FILM
Glebe Report December 10, 2021
25
Canadian horror film stands test of time Black Christmas
Directed by Bob Clark (Canada, 1974)
Review by Angus Luff What separates Christmas from other holidays is the interpretability and flexibility of the true meaning of the holiday. You could ask 10 different people what Christmas means besides the literal definition and almost everyone would have different answers. That’s what makes it so uniquely special for so many people for different reasons. We all love Christmas films that reflect the typical warm and fuzzy feeling of the holiday, but there’s always a risk-taking storyteller who goes beyond the usual Christmas movie norms – when done successfully, it can truly twist the most familiar version of the holiday from joyful to nightmarish. Black Christmas is a 1974 Canadian Christmas horror film directed by Bob Clark. During the holiday season, a group of sorority girls are invaded by a dangerous stalker, making his presence known with obscene phone calls and striking victims without warning inside and outside the sorority house. When the situation escalates further, the police get involved to find the mysterious killer. Early in his career, Bob Clark cemented himself as a cinematic force with this genuinely shocking and horrifying Christmas film. In 1983, he made another famous film, A Christmas Story. But Black Christmas is more notable for me because of its effect on movie fans all these years later. It is a horror film that stands the test of time because it was way ahead of its time. It
never resorts to overused horror tropes or the typical directing of popular 1970s horror cinema. Clark scares his audience by showing horrible images as bluntly and honestly as possible and by hinting at possible horrible images offscreen. Each directorial decision is elegantly yet maniacally chosen. The unclear and sudden directions that the film takes keep you on the edge of your seats. I recommend this film, though be warned it is very disturbing and shocking – I would not recommend it for children. Besides excellent direction, other aspects make this film a landmark for indie horror cinema, especially the memorable, realistic performances by Olivia Hussey, Margot Kidder and the rest of the sorority girls. All of them are distinct and alive; some are more comedic, ruder or more reserved. You truly feel that a real-life situation has been captured on film. What really gets under my skin is the perfect way they nail the disturbing and uncomfortable atmosphere of the film. It feels as though you’re not supposed to see them like this, as if you’ve stumbled upon something you really shouldn’t have. The girls look just as afraid of the killer as they are of you. As the film goes on, the audience acts as another pair of eyes to watch the sorority girls’ every move; the slow buildup of tension demands that close response from the audience, especially at the end when it makes you reflect on the trauma and horrifying images you witnessed. It is horror filmmaking at its strongest, not pulling any punches, not adding humour or references, just showing you how it is. Black Christmas succeeds at trying something new. Original and unique horror films like this one and
Ordinary Love is anything but Ordinary Love Directed by Lisa Barros D’Sa (Ireland, 2019)
Review by Barbara Popel The excellent Irish film Ordinary Love does something relatively rare – it takes us into the lives of a very ordinary middle-class, middle-aged couple whose placid, uneventful lives are knocked sideways by a traumatic crisis.
Tom and Joan (Liam Neeson and Academy Award nominee Lesley Manville) have been married for many years. The degree of their “ordinary” love is evident before the title credits roll, as the two of them stride briskly along the shore – she taking two steps for every one of his – getting their daily exercise. They come to a small tree which is their halfway point but rather than allowing Tom to turn on his heel and head for home, Joan pushes him around the tree so he does their complete exercise circuit. Sweet. Then they comfortably hold hands on their way home. They share an easy-going camaraderie such as develops – if a couple is lucky – after the romance and passion have abated in a marriage. As they josh and tease over the dinner table, we get the feeling they’re each other’s best friends. Their bickering about Tom’s evening beer and who puts away the Christmas ornaments is mild. All seems perfectly ordinary. No drama
here, folks, just move along. Then Joan finds a lump in her breast. And their ordeal starts. Terrified, Joan asks Tom, “What’s going to happen if I’ve got cancer?” He reassures her, “If you do – and you don’t! – we’ll do whatever has to be done, just the two of us.” They’re in this together, but their lives are about to change forever. Any woman who has been through the usual steps of diagnosis, from “It’s probably just a cyst” to “I’m afraid I have to tell you that you have breast cancer,” will empathize with Joan. They’ll do so even more as Joan goes through a radical double mastectomy, then more tests to see if the cancer has spread to her liver or bones, then many debilitating chemo treatments. Any man whose loved one has been down this terrible path will empathize with Tom. He hates being in the hospital – it’s full of sick people! He rails against the medical establishment. Why can’t the doctors be certain about the test results? After Joan’s mastectomy, why can’t her surgeon say she is cancer-free? Tom seems very alone. (By this time, we’ve found out that their adult daughter, Debbie, died some time in the past. We don’t know what caused her death, but there are hints it wasn’t a disease.) Tom dreads what will happen to him if Joan dies. He asks a stranger at the hospital, “How do you say to someone, ‘Don’t die!’?” The most harrowing scene isn’t when Joan is shivering and retching from the side effects of the chemo or when Tom is talking at his daughter’s graveside about his fear of being alone. It’s when their terrors – she of death, he of being alone – explode in a screaming fight full of blame and hurtful words. How can they possibly forgive each other, after what they’re just said? Well, they do. The focus isn’t on the horrible things these two people are going through. It’s on how they react to this seemingly
the equally nightmarish Texas Chainsaw Massacre opened the way for the “slasher” sub-genre, which includes films like Halloween, Friday the 13th, My Bloody Valentine and Child’s Play. Such films became extremely popular in the late 1970s and early 1980s but because so many were produced, the sub-genre became a punching bag for critics and was generally looked down upon. While there was undoubtedly a lot of trash produced, I wish more people would give great films like Black Christmas a chance. Though it gets lumped in with other lazy garbage in the slasher sub-genre, this film is anything but lazy – it’s a classic in Christmas and Canadian cinema, something to be proud of, not ashamed of. If there’s one alternative film to challenge your notion of jolly Christmas stories, make it Black Christmas, but only if you think you can handle it. After you see it, you likely won’t stop thinking about it. Available on The Criterion Channel and Shudder Running time: 1 hour 38 mins Angus Luff is a student at Glebe Collegiate. He grew up in the Glebe and is obsessed with movies.
never-ending nightmare. They always come back to each other and to the love that grounds them. Ordinary Love is anything but ordinary! See it with someone you love. Running time: 92 minutes Rated: PG (Warning: brief scenes of a
woman’s breasts.) Available: Apple TV, Crave, Google Play, Illico, Kanopy and YouTube Barb Popel has lived in the Glebe since 1991. At university in the early 1970s, she was introduced to the joys of film. She’s been an avid filmgoer ever since.
All I want for Christmas is a new bed!!
The Glebe Centre Long-Term Care Home needs 34 new electric beds by December 31st. Please consider a tax deductible donation by giving at TheGlebeCentre.ca or by calling Bruce Hill @ 613-238-2727
ext. 316
This ad was graciously paid for by Faulkner Real Estate.
