Black Christmas is top quality...

[Donuthole75]

Isn't it? I just saw that movie and it is really creepy with wonderful atmosphere. The killer is great, makes Michael Myers just look like a picked -on- dork- as- a -youth- turned- ugly- sonofabitch -that's- ashamed- of- his- zitty- face- and- that's- why- he -wears- a -mask- adult- dork. There should be more quality slashers like this.

[rhett]

Definitely a classic, the fact that no information is disclosed about the killer is ingenious and makes the film all the more frightning. The cast is extremely strong for a horror film too. I just hope the sequel doesn't mess with anything the original accomplished...

[Cujo108]

Black Christmas is my favorite slasher film, and is also one of my top 5 favorite films of all time. Halloween is great, but BC blows it away in my opinion! I can't get enough of this classic, and the phone calls are some of the freakiest things I've ever heard! This film is nothing short of a masterpiece!

[Egg_Shen]

OK, it's good. Infact it's damn good, and yes one of the best slashers of all time. Yet the fact remains that Bob Clark is no John Carpenter. I mean Clark did great work in BC but it just doesn't equal that of Carpenters. Also Carpenter delivered undoubtably one of the greatest scores for a horror movie ever. Then theres the Myers bashing. He's an excellent character and Carpenter's use of him as a force of evil is inspired. So I'm not posting to bad talk Black Christmas, it's a treasured part of my collection, but I'm hoping that someone else, besides myself, still regards Halloween as the better picture.

[Donuthole75]

Yeah, Carpenter is really great and his score to Halloween is great and inspired. I like a whole lot of his movies, but BC is alot more wild and unbridled IMO. No fake scares here at all! Gotta give kudos for that as well. The wacked out flat piano score is creepier than Carpenter's score but Carpenter's score is better technically. John Saxon is awesome in this flick. I take the rental back Wedenesday and I've already seen it 3 times just taking it all in. I just ordered the DVD as well. I love it! Im lazy, so forgive my sentence structure ok?

[Egg_Shen]

I've got to agree with your comment on "fake scares", Halloween does have it's fair share of those. Still Carpenter's film has the best all around production. Dean Cundey's beautilul photography, great production design by Tommy Wallace, Donald Pleasence(nuff said), and again Carpenter's score. I can't say that Carpenter's score is a great technical achievement, actually it's VERY simple, yet the repative score tends to draw the viewer, almost unknowingly, deeper into the film. I also believe that Black Christmas is really only now being discovered. The film is of course an immense improvement over the Scream trilogy and it's numerous ripoffs hitting screens these past years so it is easily understood why it would be so graciously embraced. Then too there is the matter of it comming out a good many years before the slasher craze of the late 70's and 80's. I can see it's influence in films like When a Stranger Calls but in correlation to Halloween the only comparisons I can make is the slasher elements and of course the relation to the hollidays. These are just opinions of mine and I definetly do think Black Cristmas is a great find.

[Egg_Shen]

Oh yeah, concerning Saxon's performance, what about Donald Pleasence? Halloween films will never be the same:confused: .

[Donuthole75]

I meant the Halloween score was technically better than that harp or piano string strum they do throughout BC. That thing that dude was playing on the piano, now that was way technically better than Carpenter's score.

Speaking of BC performances, I also thought that fat lady did a great job too. (S P O I L E R coming)

I liked it when she saw the dead girl in the attic and then flashed her eyes over to the killer. Great scene! BC has a good comedy element to it also, without dilluting BC or becoming overbearing or out of place.

[rhett]

I think both Black Christmas and Halloween have excellent plots, but what makes Halloween rise above BC, is Carpenter's craft, his film looks so much more professional, and the score definitely adds to the tension. The horror in-jokes also add to the enjoyment of the film. I think with a Scope ratio, films can look a lot classier, and better composed compared to full frame. So while I love BC to death, it just can't equal Halloween in terms of overall presentation.

[argento#1fan]

now i love halloween dont get me wrong,but when you see black christmas,halloween turns to a kids cartoon in comparison....black christmas was eerie,and even though halloween was low budget,im pretty sure the budget for black christmas was less also,the ending of black christmas rules .....and lets not forget black christmas was made 5 years before halloween so im sure carpenter used elements from that classic to come up with the halloween idea..so imo ....black christmas all the way

[napalm68]

Originally posted by argento#1fan
now i love halloween dont get me wrong,but when you see black christmas,halloween turns to a kids cartoon in comparison....black christmas was eerie,and even though halloween was low budget,im pretty sure the budget for black christmas was less also,the ending of black christmas rules .....and lets not forget black christmas was made 5 years before halloween so im sure carpenter used elements from that classic to come up with the halloween idea..so imo ....black christmas all the way

I agree - I love Halloween, and everything Carpenter has ever made, and have them all on DVD, but mainly for his craft. He is an artist IMHO. The characters in Halloween are cartoonish in comparison. Donald Pleasance really hams it up... "He is pure evil! I have nothing to base it on as he hasn't spoken a word to anyone in 20 years, and hasn't harmed anyone, but he is EEEEVILLLLLLL!!!

Black Christmas on the other hand has REALISM.