For many years I thought I had seen it all when it came to classic horror movies, and therefore was often feeling a bit depressed because nothing new was ever coming out.  Then one day I saw a preview for a movie titled Black Christmas and wondered if this was something new

to good use and don’t just rely on what I see on the video store shelf), one which for some reason isn’t recognized by the mainstream movie world as a great horror film like Halloween or Friday the 13th.  Note: I’m not saying it isn’t a great horror film (I actually think it is one of the best I have ever seen), just that no one outside of the horror world really knows about it.  Everyone, even if they aren’t fans of horror movies, knows about Halloween, Friday the 13th, A Nightmare on Elm Street and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (just to name a few), but Black Christmas, well, even horror fans seem to frequently miss this one.  Needless to say I really wanted to watch it, but, unfortunately, never was able to find it, and had no idea about the DVD by mail systems that were being set up (my wife was waiting for a transplant at the time so I was missing out on many things like this while living from hospital room to hospital room for nearly two years, both in Chicago and St. Louis).  Then it happened, a moment that has completely changed my horror movie viewing capabilities; I was at my parent’s house, visiting my Mother when I saw a little envelope from Blockbuster, one that contained a DVD, and asked what it was.  She explained to me how she now rented movies through the Internet from Blockbuster.com because many of the movies she wanted to see weren’t available at the brick and mortar Blockbuster down the street, and how for a fixed monthly fee she could take out three DVDs at a time with no late fees and simply mail them back for a new one, something which I signed up for right away and started putting to good use.

One of the first movies I checked off on my list was Black Christmas, but unfortunately it had a long wait attached to it, so I filled up my checklist with many other movies (about a hundred or so, some good, most bad), my fingers pretty much checking off everything I saw in the horror section.  Then, a few weeks ago, I remembered Black Christmas and decided to move it to the first spot on my list even though it still had a wait attached to it just so I at least had a chance to see it during the holidays -- hopefully with my brother who would be back in town after spending nearly two years in Iraq.  

Truthfully, I didn’t think we would get to see it, because I figured it would be booked all the way through the holiday season, but then earlier this week I got an email saying it had been shipped and sure enough it was in the mailbox the very next day.  Even better, my brother had arrived in town the day before, so we were able to watch it together.  Unfortunately there had been a mix-up, and even though the DVD sleeve said Black Christmas 1974, the disk was the remake, which, I have to say, was one of the worst horror movies ever (I’d gladly watch Rob Zombie’s Halloween a hundred times before popping the new Black Christmas back into the DVD player).  Thankfully the mistake was corrected and yesterday I received the 1974 version, which, again, my brother and I sat down to watch.

From the start we knew this was going to be good.  In fact, I was upstairs in the kitchen making popcorn when he shouted up to me that the movie already looked really good just from the scene depicted in the menu.  Popcorn popping, I headed down to see what he meant, and sure enough there was a creepy little picture of a brightly lit house surrounded by a winter wonderland, the image grainy in the way most movies from the 70’s and 80’s were, something which we have come to love from old horror movies and see as a sign of great frights ahead.  

Now, having seen the remake first, we kind of expected the movie to take the same route showing the insane asylum (one that hands out hard objects like candy canes that can be sucked to a lethal point - yeah, right) that Billy escapes from, but that isn’t how this movie goes and frankly, we were glad because Billy is much more frightening when you know nothing about him.  We also liked how the girls in the sorority house seemed real rather than stereotypical sorority girls, and how the police actually tried to help rather than giving a BS answer about being too backed up and cut off from the snow.  Also, the kills seemed much more realistic and therefore more frightening, as did the lunatic shouting through the phone.  Finally, without revealing too much, the ending was much better, one which I could respect and didn’t seem like an extra fifteen minutes slapped onto the film just to lengthen the feature.    

All this said, I am amazed that this movie is still so unknown.  Anyone have any thoughts on why this is?  Could it be a lack of sequels (or once again am I totally unaware of them)?  Speaking of sequels, I’ve read some statements that say Halloween was originally supposed to be this movies sequel?  Anyone else ever hear that?  I never had, and really am not sure if it is something I believe, but thought I would share it anyway.  

or a remake of a movie I had never heard of before, and quickly googled it.    Sure enough I had missed a classic (actually many now that I’ve put the Internet