Sordid Cinema Podcast #564: Black Christmas Continues to Give Horror Thrills

Though director Bob Clark may be most remembered for helming the brilliantly sentimental holiday favorite A Christmas Story, his 1974 slasher classic Black Christmas is just as unforgettable, though for very different reasons. The story of a psychopathic murderer who terrorizes the residents of a sorority house just as everyone is about to leave for Christmas break might come to seem like merely a seedy premise for some cheap thrills, but excellent craftsmanship and standout performances result in one of the most unnerving home invasion films ever made. Where’s a Red Rider carbine action BB gun when you need one?

This week Rick and Patrick are joined by filmmaker Keir Siewert to break down exactly what makes this precursor to the slasher genre explosion so effective. Along the way we touch on the film’s creepy use of POV, discuss how the characters enhance the tension and go into how the film inspired John Carpenter to make his own seminal classic, Halloween. But how does that ending hold up? Is Olivia Hussey’s Jess a true ‘final girl’? Could changing one line of dialogue have made an already superb experience even better? For all this and more, have a listen!