Hello everyone, Matthew here. How’s everyone’s 2022 been going so far? I hope that it’s been treating everyone well so far. I know the past two years has kinda kicked our asses. But let’s band together and maybe 2022 will be the beginning of something new and not just 2020: Part 3. Let’s kick the year off on a solid start with my thoughts on Black Christmas ‘74.
Black Christmas ‘74 was a film that when it was originally released to no fan fare. No grand applause. It was just a small blip. Looking back at it in 2022, it’s absolutely crazy to think that it was a quiet release. We are in a point now where Black Christmas ‘74 is hailed as one of the big highlights of the Christmas horror, if not the horror genre. It’s actually pretty cool seeing all of the love this film receives as it has found its audience.
My experience of Black Christmas is a bit interesting. When I was growing up, I now remember a time where I did get to see it. It was during a snow day weekend that my sister’s friend brought over a collection of horror VHS tapes. So we watched quite a few different movies. Some of the movies were absolutely fantastic. Some of the movies were probably rather trash. But for the most part, I believe that Black Christmas was one of them. However on that initial watch, I wasn’t sold on the film. I thought it was just slow. I thought that it wasn’t engaging. I honestly thought it was a bit overrated. So at that point, it was a film that kinda fell to the wayside.
Later on, I had seen that it was going to be on TV and recorded it. I had forgotten that previous experience and was very interested. Especially considering this was around the time that Black Christmas ‘06 was gearing up to be released. My Grandma had come over to my Dad’s house for a small Thanksgiving dinner. It was a small gathering that year – just the three of us. My Dad had asked if we wanted to watch a movie as he was looking through the movie channels. He stopped at Black Christmas ‘74. I had mentioned that I just recorded it, but hadn’t watched it yet. Grandma was interested cause she likes her horror movies – nothing too over the top though. Boy, Grandma was a bit taken back with the film she was going to watch.
Black Christmas ‘74 was something that I was completely unprepared for. I had finally found the right time to see it. It just happened to be the same time that my Grandma had seen it. Her thoughts on it were a bit what you’d expect. ‘The movie is terrible. How could you like something like this? Why do you like it? Oh my goodness, it’s a bit crass. It’s so rude. It’s taking so long.’. Honestly, I find that to be a great review. Let’s use it and call it a wrap, yeah?
Okay, just kidding. Black Christmas ‘74 was something special. It honestly is a fantastic precursor to what we would later get with John Carpenter’s Halloween. For me, Black Christmas ‘74 manages to capture that feeling pretty well. The story may feel a little long in that first watch. However the more time you spend with the film, the more you uncover about it. It’s honestly a very great paced film. It has the brilliant Christmas feels to it. For the most part, it’s a pretty serious film. But I found some of its small humor to it kinda makes it a little lighter. Especially when you have the great Margot Kidder reacting to the wonderful phone calls from Billy. Black Christmas ‘74 is also filled with some very tense moments. The whole last act of the film works so beautifully. For a bit, I wasn’t sold on the idea of Billy being the killer. I was absolutely sure that somehow Paul was tied into everything and would be responsible for the murders. However, we do know that Billy was a really person and his presence is felt throughout every moment. And the cast in this film are all great.
Overall, Black Christmas ‘74 is a fantastic film and shouldn’t be missed. And if you find the time, check out the fan-sequel – It’s Me Billy: A Black Christmas Fan Film.
Rating: 5 out of 5.
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