Don’t answer the phone this Christmas – one of the most chilling holiday horror movies in film history is returning to theaters. 1974’s Black Christmas, one of the films that helped kick off the slasher genre, is coming to select theaters this December. Variety reports that the film will screen in the United States and Canada from December 7 to 22.
The film will be screened in a restored 4K print, courtesy of the American Genre Film Archive and Shout Studios. Participating theaters include the Olympia Film Society in Olympia, WA, Grand Illusion Cinema in Seattle; the New Beverly Cinema and Vista Theater in Los Angeles; the Brattle Theatre in Boston; the Rivoli Theatre in La Cross, WI; AFS Cinema in Austin; Denver Film in Denver; Rubber Glove Studio in Denton, TX; Cinema Moderne in Montreal, Quebec; the Hollywood Theatre in Portland, OR; the Frida Cinema in Santa Ana, CA; the Coolidge Corner Theatre, Brookline, MA; and the Metro Cinema in Edmonton, Alberta. Select screenings will have an exclusive limited-edition poster for the film, produced by collectibles company Mutant and Phantom City Creative.
What Is ‘Black Christmas’ About?
Directed by Bob Clark (A Christmas Story), Black Christmas takes place on a college campus at Christmastime, where the residents of a sorority are being terrified by a man known only as Billy who keeps harassing them with obscene phone calls. What they don’t realize is that the calls are coming from inside the house – Billy is hiding in the sorority house’s attic and venturing downstairs to murder its residents one by one, including a pre-SCTV Andrea Martin and a pre-Superman Margot Kidder. Jess Bradford (Olivia Hussey, Romeo and Juliet) is already having enough problems with her boyfriend Peter (Keir Dullea, 2001: A Space Odyssey) – and local cop Lt. Fuller (John Saxon, A Nightmare on Elm Street) isn’t much help, either. The Toronto-shot film made $4 million USD worldwide on a six-figure budget, and served as inspiration for John Carpenter when he wrote and directed Halloween, kicking off the slasher genre in earnest.
In addition to inspiring the slasher genre, Black Christmas also inspired two remakes. A 2006 remake, directed by Glen Morgan and starring Katie Cassidy, presented a gorier, more explicit version of the original film that also detailed the backstory of the mysterious Billy. A 2019 remake, helmed by Sophia Takal and starring Imogen Poots, retained little from the original, and centered around a murderously misogynistic cult on a college campus.
Black Christmas will screen in select theaters for its 50th anniversary from December 7-22; check your local theater for showtimes. Stay tuned to Collider for future updates.
via Collider