Black Christmas

A sorority house empties out for Christmas and the phone calls start, and the caller is already inside. This came four years before Halloween, and it was the first film to assemble the slasher template: shots from the killer's point of view, phone stalking, holiday timing. My favourite detail is how those point-of-view shots were made. Camera operator Bert Dunk built a rig that strapped to his own head and climbed the outside of the building wearing it. The ending caused a fight. Warner Bros executives wanted the killer's identity and backstory explained. Bob Clark refused and insisted on ambiguity. It was shot in Toronto from March to May 1974 for 686,000 dollars, with 200,000 of that from the Canadian Film Development Corporation. There are two odd casting stories. Olivia Hussey signed after a psychic told her she would make a film in Canada that would earn a great deal of money. John Saxon came in at short notice replacing Edmond O'Brien, whose health had declined with Alzheimer's. Its link to Halloween is direct too: Carpenter's film is said to have grown out of Clark describing what a Black Christmas sequel might look like. Who it is for: anyone who wants to see where the slasher begins. Who it is not for: viewers who need explanations. The film ends without giving one, and that is exactly where its power is.