmas Story. = Mind blown.

3) If it wasn't for this movie there wouldn't be a Halloween.

- John Carpenter has gone on record saying one of the main reasons he decided to write Halloween with Debra Hill was after watching Black Christmas and believing there could be a sequel made, with the killer coming back but this time on Halloween. The fact that if you really truly think about it, Halloween is sorta Black Christmas part 2. Whoa now!

2) The plot twist.

- If you haven't been living under a rock, you know the plot twist to this movie (SPOILER ALERT!) This twist came long before When A Stranger Calls, and several other films that have ripped this beyond awesome twist off. The suspense that leads up to finally when Jess receives the phone call from the police trying to calmly tell her to put the phone down and walk out of the house. When she says she'll run up and grab her friends, the police officer panics, and tells her that they finally traced the calls, that they are coming from inside the phone on the other line. This entire scene of Jess' terrified face looking up the dark stairwell before desperately screaming up to her friends that unknown to her have been murdered. Going upstairs to get them, she tries the bedroom door before nearly stumbling inside only to see them both bloody and dead on the mattress. Hearing the killer's voice, she looks up and sees the crazed eye staring down at her. These few moments following are the most insane I've ever seen in a film. Jess runs down the stairs and almost makes it to the door before the killer grabs her hair causing her to scream. Barley getting away she locks herself in the basement only to hear the killer charge against the door screaming at the top of his lungs. Complete perfection. 

1) The open ending.

- Even if I never think the police would have left a sedated girl behind at the actual crime scene is beyond me, I still love the long tracking shot as they leave a sleeping Jess in her room as the police and reporters hurry out after one of the girl's dad's collapses due to shock. The last shot is the camera zooming out from the house, showing the bodies still undiscovered in the attic and the killer very much alive before calling the house where we continue to hear it ring over and over and over again.