Black Christmas 1974 Limited Edition Steelbook 4K UHD
Original price was: $49.98.$44.98Current price is: $44.98.
A dangerous psychopath hiding out in the attic of a sorority house torments a small group of pretty young sisters (including Olivia Hussey and Margot Kidder) who are staying behind over Christmas break. His tactics range from making obscene phone calls from their house-mother’s phone, to stalking the terrified boarders with sharp objects and murderous intent. Director Bob Clark demonstrates a tight, aggressive style that generates some very original shocks — particularly the surprise ending — which clearly influenced dozens of similarly-themed slasher films to follow. Black Christmas 1974 Limited Edition Steelbook 4K UHD
Olivia Hussey and Margot Kidder star among an ill-fated houseful of sorority sisters celebrating the holiday season. Festivities turn fatal when obscene phone calls break the serenity, and it becomes clear that a psychopath is stalking the house. Black Christmas 1974 Limited Edition Steelbook 4K UHD
Additional information
| MPAA rating : | R (Restricted) |
|---|---|
| Product Dimensions : | 1 x 1 x 1 inches; 10.56 ounces |
| Director : | Bob Clark |
| Media Format : | 4K, Subtitled |
| Run time : | 1 hour and 38 minutes |
| Release date : | December 9, 2025 |
| Actors : | Keir Dullea, Margot Kidder, Olivia Hussey |
| Subtitles: : | English |
| Studio : | SHOUT! FACTORY |
| ASIN : | B0FRNR22KR |
| Number of discs : | 3 |
| Best Sellers Rank: | #4 in Horror (Movies & TV) |
| Customer Reviews: | (2,160) |
9 reviews for Black Christmas 1974 Limited Edition Steelbook 4K UHD
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TBS –
Solid Scream Factory Release
NOTE: This is for the Scream Factory Collector’s Edition, released in 2016/2017. Look under the reviewer name to see what version they are reviewing, or go to verified purchases and set what you want. Otherwise, you are looking at every release ever and people’s thoughts on them, plus random commentary on the movie itself.This is not a movie review, you can find plenty of them, but more commentary on the new release.Shout/Scream Factory is the best thing to happen to horror movies. Really, without them, we would be missing so many movies outright, and their transfers are phenomenal. That is the bright point with Black Christmas; in the past, watching this movie meant tuning into really dark darks and blurry compositions, which hurt the movie in the eyes of a lot of people. I had, for example, shown it to people and their takeaway was impacted by the older transfer’s lack of quality. Scream Factory fixes that with this 2K scan from the negative itself.On the two-disc Collector’s edition, you have the normal addition of the reversible slipcover, which allows the newer cover art of their commissioned picture. Personally, I like them both and I always like seeing how they display the movie years after-the-fact. Aside from the 2K scan (which I cannot say enough about, because it remedies so many darkness issues), the first disc includes 3 audio tracks (producer/director Bob Clark, actors Keir Dullea and John Saxon, and Nick Mancuso as Billy). I always like those, because they give you a feel about movies from before everything was cataloged. Disc Two includes an interview with Art Hindle, The 12 Days of Black Christmas documentary, Black Christmas Revisited, Black Christmas Legacy, On Screen: Black Christmas, Archival interviews, the theatrical trailer, tv and radio spots, and more.Scream Factory gives you a LOT on their movies (their release of The Thing, for example, is the best movie I have ever seen when it comes to extras), and I think they did a lot with this. The 2K scan alone makes it well worth considering.
64 people found this helpful
Val. –
Worth it
Just as the title of my review says, it’s worth it. I can tell that they really took their time and care into polishing things up, and the audio quality is amazing. I love that it has a lot of behind the scenes and commentary as well, and the box art is amazing! I love how I can switch it around if I want the special Blu Ray or the original cover art on display, but will advise to be careful while doing this as it’s difficult to slip it back into the plastic cover. I love this film and remember first watching it on a cold winter night in February at grandma’s house. I was scared out of my wits! I wish more horror movies had characters like Billy, and if you’ve seen it many times like I have, you’ll know why. It’s not an entirely original concept, but you’ll be on edge the entire time asking yourself of what’s going to happen next and where Billy is the entire film. The music is haunting and really creepy, and has to be the creepiest horror soundtrack I’ve ever heard in a horror movie. The rest pale in comparison to Black Christmas as a whole.
