This Christmas film is really not for anyone who wants to snuggle up under the blanket with speculoos. Jessy – The Staircase to Death, also under its original title Black Christmas is known, can’t just impress as a refreshing genre mix of Christmas film and horror. The 1974 film by director Bob Clark is also one of the first and still best slasher films ever.
It is available to stream on Amazon Prime Video.
That’s what the Christmas film Black Christmas is about
The film begins with a house decorated for Christmas with colorful fairy lights and garlands. A beautiful, familiar and Christmas atmosphere also spreads among the residents of a sorority house. But this idyll is infected with fear right from the start: we alternately see the young women and the house through the eyes of an undetected intruder.
The man is hiding in the attic and starts terrorizing the women over the house phone. Little by little, more and more residents disappear and the city falls into turmoil.
The first scene doesn’t last long. It’s immediately clear: This is not a feel-good Christmas film. The celebration of love turns into a claustrophobic home invasion. Bob Clark teaches us to be afraid at Christmas. The fact that the killer is in the house all the time makes Clark a real horror trip for the audience and the residents. And that’s what makes it so incredibly entertaining.
Christmas as a frightening and entertaining top slasher
Black Christmas completely turns central elements of the Christmas film on their head. Like Santa Claus, the serial killer enters the house from above. Not with a chimney, but also with a decent supply of presents. The residents know nothing about the unknown serial killer. Only Jessy (Olivia Hussey) suspects that the regular calls must come from an unknown person. Everyone else thinks it’s a prank from a brotherhood.
The focus here is not a classic family, but rather a sorority and the unusual, older resident Mrs. Mac (Marian Waldman). Male characters play a subordinate role here, with the exception of the murderer. The The cast of actresses is extremely entertaining, with self-determined characters and Mrs. Mac in particular is incredibly funny. She and Barb (Margot Kidder) share a love at Christmas time that is shown to be surprisingly funny and free-spirited. The love of alcohol.
Black Christmas is the perfect Christmas film for those who don’t like Christmas, horror fans and friends of black humor. If that’s not convincing, I’d rather recommend Three Hazelnuts for Cinderella. You can stream both on Amazon Prime Video this Christmas.