Saturday Morning Cinema – Black Christmas

About a 5-minute read

Featured Image: Shutterstock 1822773179, Brian A Jackson

You may be reading this on a Saturday, but I apologize for the deceit in the title since the post did not arrive on a Saturday. I wanted to get this out before Christmas because the topic movie is, naturally, Christmas-related and within the “Saturday Morning Cinema” theme. My writing and posting schedule was thrown off by an undigested bit of beef or a crumb of cheese, so here we are. Merry Christmas to you. Happy holidays. I hope you are enjoying this time of year in whatever fashion suits who you are and what you believe.

Okay, here we go.

I love the traditional Christmas movie lineup, watching my share of classics like Home Alone, National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, and even Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. And, despite considering myself well-versed in movies, 2025 has been a year of discovery and catching films that I should have already seen. The list is long and offers at least one gem for Christmas viewing; 1974’s Black Christmas is one of the quintessential slasher films that happens to be set during the holiday season. Aside from some decoration and a key plot vehicle being sorority members leaving for the holiday break, there’s no connection to Christmas or its themes. Yet, with Christmas in the title, I’m placing Black Christmas in the alternative Christmas movie camp.

Black Christmas is credited for establishing many of the familiar slasher film tropes, and while I’ve not personally traced the lineage, there are a few that stand out.

Viewers go into the killer’s point-of-view to experience the stalking.
Victims are isolated at the time of their demise but often within earshot of assistance.
Victims’ bodies are left where they can be discovered but never are or not until it’s too late.
Authorities are generally inept or tardy in providing assistance.
Coincidence and poor timing provide the false belief that nothing is actually amiss.
Calls come from…somewhere very close by.

In some slasher flicks, these tropes create predictability or unintentional comedy. Black Christmas uses them to establish a tension and mystery that pulls you in for an entertaining watch. Further enhancing the experience, the characters and visual styling have the natural 70’s aesthetic, which is perfect for this type of film. Nothing feels more cinema than a slasher flick from the 70’s and 80’s.

While Black Christmas is a highly entertaining movie, I found some of the cast, and especially the director, most fascinating.

Margot Kidder, aka Lois Lane, is probably the most recognizable face, and while she plays a significant role, Kidder is just a supporting character that brings the raunchy personality required in every slasher flick.
The main character, the “Final Girl”, is Olivia Hussey. Now, that name did not initially mean anything to me, yet I sat there spinning trying to remember where I’d seen her previously. The second I pulled up Olivia’s IMDb page, her profile picture dropped all the pieces into place, and I remembered having my parents sign a consent form to watch Romeo and Juliet in seventh grade. Olivia was Juliet, and the consent form was required due to some, what is today, PG-13 nudity, though some of the information that’s come out regarding her treatment on the movie raises questions around whether any amount of nudity should have existed or was even necessary. Given her age at the time, the answer has to be “no”. I appreciated, however, how seeing Olivia in a movie years after Romeo & Juliet unlocked a string of random memories. I can’t remember things from last week, but I apparently locked away seeing Romeo & Juliet in seventh grade (almost 30 years ago) as a core memory.
One of my favorite Christmas movies is A Christmas Story, directed by Bob Clark. Black Christmas is a new movie to me and a dark story of serial murder, directed by Bob Clark. Yes, the Bob Clark who directed one of the most nostalgic and heartwarming Christmas movies of all time also directed one of the most influential slasher films of all time. If that does not qualify someone for “legend” status, I don’t know what it would take. When I found out Clark was the hand steering both these movies, I instantly gained more respect for the man and appreciate how he traversed genres. Now, why I find Clark’s direction of Black Christmas amusing is that I always felt there was something “off” about A Christmas Story, like the movie’s world is a bit deranged. It was something I attributed to the film being told from a child’s perspective. Now, however, I think Bob infused the film with some of the dark and seedy quirk that gave him a fascinating filmography.

I actually saw the 2019 Black Christmas before the original 1974 version. It was appropriately modernized and took a different approach to the antagonist. While not bad, the 2019 version did not provide the same experience as the original. As is the case for remakes and sequels, the film that comes first is often imitated but never duplicated. Black Christmas does nothing to make you think of the reason for the season, but it does lay the foundation for dozens of movies to be better and improve upon the slasher tropes that make Black Christmas a required watch to cleanse the palate of overly sweet holiday cinema. Don’t get me wrong, I like a good pure Christmas movie too, but Black Christmas hooked me with its combination of minimalistic campy scares and a satisfying “whodunnit” theme woven throughout. There is a visceral derangement to the killer that really makes you feel these girls are in trouble. It’s something that sticks with you even after the credits roll. I recommend watching Black Christmas at least once, maybe during Halloween season. Otherwise, make sure you watch White Christmas immediately after to balance the good and bad juju.