Comments on: BLACK CHRISTMAS (1974), AYIF Review.

By: William Goss

William Goss — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 05:25:12 +0000

Well, the second one, I made sure to be affirmative, lest I only came across like a typo-jockey a-hole.

(Which has happened before.)

(And could happen again.)

By: Brian Salisbury

Brian Salisbury — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 18:20:07 +0000

Also, my mistake was enough to warrant not one but TWO comments from the William Goss!!! Thanks for keeping me sharp Goss.

By: Brian Salisbury

Brian Salisbury — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 17:48:47 +0000

Goss is correct. That’s embarrassing guys, truly sorry. I had thought it was Canadian. But then the Internet source I checked incorrectly listed it as American. Lesson learned: have multiple sources because the Internet can actually mislead you…..shocking!

Peter,
Can we change that to North American slasher? Thanks

By: adam charles

adam charles — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 16:58:11 +0000

PSYCHO and PEEPING TOM I would categorize more as psychological thrillers. Both focus as much on the killer’s personality disorder as much as they do the suspense of the kill. PEEPING TOM may be more a character study, like A CLOCKWORK ORANGE.

BLACK CHRISTMAS and HALLOWEEN are more traceable as the beginning of what we’d consider the modern-day slasher film. The killers are either motivated by revenge, or are just insane killers with no real explanation for their actions other than they just want to kill.

I also haven’t seen enough giallos to judge their legitimacy as slashers, at least not enough pre-1974 see if they can stake the claim of being the “first.” Argento had, I think, 3 or 4 films before ’74 that may qualify, and Bava had a shit-ton of stuff throughout the 50s and 60s.

Regardless, it doesn’t matter if it’s the first. It’s one of the best (I’d say top 3) of its kind that I’ve seen, and the fact that it appears to be ahead of its time is just icing on the cake and makes the achievements more impressive.

By: William Goss

William Goss — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 15:58:34 +0000

Then why’d I even bother bringing a passport?!

By: Peter Hall

Peter Hall — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 15:49:27 +0000

Silly, Will, when it’s convenient, Canada is America. When it isn’t, Canada is a slovenly country of lumberjacks where it takes 45 months to schedule a physical with your doctor/butcher.

By: William Goss

William Goss — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 15:36:00 +0000

But yeah, having only seen it for myself within the past two years, BC ’74 holds up surprisingly well.

By: William Goss

William Goss — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 15:35:14 +0000

“So bearing that in mind, I will credit BLACK CHRISTMAS as being, if not the first, one of the very first American slasher films.”

Except for it being Canadian and all…

(Maybe “one of the very first North American slasher films”?)