Black Christmas

If this picture doesn't make your skin crawl, it's on too tight
If this picture doesn't make your skin crawl, it's on too tight

BLACK CHRISTMAS (aka SILENT NIGHT, EVIL NIGHT) (18)

D: Bob Clark
Warner Bros/Ambassador (Bob Clark)
Canada 🇨🇦 1974
97 mins
 
Horror
 
W: Roy Moore
DP: Reginald Morris
Ed: Stan Cole
Mus: Carl Zittrer
 
Olivia Hussey (Jess Bradford), Keir Dullea (Peter Smythe), Margot Kidder (Barbara Coard), Andrea Martin (Phyllis Carlson), John Saxon (Lt. Kenneth Fuller), Marian Waldman (Mrs. MacHenry)
 
Pre-dating John Carpenter's Halloween by four years, this has virtually the same story. A grizzly story about a creepy serial killer, making obscene phone calls to the girls in a sorority house before offing them one-by-one in a killing spree.
It may not be as iconic as John Carpenter's film and lacks the eerie music score, but it's not a bad watch for fans of the genre. 
An inferior remake came out in 2006.
6/10

Olivia Hussey in Black Christmas
Olivia Hussey in Black Christmas
Did You Know:
Minimal vulgarity from the threatening phone calls were initially scripted, director Bob Clark read out rather tame dialogue for the actors to react to. However stronger coarse language was later recorded in post-production for a stronger reaction.