Talk:Black Christmas (1974 film)

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Is there any background for the mention that Carpenter supposadly got the plot from Halloween from a theorized Black Christmas sequel? If not, I'm thinking it's purely conjectural. 68.41.137.144, 05:58, 25 March 2006

I just added this information into the article. It is stated in a feature on the making of Black Christmas that was broadcast on the Space Channel/CHUM series On Screen, and this is stated by Bob Clark himself. I just watched it about 20 minutes ago. 23skidoo 07:41, 28 May 2006 (UTC)

I doubt the actuality of Bob Clark's claims. Although I love Black Christmas, and I think Bob Clark could've thought of the idea of Billy wreaking havoc on Halloween (in a case of parallel thinking), I don't believe this would have anything to do with John Carpenter. It's always been maintained that it was Irwin Yablans's idea to put their film on halloween and call it Halloween. Perhaps, however, John Carpenter had been influenced by this film as evidenced by some of the qualities of Halloween (POV shot, breathing, ending, etc). The sad thing is Black Christmas as a cult film maintains it's status as predating Halloween by 4 years (as evidenced by the back of the new DVD case). I do wish it could gain a bit more of a reputation. The problem is, the dialogue is quite crude compared to the more innuendo/euphamism oriented dialogue of Halloween (I think one utterance of the word 'cunt' would turn the MPAA off). The remake didn't help; I read the long synopsis of the film, and the film seems to be exponentially exploitative compared to the original film. I missed out on it completely; it didn't really seem to stay in theaters where I live (pretty odd considering I live in NYC). Hope that clears anything up (even though it's mostly what I believe), and don't mind my rambling.

[edit] Is Black Christmas the one that ends with a continually ringing phone?

Every synopsis of Black Christmas I've read sounds so similar to a movie I saw on cable c. 1980 that I'm guessing it has to be the same movie. Still, I'm curious, and would like to know for sure. In the movie I recall, members of a sorority disappear one by one just before the start of Christmas break. I think I recall that no one gets worried about the first couple of disappearances because it's assumed that the girls have already left to go home for the break. In addition to the murders, the house is receiving obscene phone calls. Once the police realize there are murders happening, they figure out that the killer makes an obscene phone call right after every murder. The only apparent suspect is a guy who, as I recall, might have been the boyfriend of one of the sorority sisters, but who I think was more like just a friend to all the girls without dating any of them. This guy is a little odd, which makes him seem creepy once you realize there is a serial killer on the loose. The film moves the audience back and forth between thinking this guy is the killer and thinking he's too obvious a suspect, and therefore is most likely not the killer. After the next-to-last girl is killed, and the killer makes his post-murder phone call, the police frantically call the one girl left and tell her to get out because the call came from inside the house. As she's running toward the door she encounters the odd, creepy guy, who runs after her when she runs away from him, leading you to believe that he is in fact the killer. The police arrive, and arrest him. The one last girl is still alive. There's either a doctor or nurse who puts her under sedation because she's so distraught over what has happened, then leaves her sleeping alone in the house. At this point you find out that the real killer has not been caught after all, as a killer's-eye view reveals him approaching the sleeping girl. The movie ends with a view of the front of the house, while from inside, the phone can be heard ringing--presumably it's the killer making his post-murder obscene call. Now that the last girl has been killed, the phone keeps ringing and ringing, and you neve have any idea who the killer actually is. Is this Black Christmas, Stranger in the House, etc.?

Yeah that's it. Thanks you refreshed my memory too. I wanna see it 02:18, 5 December 2006 (UTC)