Banana A Day - Black Christmas

My interest in holiday themed horror films has recently been ignited after the announcement that Eli Roth will be doing a feature film version of his Grindhouse trailer Thanksgiving. Black Christmas was the first one that came to mind, but the one I wanted to see the least. I have never been a fan of director Bob Clark or actor Margot Kidder,so I did not have high hopes for this. Surprisingly I enjoyed this a lot, and neither Clark or Kidder bothered me. It is interesting that at the time of release in 1974 this was called by some critics a kill for kicks film that exploited unnecessary violence. As the film was one of the original slasher films that may have been valid, but comparing it to even Friday the 13Th it seems tame. The movie spends most of the time building suspense and making the audience second guess things. Through first person camera shots we get to see where the killer is and what he is doing. I was surprised at the end, and this allows for the film to rise above the rest of the slasher genre.