2 people found this helpful
Allen Garfield’s #1 fan. –
Yuletide classic – and proto slasher.
Bob Clark’s holiday-themed shocker gets a striking 2K upgrade and a thick-stacked slate of extras.It’s hard to believe the same man directed both the self-deprecatingly nostalgic A Christmas Story and Black Christmas, a twisted little shocker (based loosely on an urban legend) about an anonymous killer who infiltrates a sparsely inhabited sorority house at Yuletide. The two films could hardly be farther apart on the Christmas-spirit spectrum. But then Bob Clark was a dedicated craftsman who preferred to adapt his style to the subject matter at hand. He began his career as a regional horror filmmaker in Florida – his debut “gendertwist” She-Male is a bizzaro classic. Clark then churned out in quick succession the wonderful titled Children Shouldn’t Play with Dead Things and Deathdream (on Blue Underground), a scathing Vietnam-era zombie version of “The Monkey’s Paw,” before emigrating to Canada and taking on a script then entitled The Babysitter. Clark extensively reworked the scenario, altered the location, and added in substantial amounts of very black humor.Black Christmas just may be the perfect antidote to the saccharine sweetness of most Christmastime fare. It’s perhaps best described, in the pungent phraseology of Burt Lancaster’s dictatorial columnist from Sweet Smell of Success, as “a cookie full of arsenic”: Over the course of the film’s charity Christmas party, children are encouraged to knock back alcoholic beverages, and Santa’s cheerless greeting is “Ho, ho, f***.” Later on, the sorority’s resident vamp regales a dinner party with tales of animal sexual behavior. The vein of vulgar humor running through Black Christmas provides an unexpected link with another Bob Clark film, the archetypal teen sex comedy Porky’s. But the humor here is far less good-natured, and the gags never work to defuse the mounting tension, even if they occasionally threaten to derail the narrative, like the protracted “fellatio exchange” routine.Clark takes the time and trouble to establish his location and fully flesh out his characters before bumping them off. What’s more, these characters are refreshingly complex individuals who do and say unexpected things. Clark’s abetted immeasurably by a strong cast of up-and-comers, blending fledgling stars like Olivia Hussey, Margot Kidder, and Keir Dullea with faces that would soon become familiar from the films of David Cronenberg (particularly Art Hindle and Les Carlson). The film’s sexual politics are also surprisingly progressive: Jess (Hussey) is a strong-willed, independent heroine, who speaks openly and honestly about finding herself pregnant out of wedlock, not wanting to keep the baby, and being unashamed of wanting what she wants. In any other slasher film, either she or Kidder’s brazen hussy would be first on the chopping block, but Black Christmas takes out its chirrupy virgin first.Black Christmas lays much of the groundwork for the holiday-themed slasher cycle that came into its own four years later with Halloween. (Clark says he gave John Carpenter the basic scenario and even the title for Halloween while sketching out a hypothetical sequel to his film.) Both films open with a faceless killer prowling outside a house, the camera unsettlingly adopting his subjective POV. Clark uses this technique throughout (and to more radical effect) because ultimately his killer is never clearly seen, and his identity is never revealed. The prowler (per the credits) or “Billy”—as he perhaps names himself in a series of disturbingly obscene calls to the sorority girls—is far from the unstoppable boogeyman that Michael Myers represents. He’s an all-too-human killer with unclear, if clearly disturbed, motivations.Both Halloween and Black Christmas conclude on an ambiguous note of irresolute resolution. Seemingly dead, Michael’s body suddenly disappears, signifying perhaps the indestructibility of pure evil but certainly paving the way for an eventual sequel. Black Christmas’s ending is much more unsettling, as the blame for the killer’s crimes rests firmly on the wrong shoulders, its heroine out cold and completely helpless. And then the camera executes a leisurely dolly back down the hallway, peeking into the rooms where the various sisters met their ends, winding up at the hatchway to the attic as it slowly creaks open. And so we’re left utterly clueless as to what might