![]() In Alice Sweet Alice it's the timelessness of school uniforms and grand old buildings, the landlord who listens to 1920s music on a gramophone and his antique furniture, and the portrayal of mid-century Roman Catholicism (directly before or after the second Vatican council.a lot of people don't know that Alice Sweet Alice is actually set in the early-to-mid 1960s though it was made in the 70s).īeen watching it every Christmas Eve for more than a decade. In Black Christmas it's the toys in the attic, Billy's obsessive memories of his childhood crime and his parents discovering it, the gaudy 1950s clothes of the house mother, the black and white photos of sorority girls from the 1920s, etc. There's a haunting presence of the past throughout both films. They're both very haunting and are spiritual in a non-religious way, if that makes sense (it makes sense to me). They're the most inadvertently spiritual movies about murder because I think both are supposed to be an indictment of organized religion, and no ghosts are involved. If I have to choose my favorite scream queen it's Margot Kidder all the way (though I acknowledge that Amityville doesn't come close to either Sisters nor Black Christmas).īlack Christmas wasn't on my 31 days of horror list because it can't be considered supernatural in any way, but it has the heavy dark but strangely comforting atmosphere I associate with 1970s supernatural films all the same. I think that's why they sub-divided Millennials into "core Millennials" and X-ennials because it just wasn't sufficient as it stood (I am an X-ennial). I think it's one of the most legitimately scary movies ever made, but I'm not sure how well it translates to very young people (say, born after 2000 or even born after 1995) who have no weird memories of houses that were never cleaned out or torn down that passed from owner to owner sometimes with the same furniture or decor inside, or the fears and ideas of a different century I suppose. It's an extremely well made film and I actually care about the characters. It still makes me feel icky when I watch it, and it frightened me the first time. Bob Clark also directed Porky's (1981), Porky's II (1983), and Baby Geniuses (1999). I also find it incredibly fascinating that this director, Bob Clark, also gave us another iconic Christmas movie: A Christmas Story (1983). ![]() I think most of the slasher tropes that we see today really sprung from this film. Black Christmas is far more effective and it's genuinely creepy and extremely discomforting at times. Halloween (1978) is often credited as the start of the slasher craze, but I think Black Christmas (1974) was where it really began. The Scream franchise has everything to owe to this film. This is the birth of the red herring killer. Not to mention Keir Dullea of 2001 infamy. John Saxon is perfectly creepy in what should be a comforting role. ![]() Even the deaths of more minor characters are extremely brutal because the characters are actually likable. Margot Kidder and Olivia Hussey are fucking iconic in this film I dare you not to fall in love with either of those characters. ![]() The acting talent in this film is fucking off the charts.
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