Black Christmas (1974)

It's a few days before Christmas and a sorority house is plagued by obscene phone calls. But it soon descends into terror when a madman goes on a killing spree. Directed by Bob Clark (MURDER BY DECREE), this is one of the earliest examples of the "slasher" film coming some four years before John Carpenter's HALLOWEEN (1978) and clearly an influence on WHEN A STRANGER CALLS. It's an efficient little horror movie whose premise of setting up a horror movie set during the Christmas season now seems somewhat inspired. Others have followed in its wake but none of them are as good. The film cleverly leads us to believe we know who the killer is but it's just a red herring and the ambiguous ending is a bit of tease. The film's initial reviews were decidedly mixed but the film has gone on to become a cult classic (reputedly it's one of Steve Martin's all time favorite movies). The performances are decent and in two cases, better than that: Margot Kidder as a foul mouthed sorority sister and Marian Waldman as the drunken housemother. With Olivia Hussey, John Saxon, Andrea Martin and Art Hindle.