Retail Price: $29.95

Reviewed by:                                                 

Ian Jane & Edwin Samuelson on November 19, 2002

In 1974 Bob Clark released Black Christmas upon an unsuspecting and unappreciative public. Over the years, the film has garnered a very strong cult following and is widely considered by many to be the inspiration for a lot of classic slasher movies, John Carpenter's Halloween (1978) in particular.

As Christmas break approaches, the sorority sisters are making their holiday plans and going about getting ready for merriment and gift giving. Then some strange creepy phone calls start coming in from an unknown caller, and when they don't stop, the girls start to become a little concerned.

Soon after, Clare goes missing. The police are called in but don't really seem to be too concerned with the issue, but once a young teenage girl shows up dead in the park one night, they have no choice but to turn up the heat and start taking these threats seriously. In order to trap the killer, they setup a wire tap on the girls' house, hoping to trace the callers number and track him down to put a stop to the killings.

A slick and very suspenseful low budget thriller,
Black Christmas may sound cliché to today's audiences as the themes have been exploited countless times, but rarely have they been used so successfully.

Bob Clark's direction is spot on in this film and he
uses his sets and the ominous shadows they create for maximum effect.

Black Christmas is also a great chance to see a now famous cast in their youth, as SCTV stalwart Andrea Martin plays one of the college girls, as does Olivia Hussey and Margot Kidder. John Saxon turns in a likewise excellent performance as Lt. Fuller, before we would hear of him for classics such as Cannibal Apocalypse, Nightmare on Elm St. and Dario Argento's 'Tenebrae.'

Often imitated but rarely duplicated, Black Christmas remains a testament to low budget horror movie making at it's best, and a prime example of how suspense can be created with mood, lighting and atmosphere far more successfully than it can with blood and guts.

The Dolby Digital 2.0 track is crisp and clean with little no background noise or hiss evident. Clarity is never an issue on this disc and everything comes through at the appropriate levels. Overall, it's a very satisfactory mix, though a 5.1 mix for this film would have been very, very welcome. 

There are a couple of original theatrical trailers and an alternative title sequence with a picture and poster gallery and a reversible cover with original artwork. (the same as the U.S. VHS release) I love it when companies give us the option to do this!.

Black Christmas Revisited is an all new documentary including current interviews with the cast and crew that runs approximately 30 minutes in length. While some of it repeats what is already in the commentary, it's also worth watching and it's great to see everyone remembering the film like they do. Among the most candid insights is that Gilda Radner was set to play the Andrea Martin part, but bowed out due to her getting a gig on SNL! Also, most entertaining is the silly interaction between stars Lynne Griffin and Art Hindle showing us the original house where the movie was shot; they really ham it up! The documentary looks and sounds a bit amateurish, as it's shot on DV, but it's endearingly so.

There is also an episode of "Dark Dreamers" included which is an unaired Canadian television series. This episode, never before broadcast, is basically a 20 minute interview with Saxon.

Two more interviews around out the disc, an uncut interview with John Saxon; (part of which appeared on the previous release) and an unabridged interview with Bob Clark. Some of his comments are in the featurette, but you get the hear his complete thoughts on the making of the film. Most interesting is his meeting with John Carpenter, which might have given him some ideas for Halloween; and finally, most heartbreaking, his meeting with Edmond O'Brien for the role of Lt. Fuller.