Jeez, Santa, What'd I Ever Do to You?

RV!: Black Christmas (1974) Dir: Bob Clark Date Released: December 20, 1974 Date Seen: November 16, 2012 Rating: 4/5

First time I saw this, I felt like I was missing something. Now, I got it. For the L Magazine!

344) Deathdream (1974)

344) Deathdream (1974) Dir: Bob Clark Date Released: August 1974 Date Seen: October 23, 2010 Rating: 3/5

I prefer Black Christmas only by a scooch because, well, how to put this? Bob Clark wasn't the most polished filmmaker ever either. At least he was able to sustain a mood throughout Black Christmas; here, he's got some great ideas and some really creepy images. He just didn't know what to do with already rather limited resources at his disposal. Still, I really like it in bits and spurts, especially the sound of the creaking rocking chair and the very last scene. 

444) Black Christmas (1974)

444) Black Christmas (1974) Dir: Bob Clark Date Released: December 1974 Date Seen: December 12, 2009 Rating: 3.25/5

ZOMG SPOILERS

As rote as its kind of inconclusive ending would later become in the American slasher genre, Black Christmas's lack of a resolution is its most memorable attribute. It forces the viewer to rationalize what they just saw in a vain attempt to discern good/bad guys, achieving a level of ambiguity that Wes Craven has been striving for for most of his filmography (A Nightmare on Elm Street is his most overt acknowledgment of Black Christmas' influence, featuring John Saxon as a local sheriff who in fact is the film's real villain). In that sense, screenwriter Roy Moore's script handily baits the audience and confronts them with the knowledge that they're not as smart as they think: based on the information we're provided, we can figure out that the film's red herring suspect is not the killer but after that, not a heckuva lot. The harassing phone calls give nothing away and neither does Saxon's fruitless search for clues, which all lead to the red herring anyway. Not sure if Bob Clark's formal control is making me like this more than the film's petulant payoff deserves but it is a good prank.