Welcome to Day 15 of Spooky Season!! I know it’s a sin to discuss Christmas movies before Christmastime, but today I wanted to talk about one of my favorite horror films, Black Christmas! Although I don’t consider it a full-blown horror/comedy, it certainly had a good mixture of both genres that kept me on my toes and holding my sides. I hope you enjoy and let me know your favorite moments from Black Christmas! (MAJOR SPOILERS!!!)

Synopsis (provided by IMDb.com): During their Christmas break, a group of sorority girls are stalked by a stranger.

Provoking The Killer/Caller

When their Christmas party ended with the caller harassing them again, all the girls gathered around to hear the vile and disgusting things he said he wanted to do to them. Feeling buzzed and brave, sorority sister Barb (Margot Kidder) grabbed the phone and gave him a piece of her mind. I love this exchange and it perfectly showed how much Barb didn’t care. Plus, it provided one of the best comebacks that stayed with me ever since I first heard it. It ended with a chill down the spine as the caller told her he was going to kill her before hanging up and going after one of the other sisters.

Strangers At The Window

After a poor girl was murdered in the local park, a search party was sent door to door to try to find the killer or some kind of clue leading to him. While sorority sister, Phyl (Andrea Martin) was in the kitchen, she was startled by 2 strangers outside looking through the window. Realizing they were part of the search party, she and her fellow sister, Jess (Olivia Hussey) greeted them at the back door. I don’t know what it is about this scene that I love so much. Whether it was the perky attitude of the search party members, or the fact that after all the stress that the characters were feeling, they could have a good laugh. Either way, it was a very nice moment.

It’s A New Exchange

After sorority sister, Clare (Lynne Griffin) disappeared, Barb, Clare’s father, and Phyl went down to the police station to report her missing. There, local buffoon, Sergeant Nash (Doug McGrath) didn’t take the situation seriously and even told Barb to shut up at one point. He took down the report and when he asked Barb for the house’s phone number, she decided to have a little fun. She told him that their phone number was FEllatio 20880, and said it was a new exchange. Although she didn’t get to see the conclusion of her handiwork in a later scene, it was still a hilarious moment. When his superior, Lieutenant Fuller (John Saxon) asked him about the number, Nash tried to explain it to him. This caused the station to laugh at his expense and Fuller to give one of the best insults I’ve ever heard in a film.

Mrs. Mac’s Many Stashes

This wasn’t a specific moment, rather a running gag throughout the film. Mrs. Mac (Marian Waldman), the sorority’s house mother, had her own way of coping with the stresses of her job, her surroundings, and her missing cat. She had bottles of booze hidden all throughout the house. She had alcohol hidden in books, in bags, even in her toilet tank. It was great seeing all of the little hiding spots and it makes it even better that none of the sorority girls found any of the bottles beforehand. She definitely chose her hiding spots well!

Chris On The Warpath

After young Clare went missing and the police haven’t done anything about it, Jess went to Clare’s boyfriend, Chris (Art Hindle) to see if he heard from her at all. She told him no one had seen her since the Christmas party and that when they went to Sergeant Nash about her, he believed she was “shacked up” with another guy and he didn’t take her disappearance seriously. This lead to Chris storming into the station and cussing Nash out. This was a very small moment but it was so satisfying to watch. Chris was a great guy and he made sure that something was being done about his girlfriend’s disappearance.

Cussing Out Claude

Mrs. Mac had a lot of stresses in life, especially around the holiday season. One of her stresses came in the form of her cat, Claude who she could never seem to find. When the killer took Claude and put him up in the attic with him, he ended up driving Mrs. Mac crazy. As she was getting ready to drive into town with Clare’s father, Mr. Harrison (James Edmond), she heard meowing from an unknown location. As she was calling out to him, she ended up spilling her bag and cussing him out just as Mr. Harrison was coming to check on her. This moment was so hilarious and I just love Mrs. Mac’s personality shift once Mr. Harrison appeared.

Depressed Santa

Patrick (Michael Rapport), Phyl’s boyfriend was looking forward to a weekend getaway with his girl. The night before, Barb invited her on an impromptu ski trip for that very weekend. While he’s supposed to be holly jolly as Santa Claus for the local children, that’s when he learned that Phyl wasn’t going to be spending the weekend with him. The children were subjected to Santa cussing and insulting Barb for ruining his plans. This moment made me want Patrick to be in more scenes in the film.

The Calls Are Coming From Where?!

As far as I know, this was the first horror film to have the “calls are coming from inside the house” trope. I think this film did the shocking realization perfectly. After finally tracing the phone calls that have been plaguing the sorority house, Nash gave Fuller the address of where the calls were coming from. Fuller thought Nash was being a typical idiot and giving him the wrong address. When Nash informed him that the calls were coming from the sorority house, Fuller finally put the pieces together. He realized the calls were being made on Mrs. Mac’s phone that he dismissed earlier. The music in the background and the look on Fuller’s face when he realized this really made this scene epic to me.

Nash’s Plea

After realizing the killer’s calls were coming from inside the sorority house, Fuller instructed Nash to get Jess out of the house. He was supposed to just call her and tell her to just put the phone down and walk right out the front door. Does Nash do this? At first, yes, but then he told her that the caller was in the house. As she debated whether to run out of the house or check on her sisters upstairs, Nash cried out a dramatic plea to her. His demeanor when the camera cuts to him and his dramatic shouting coming from the phone are so different, it’s hysterical.

The Old Man And His Gun

This scene was so random and I love every minute of it. While the police station was investigating the phone calls to the sorority house, Fuller’s conversation with Jess was interrupted by some ruckus outside of his office. When he came out to see what was going on, he came across one of his officers with his pants down and a bitter old man who was arrested. Apparently, he shot the officer in the a** because he believed the officer was trespassing on his property. This scene is not only so funny to me, I love that it took away from the tensity of the situation and gave us an unforgettable exchange.

Just Like Having A Wart Removed

After Jess told her boyfriend, Peter (Keir Dullea) that she was pregnant and she was planning on having an abortion, Peter started to quickly unravel. He didn’t want her to abort it, and he ranted, saying she was talking about it like she was having a wart removed. A while after Peter stormed out, Jess got another call and the killer repeated Peter’s exact words to her. This was a well executed moment and it led to the police and Jess suspecting Peter to be the killer. It was a very chilling thing to hear the killer say.

Discussing Clare

After Clare disappeared, her father, Mr. Harrison arrived at the sorority house to see if anyone had heard from her. In Clare’s room, Mr. Harrison and Mrs. Mac discussed who she’s been seeing and what she’s been doing at college. As Mrs. Mac tried to convince Mr. Harrison that his daughter was a good girl, she attempted to cover up a very graphic love-making picture hanging on the wall. It was a very futile attempt because the second that Mrs. Mac left the room, he looked at the picture. It was one of the best scenes that set the overall tone of the film.

More Than Just A Nightmare

After having a full day of drinking, Barb had a full-blown rant and had to be put to bed. There, she had a nightmare that there was a man in her room… or rather she believed it was a nightmare. While Jess was downstairs listening to a group of child carolers, the killer was in Barb’s room, ready to kill Sleeping Beauty. While the children sing Oh, Come All Ye Faithful, the killer stabbed barb multiple times with a glass unicorn head. It was so beautiful and tragic, it’s my favorite death scene in the entire film!