There are some films that linger with you long after the credits have rolled and Black Christmas, the 1974 original, is one of them for me. Twinkling Christmas lights and carolers singing in joyful unison should be among the most delightful things in the world, but this classic slasher horror made them menacing.
![[Horror Haunt: I?m still haunted by this Christmas horror with 71% on Rotten Tomatoes]](https://metro.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/SEI_233561551-4cf6.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=646)
And let’s face it, the sound of that retro telephone ringing endlessly was more like a warning call for satan. I may be a tad dramatic, but that’s how chilling Black Christmas was and still is as it marks its 50th anniversary. If you’ve never had the discomforting pleasure of watching it, let me enlighten you….
![[Horror Haunt: I?m still haunted by this Christmas horror with 71% on Rotten Tomatoes]](https://metro.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/SEI_233561630-f280.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=646)
Black Christmas follows a group of sorority sisters who begin to receive threatening phone calls from a mysterious voice, before being stalked and hunted in their own home and murdered. However, they have no clue just how close the killer really is. I watched the slasher many, many years after its release in the early 70s and, admittedly, wasn’t expecting to be blown away by it – after all, I’d already seen what I thought were the best classic horrors around and my scream queen Hall of Fame was looking quite full at this point.
![[Horror Haunt: I?m still haunted by this Christmas horror with 71% on Rotten Tomatoes]](https://metro.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/SEI_233561561-04dd.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=646)
It turned out there was more than enough room alongside the likes of Jamie Lee Curtis, Neve Campbell and Janet Leigh. Olivia Hussey’s vulnerability in Black Christmas as Jess made her the perfect protagonist and Margot Kidder’s ballsy attitude, brushing off the potty-mouthed prank caller, was a breath of fresh air against the typical disposition of the damsel in distress.
![[Black Christmas still of Olivia Hussey as Jess]](https://metro.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/SEI_233561546-e956.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=646)
