Oh yeah. Isn't that like the best part of the movie? Turned it off shortly after that. Got boring.

Oh don't be such a Grinch.

I thought Better Watch Out was just OK. Maybe it needs a second watch.

Run of the mill? With rape, creepy catatonic grandpa, sadistic nun, death by antlers, and a deaf man dressed as Santa gunned down mistakenly.... there's a cruelness and raunchiness present not found in a run of the mill slasher.

Well, the holiday MUST go on....

I like that movie. It's sleazy, lots of people die and the ending is bonkers. Good enough for me.

That's a great episode. Didn't the Tales from the Crypt movie also have a killer Santa segment? I don't remember it being nearly as good as the television show version, though.

I never buy anyone gifts, and that upsets people, but I don't know what to get anyone.

Money. Can't go wrong

To All A Goodnight is pretty good. Seen it a couple of times but not in a while. May have to rectify that this month. I remember a thread on the imdb board about people's ugly naked bodies in horror films...and there's this one chick in the film, toward the end, who gets nude and she's got this rail thin, anorexic body that just makes me

What about Silent Night, Bloody Night makes you say it clearly influenced Black Christmas? My memory on the movie is a little hazy. There were a few creepy phone calls in it, right?

I watched Silent Night, Deadly Night earlier tonight. I couldn't resist. I wanted to wait until later in the month to watch it but it showed up on Shudder and I couldn't resist.

Some observations:

I love the interiors of the homes, the orphanage and the old folks' retirement home. Everything is so....brown, and bland, and just...so ordinary looking. Like whoever was responsible for the shooting locations found these places, said OK, and the set dressers just left things as is. The interiors almost have a disturbingly depressing, dated look to them, which of course, works to the film's advantage. It's basically the opposite of a stylish Argento film. Its complete and total lack of style is its style, one could argue.

The film occasionally lapses into scenes where the print is of an obviously much lesser quality, like certain scenes during Linnea Quigley's antler impalement for instance. I fucking love this. It kinda gives the movie this dangerous, subversive feel...like you shouldn't be watching it or something.

When grown-up Billy is fantasizing about himself having sex with his co-worker, the camera catches a glimpse of his ass crack, and my God is it hairy! I think I might've noticed this before and forgot, but it caught me by surprise in any event. Hairy man ass isn't something you ordinarily see in...well....anything, besides maybe '80s gay porn.

After Billy starts his murder spree, the cops hit the streets looking for their killer Santa Claus. But wait a second, how do they know he's dressed as Santa? Sure, the nice, caring nun calls the toy store and finds out from the stock room manager that Billy is playing Santa, but that doesn't mean hes still in costume when he finally snaps, or when he leaves the store to continue his rampage. Anyone who ever saw him ended up dead, so it isn't like there are any eyewitness reports.

I love that music during the opening credits and right at the end, when Billy's brother says "naughty" and the closing credits roll. What exactly is going on? It sounds like the composer had a seizure on top of his synthesizer. The music is totally nutzoid and chaotic, in the best of ways.

Why the hell would the mom and dad leave young Billy alone with that creepy, catatonic grandpa? I know, to further the story, but still. Doesn't make sense. No parent would do that.

The song that plays during Billy's montage when he first gets the job at the toy store...what in the ever living fuck?! There's no way, even in 1984, that that song would've EVER been considered even remotely cool.

I seriously think the film is at the very top of the 80s slasher heap. It gets right down to business, is mean, raunchy, entertaining, has lots of tits and cool death scenes, and never overstays its welcome.

Yeah, you need to see it Johan. You probably won't like it (lol) but at least you gave it a shot.

I think I have too much nostalgia attached to it, personally, but such is life.

Combat Shock is only distributed by Troma. So it's very un-Tromalike.

I hope you like something from my list, haha. Surprised you haven't seen Near Dark!

Slumber Party Massacre was written and directed by women. I don't know whether they'd call themselves feminists or not, but I think the fact that they could write and make a film that's gratuitous and gives the (male) audience what they want, shows much security in themselves and is all the more empowering in the grand scheme of things, from a woman's perspective, that is.

I haven't seen the fourth one, but the others aren't really worth it, imo. I know part 4 has its fans, taking the story into another direction (for the better, it would seem.) The fifth one is watchable i suppose, but nothing really to go out of your way for.

Glad you (sorta) like The Redeemer and Beyond the Darkness. Yeah, the supernatural angle in The Redeemer could've been left out and the story would have been nearly the same (sans that extra thumb). Maybe just making him some religious nut out to 'redeem' all the sinners from his high school would have sufficed. But as you said about The Omen, which was big at the time, must've had an influence.

Whoa, looks pretty cool.

I thought Orion Pictures went out of business a long time ago...

I watched Black Christmas last night. The original, durr. Anyway, this is still one of the greatest horror movies of the 1970s, imo. The movie at this point is like a cozy cup of hot chocolate, always comforting. No matter how many times I've seen it - and I've seen it a lot - the ending, when Jess is told the calls are coming from inside the house, always sends chills up my spine. And the way she screams for her friends to answer her, so hysterical and genuine, it's some of the best screaming in any horror film. I really get the sense that she's actually terrified.

What's interesting to me is that for the entirety of the film it's pretty blatant Peter is supposed to be the killer. It simply isn't possible for it to be anyone else. The things the caller says, about the baby, and the line "it's like removing a wart", something Peter had just said to Jess, him being upstairs during one of the harrassing phone calls supposedly "sleeping" (yeah, right), and perhaps most of all...him knowing Jess was in the basement after the killer chases her down there. There's literally no way he could've known that if he wasn't the killer.

It's almost as if the producer said at the last second..."nah, let's just throw the audiences for a loop, make Peter not be the killer, and leave things opened ended. Fuck it. It's creepier that way." And it is. I freaking love this ending. It's what bumps it up from a damn good horror film to an all-time classic for me.

I've always had a thing for old interior decor, particularly from the '70s, and I'd be remiss not to mention the inside of the sorority house....man, I friggin love it. All these dated browns and oranges. I want to live in a house like this. The shots of the upstairs are so creepy. So lonely, quiet, and eerie. The house itself really adds to the atmosphere of the film and is just as important an element to the success of the creep factor as the phone calls themselves are.

Finally, the bits of humor are a welcome touch. It adds some much needed levity to the tension and makes many of the characters seem more human. For instance, late in the film, when the two goofy guys from the search party show up at the kitchen door, Jess and Phil are seen cracking up by the end of the exchange. I like the humanity they bring to the table. Even after all this frightening stuff has been happening and their friend Claire has been missing, the director thought it important to show that these are three dimensional characters, capable of having a laugh even in the most stressful of times.

Glad to hear you liked it.

Brandon Maggart, who plays the antagonist, is Fiona Apple's father. Just an FYI.