{"id":3386,"date":"2021-12-16T13:42:34","date_gmt":"2021-12-16T13:42:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mattshorroraddiction.com\/?p=3386"},"modified":"2021-12-16T13:42:34","modified_gmt":"2021-12-16T13:42:34","slug":"versus-black-christmas-74","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/matt.doppiavvu.it\/?p=3386","title":{"rendered":"VERSUS – Black Christmas ’74"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Welcome to a new feature on Matt\u2019s Horror Addiction: VERSUS<\/strong>. Versus takes one film and presents two opposing opinions in head-to-head reviews with my friend and horror movie aficionado, Frank Pittarese. We\u2019ll explain why we loved and hated the same movie, and you can decide who\u2019s right!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Plot<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As Christmas break gets underway, a mysterious someone stalks the women of a sorority house, secretly killing them one by one. At the center of the storm is the troubled Jess, who might be closer to the killer than she even suspects. While her friends vanish (and the body count rises), Jess begins to feel more and more targeted. Can she survive the night, even as the police try to protect her?   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Matt’s Opinion<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

From the opening shot of the colorful light-strewn sorority house accompanied by a quiet rendition of “Silent Night”, to the surprisingly bleak ending, Bob Clark’s Black Christmas<\/em> is one of those movies that always casts a spell whenever I watch it. It’s a special kind of horror film. It can appeal to the traditionally non-horror viewer with its murder mystery angle, but it also appeals to the horror fan because it’s clever and scary and knows how to get under your skin. It successfully takes the bright and cheery feel of the holiday season and turns it on its head. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Right after the opening scene, establishing the looming sorority house as the center of the impending doom, we get a startling POV shot of the killer. Although Silent Night, Bloody Night<\/em> used a similar POV gimmick two years earlier, here it feels more embedded into the plot: the identity of the killer is of no importance to the story and the less we see of the character (and through his eyes) and creepier the set-up. What is important, and what Clark wisely sets up quickly, is the cast of characters, all of whom are smart, likable, and have vastly different personalities, something later slasher flicks would ignore. The characters include Barb (Margot Kidder), the sexually empowered loudmouth, Phyl (Andrea Martin), the mousy best friend, Mrs. Mac (Marian Waldman), the house mother and functioning alcoholic, Peter (Keir Dullea), the high-strung boyfriend, and Jess (Olivia Hussey), the headstrong (and non-virginal) final girl. As with the best of horror, we sympathize and relate to these characters and want to see them survive. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What screenwriter Roy Moore understood (and what many later horror movies never grasped) is that it’s well-written, sympathetic characters that fuels the suspense. Sure, it’s fun to watch dumb teens and hunky frat guys getting their throats ripped to shreds. What makes it scary is when we don’t<\/em> want to see them get hurt. While thrilling, and often funny, the script also deals with heavy issues not usually found in horror movies during its time of release. And, although not the first movie to feature the “killer is in the house” urban legend, it is the first to utilize the scenario to its fullest effect. Grade: A<\/strong>– <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Frank’s Opinion<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Okay, I know I\u2019m supposed to love this movie. EVERYONE loves this movie. It ticks all the right boxes: It\u2019s a slasher film! It inspired Halloween<\/em>! It\u2019s Christmas horror! It\u2019s directed by Bob Children Shouldn\u2019t Play with Dead Things<\/em> Clark! But I just don\u2019t love it. To be fair, I don\u2019t hate it \u2014 it\u2019s just that too many things keep me from connecting with it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The spine of of the film is solid. There IS a good story there. It\u2019s shocking, at times, and the last ten minutes are exciting. The cast is (mostly) terrific. Marian Waldman as housemother Mrs. Mac steals every scene she\u2019s in, Margot Kidder stands out as the brash Barb, and Andrea Martin\u2019s Phyl is just plain endearing. But\u2026BUT\u2026then there\u2019s Olivia Hussey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The whole movie rests on Hussey\u2019s shoulders. Her character, Jess, is the one around which all the action flows, but she\u2019s distractingly bad in this (full disclosure: I think she\u2019s distractingly bad in everything). Her performance creates a blockade between me and the enjoyment of this film. It\u2019s compounded by the character having legit, dramatic scenes where Hussey\u2019s flaws are even more pronounced. I can\u2019t worry about Jess if what I really want is for her to be killed off so other characters can shine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cutaways to the police investigation stall every hint of suspense and drag out the film\u2019s already slow-moving pace. The prolonged tracing of obscene\/threatening phone calls is a torturous interruption, as we shift focus away from the house \u2014 and the danger \u2014 time and time again. Too much footage is devoted to the development of a red herring, one which might make sense for the characters, but which is implausible for the audience, all for the sake of a final act shocker. These things drain the film\u2019s energy. I get impatient.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This was my third viewing in six years\u2019 time. I keep hoping it\u2019ll click, but it doesn\u2019t. Again, there IS a good story in there, somewhere \u2014 but the execution leaves me wanting more. Grade: C<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Versus will return in 2022! <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Frank Pittarese is a Brooklyn comic book editor and horror movie buff. You can follow him on Instagram<\/a> and Twitter<\/a>. <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Welcome to a new feature on Matt\u2019s Horror Addiction: VERSUS. Versus takes one film and presents two opposing opinions in head-to-head reviews with my friend and horror movie aficionado, Frank Pittarese. We\u2019ll explain why we loved and hated the same movie, and you can decide who\u2019s right! Plot As Christmas break gets underway, a mysterious […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,2,4,14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3386","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-holidays","category-retrospective","category-reviews","category-versus"],"blocksy_meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/matt.doppiavvu.it\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3386","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/matt.doppiavvu.it\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/matt.doppiavvu.it\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/matt.doppiavvu.it\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/matt.doppiavvu.it\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3386"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/matt.doppiavvu.it\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3386\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/matt.doppiavvu.it\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3386"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/matt.doppiavvu.it\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3386"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/matt.doppiavvu.it\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3386"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}