Artist Black Christmas (1974)

Though Halloween traditionally gets credit for inventing the “slasher” film, many genre aficionados point to this 1974 Canadian film as the true originator, since it establishes most of the motifs still used today, including ye olde chestnut, “The calls are coming from inside the house!” For its time, Black Christmas is surprisingly gory and wickedly funny, concerning a group of sorority sisters—including Olivia Hussey and future stars Margot Kidder and Andrea Martin—receive obscene phone calls from a man they call “The Moaner.” The calls quickly become macabre, with the caller making bizarre threats in different voices. Shy girl Clare is offed first (in a mordant twist, her corpse sits in the attic window throughout the film), setting everyone else on edge. If only the police would believe them!

Updated 12/18/2009