MovieChat Forums > Black Christmas (1974) Discussion > so nostalgia is the reason everyone love...

so nostalgia is the reason everyone loves this?


I don't think is fair to call this horror. if anything is suspenseful drama.

I can understand when this came out there was no other horror movies like it so I can respect being one of the first. I get that.

but this is just not that good. I was not around in 74 to watch this and get the nostalgia factor. Saw it, i was bored by it.

this is not like texas chainsaw that still holds today.

bad boys for life

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so nostalgia is the reason everyone loves this?


I was born six years after this film came out, and didn't see it until it was more than 30 years old. And I quite enjoyed it. Though, it does take more than one viewing to really get into this film. The ending was a bit confusing, as I'd taken it as a straight slasher and hadn't really been paying attention to the phone calls, etc. It takes another watch. But I've seen it three times now, and will probably watch it again at Christmas.

Personally I think there is a certain cleverness to this film that was missing from the remake in 2006. But, each to their own, I guess. If you didn't like it, you didn't like it.

I don't think is fair to call this horror. if anything is suspenseful drama.


Okay. Call it a suspenseful drama then....

but this is just not that good. I was not around in 74 to watch this and get the nostalgia factor. Saw it, i was bored by it.


I wasn't around in 1974. I'm not bored of it. Funny how two people can differ like that, I guess...

this is not like texas chainsaw that still holds today.


Texas Chainsaw Massacre does hold up today, and is the greatest horror film ever made. I agree with you. But doesn't automatically mean Black Christmas is crap. Is every playwright who wasn't William Shakespeare automatically awful?

Black Christmas is slightly dated now, but most films date somewhat. Especially when they are low budget. Just because TCM is something truly special, doesn't make every film that isn't it bad.

Besides, Black Christmas is a different type of film. TCM featured a lot more visual scares and action sequences. As you said, Black Christmas relies more on a muysterious and unknown element. The ending is not fully explained, and can still be debated today.

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Texas Chainsaw Massacre does hold up today, and is the greatest horror film ever made. I agree with you. But doesn't automatically mean Black Christmas is crap. Is every playwright who wasn't William Shakespeare automatically awful?

Black Christmas is slightly dated now, but most films date somewhat. Especially when they are low budget. Just because TCM is something truly special, doesn't make every film that isn't it bad.

Besides, Black Christmas is a different type of film. TCM featured a lot more visual scares and action sequences. As you said, Black Christmas relies more on a muysterious and unknown element. The ending is not fully explained, and can still be debated today.


Excellent breakdown, and I totally agree with your viewpoint on BC. It is definitely a different kind of movie. It's neither fish or fowl, not easy to categorize as a thriller, slasher, drama, etc.

I tend to enjoy movies that have a creepy atmospheric quality to them, whether it's "Halloween", "Alien", "Black Christmas", or even old black & white movies like "Curse of the Demon".

Of course this whole issue is subjective and difficult to quantify. Some enjoy this movie, and some don't, which is fine.

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It's a genuinely good movie. It's for people who appreciate a storyline and suspense. Maybe that's not your thing

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says the person with the i know who killed me name........... wow 

that was funny, thanks 

thanks, that was hilarious

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Sorry, but do you mind telling us what your typical type of horror movie is? To each his own, but if you don't like Black Christmas I can't understand why you'd like Halloween.

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Totally agree with you Lampz. Watched this for the first time tonight after several fellow horror-enthusiasts raved about it. I was bored senseless, albeit I'm more of a supernatural/psychological horror fan. Texas Chainsaw Massacre is one of my favourite horror films ever though, and it's from the same decade, so I don't think nostalgia is solely responsible for this film's big fan base. Maybe it just wasn't our cup of tea.

I thought the humour was actually the best part of it. Quite funny in places. Not scary in any way though.

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I watched it in 1982 and never forgot about it. My motive for loving it it's not nostalgia but maybe is the fact that this kind of movie doesn't exist anymore and it is charming with its atmosphere. The cast also was superb and the movie make you feel totally incapable in trying to answer some questions but it doesn't pretend to be something spectacular or different from what it is.

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Great point. Another similar type of horror movie to BC is Mia Farrow's "Full Circle" or "Don't Look Now". Slow, brooding, atmospheric. Not much going on but the tense atmosphere builds and stays with you long after the movie is done. You don't sense the creepiness & uneasiness until it's over. I wouldn't want to watch this alone at night in a big, sprawling, multi-storied house in the country somewhere that's for sure. Neither would I want to watch the first 30 minutes of "When A Stranger Calls".

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If you were bored by it then you have a serious problem. That is all.

Herbert West: Who's going to believe a talking head? Get a job in a sideshow.

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or it is just not very interesting?

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or it is just not very interesting?


LOL there many good proto-slasher and it better then this boring movie
like blood and black lace,bay of blood,torso,texas chainsaw massacre etc.
this movie is just boring and slow it not scary or frightening at all
many people said phone call scene is creepy but i think it very stupid and hilarious
most kill is off-screen only 2 on-screen kill.


I watched it again earlier in the week, and I like it more every time I see it.

I enjoy the fact that you have to pay specific attention to the phone calls, and to what the killer says. He impersonates several people, as if he is manically reenacting his own memories. You don't properly see the killer, but you learn a lot about his history.

As stated earlier, this doesn't compare to Texas Chainsaw Massacre. In fact, being that this is considered by some to be one of the earliest slasher films, it's not really a typical slasher film at all. There's no guy running round with a machete killing people whilst they have sex.

You have to think, put together clues, work out who the killer is without really seeing him. In some ways it's ambiguous who the killer is, in other ways it's quite well defined.

That sort of film won't appeal to everybody, and that's fine. People have different tastes.

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[deleted]

No, the reason everyone loves this is because it is a good movie.

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True dat.

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Seconded.

I only saw this movie within the last few years for the very first time and thought it was fantastic for what it was. There was also a lot of smart cat-and-mouse antics, not unlike The Day of the Jackal. I love that sort of stuff, where police are using common sense and trying to nab a guy with realistic tactics.

We rarely get smart horror films with non-stupid characters these days. Funny that in this movie a lot of the victims/characters were a heck of a lot smarter than the horror movie character fodder we see in today's films.

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This is the correct answer.

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I was born in the 1990s. Saw this as an adult for the first time. I absolutely love it and think it was very intense.

To each his own.

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