|
''Black Christmas'' (also known as ''Silent Night, Evil Night'' and ''Stranger in the House'') is a 1974 independent Canadian horror film directed by Bob Clark and written by A. Roy Moore. It stars Olivia Hussey, Keir Dullea, Margot Kidder, Andrea Martin, Marian Waldman and John Saxon. The story follows a group of sorority sisters who are receiving threatening phone calls, while being stalked and murdered during the holiday season by a deranged murderer hiding in the attic of their sorority house. ''Black Christmas'' was filmed on an estimated budget of $620,000 and was released by Warner Bros. in the United States and Canada. When originally released, the film grossed over $4 million at the box office and initially received mixed reviews. The film was inspired by a series of murders that took place in the Westmount section of Montreal, in the province Quebec, Canada, and the urban legend "The Babysitter and the Man Upstairs". In the years that followed, ''Black Christmas'' has received positive reviews, with many praising its atmosphere and soundtrack, and is credited for originating the unsolved ambiguous identity for the killer. The film is generally considered to be one of the earliest slasher films, and has since developed a cult following. A remake of the same name, produced by Clark, was released in December 2006. == Plot == A disoriented man climbs up into the attic of a sorority house while the occupants hold a Christmas party. Jess Bradford (Olivia Hussey) receives an obscene phone call from "the moaner", a man who has recently been calling the house. After she calls sorority friends Barb Coard (Margot Kidder), Phyllis ''Phyl'' Carlson (Andrea Martin), Clare Harrison (Lynne Griffin) and the several other girls to listen, he starts saying perverted things to them, until Barb provokes the caller, to which he replies, "I'M GOING TO KILL YOU." Barb and Clare argue about the things she said to him, and Clare leaves. She is then attacked and killed with plastic wrapping; her body is carried up into the attic, where the killer places her in a rocking chair and puts a doll in her lap (the iconic image in the poster and promotional material). The next day, Clare's father arrives to take her home for the holidays. The housemother, Mrs. Mac (Marian Waldman), cannot help him, and neither can Phyl or Barb. Meanwhile, Jess meets her boyfriend, Peter Smythe (Keir Dullea), a neurotic aspiring pianist, at the piano recital hall to inform him that she is pregnant and wants to have an abortion. Peter is upset and urges her to discuss the situation with him but she refuses. Elsewhere, Mr. Harrison, Barb, and Phyl go to the police to report Clare's disappearance. Clare's boyfriend, Chris (Art Hindle), is informed by Jess about the disappearance; they discuss it with Lt. Kenneth Fuller (John Saxon). A mother reports that her daughter, Janice, is missing as well. That evening, Mr. Harrison, Chris, and the sorority sisters join a search party for Janice and Clare. Back at the house, Mrs. Mac is packing her things and chases her cat up into the attic only to discover Clare's body but is murdered by the killer by having a hook impaled in her throat. He then hangs her corpse up in the attic by the neck. After the search party finds Janice's dead body, Jess returns home and receives another obscene call. Jess phones the police to report it; Peter arrives and argues with Jess about her planned abortion. He leaves after Lt. Fuller arrives to discuss the phone calls. A technician places a tap "bug tracer" onto the phone. Lt. Fuller also reminds Jess and Phyl that there will be an officer stationed outside the house. Christmas carolers then pay a visit to the house and sing Jess a song. The killer takes this opportunity to sneak in Barb's room and murder her by stabbing her to death with her own glass unicorn toy, her screams for help are drowned out by the carolers so Jess and Phyl do not hear her. Jess receives another obscene call that quotes a part of the argument she had with Peter. Phyl goes upstairs to bed and pays a visit to Barb's room to check on her, as she discovers her corpse the door closes; she is murdered off-screen. Another call comes in, and this time, Jess manages to keep the caller on the phone for a minute, allowing the police to trace it inside the house. Jess is ordered to leave the house immediately and meet up with Officer Jennings (Julian Reed) outside not knowing that the killer slit his throat. Jess puts down the phone and yells up to Barb and Phyl. She arms herself with a fireplace poker and ventures upstairs, finding Barb and Phyl's dead bodies propped up on the bed. Then, in possibly the most infamous moment of the film, Jess sees the killer spying on her through the door crack, telling her not to ''Tell what we did, Agnes..'', before she slams the door on him. The killer then attacks Jess and chases her through the house before Jess locks herself in the cellar. Peter appears outside a basement window, telling Jess he heard screaming. Jess, believing him to be the attacker, backs into a corner as he approaches. Lt. Fuller and the police arrive and find Jess in the basement with Peter, whom she has bludgeoned to death in self-defense. Jess is sedated as Fuller and the officers discuss how Peter must have been the killer all along. They also discuss the fact that Clare and Mrs. Mac still have not been found, revealing that the attic has not been searched. The officers leave Jess to sleep in her bed while one cop keeps guard outside the house to wait for forensics to arrive to search the house and retrieve Barb, Phyl, Peter, and Jennings' bodies. Once the house is quiet, the camera pans from Jess's room to the attic ladder and up, with Clare and Mrs. Mac's bodies. The killer says "Agnes, it's me Billy"; the telephone begins to ring as the credits roll. Jess' ultimate fate is left unknown. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Black Christmas (1974 film)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|