Mr. Briggs Inc. Wrote:Black Christmas is very effective and very atmospheric indeed, but in my opinion it is also quite overrated - much of the subplot wasn't annoying, but I found it did distract from the truly scary bits.
Honestly though, it is one of the better holiday-horrors I've seen (Admittedly, I have seen fairly few 
); another I'd recommend is Gremlins since it does take place around Christmastime. I also have to say that the Jack Frost duology are surprisingly entertaining horror-comedies 
I would probably have to agree with you that it is overrated. A lot of people consider it to be the best Christmas horror movie, but I don't know if I could say that. Also, it doesn't have much competition, either. Gremlins is awesome, but I don't watch it very often. I thought the first Jack Frost was pretty cool, especially with the very sexy Shannon Elizabeth being involved in a bath scene with a killer snow man. As for Jack Frost 2, the only thing I liked about that was the killer snow balls. They were just evil little bastards, and they brought me a laugh from time-to-time. Other than that, it was barely bearable.
Silent Night, Deadly Night is another good one to watch around Christmas, in my opinion. It deals with a young boy, Billy, whom is going with his parents to visit Grandpa. Unfortunately Grandpa isn't doing too well and he now lives in a nursing home that's a long ways away from home. While there, Grandpa is a mute, until Billy's parents decide to leave him alone with good ol' Grandpa. Once they're alone, Grandpa tells Billy about how Santa Claus likes to punish naughty kids, and if he's been naughty than he better steer clear of Santa. After that, he goes back to being a mute and Billy's parents are ready to try and make it home before the night is over.
However, fate has some cruel intentions in store for Billy's parents. On the way home, they encounter a guy dressed up as Santa Claus standing beside of what appears to be a broken down car. When they stop to offer him a helping hand, that's when things get really interesting. Billy witnesses both of his parents murders. After that, we jump forward in time and see that Billy is now located at an orphanage. We see how the memories of that night really affect him, and how this kid basically has no hope when it comes to dealing with the memories of that night.
Next, we take another jump forward, now we see Billy when he's 18 years old, still at the Orphanage. He lands a job at a local toy store, working as a stocker. However, one of the employees, coincidentally the one that was playing Santa Claus at the store that year, was involved in an accident, so the store owner looks for someone to fill in. Who do you think he picked? That's right, he picks the mentally unstable Billy. After that, the shit really starts to hit the fan. There's going to be a very bloody Christmas, this year.
Damn, I just realized that I wrote a pretty lengthy synopsis for the film. Well, hope it gives some of you a reason to check it out. I certainly enjoy watching it around Christmas.
Ho Ho Ho! Scary Christmas!
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