happen next, once that phone starts endlessly ringing again.Image/SoundThis two-disc edition of Black Christmas offers two very different viewing options: The first Blu-ray presents a new 2K scan of the film negative in Bob Clark’s preferred 1.85:1 aspect ratio, while the second Blu-ray contains the 2006 “Critical Mass HD transfer” in 1.78:1. The 2K scan looks brighter and reveals increased clarity and fine detail, with a far more natural color palette. The 2006 transfer is noisier, darker, and murkier. Both transfers show speckling and a few vertical scratches in the final reels.On the sonic side, things get a little messy. The Critical Mass transfer comes with only a lossy Dolby surround track. The 2K scan boasts three audio tracks—and they all have issues. The mono mix sounds more akin to the theatrical presentation but was apparently sourced from a 35mm film print that’s distractingly marred by sibilant hiss and lots of distortion. Both the surround and stereo tracks are more robust (with real depth to some of the ambient music and effects in 5.1), but both “sweeten” the mix with beefed-up sound effects and amped-up musical stings. Nevertheless, all three tracks do right by Carl Zittrer’s creepy atonal score for prepared piano. Optional English subtitles are provided.ExtrasShout! Factory culls virtually every supplement from prior DVD and Blu-ray releases of the film, yielding over five hours’ worth of bonus features, including two new interviews with actors Art Hindle and Lynne Griffin—not to mention three separate commentary tracks. What emerges as you excavate your way through the various strata of supplements is an archeological record replete with overlapping anecdotes as well as nuggets of new insight, stretching back to almost two hours of raw interview footage with Olivia Hussey, Margot Kidder, Art Hindle, John Saxon, and Bob Clark. (Cream of the crop: Kidder confiding, before cackling delightedly, “What a blur it all was!”) Highlights among the extras include pieces on the film’s legacy, the “On Screen!” episode, and the “Revisited” featurette. What’s more, the commentary with Nick Mancuso in character as “Billy” should provide some choice background chatter for your next Christmas party.Highly recommend!
26 people found this helpful
George Bean –
The Perfect Spiritual Predecessor to ‘Halloween’ (’78)
I’ve got to say, the only way I found out about this movie is through its 2006 remake. To be honest, if it weren’t for the remake, I probably would never have heard about this movie until it would be too late. So there IS a bright side to remakes: They lead these new generations to the original movies, and they’ll figure out to appreciate those movies even more. The same thing happen to me on Star Trek when I’ve seen the 2009 reboot.So to put simply, I’m really happy to buy this movie from Amazon. They’re the best website to ever go to. I give them 15 stars out of 10. But anyway, this movie’s edition’s picture and audio quality is really good, it helps for my flat-screen TV. It was truly a shock to me when I found out that the man who directed this movie, Bob Clark, was the same guy who directed the 1983 legendary/classic holiday comedy ‘A Christmas Story’ (or ‘Shoot Your Eye Out’, as me and my Pops would call it). It’s ironic. But to say, this movie is a really scary, and well thought-out whodunit slasher-thriller. I love how we are NEVER told or shown the killer’s true identity, he’s just Billy and he’s psycho, that’s it; and it’s perfect that way. 😉 I also love how it’s a bit of a murder mystery, with one of the sorority girls being killed off in the first several minutes of the movie, and the rest of the film follows her friends, her father, and the police attempting to investigate her sudden “disappearance”.That whole “Fellatio 20880” joke; When I first watched that whole joke, I honestly did not know what fellatio meant (I was as dumbfounded as that cop Sgt. Nash), until I read about; (LMAO :D) It’s just hilarious; Nash is in way over his head not knowing what fellatio meant.But on an end-note, this movie is really great, still a timeless classic. It’s perfect to watch this and ‘Halloween’ back-to-back together on one late night, or Halloween, or Christmas Eve. I think it deserves to be released on video by either The Criterion Collection or Shout! Factory; they would do the movie justice. But, please check out this movie, you won’t be disappointed.Sincerely,George Bean
6 people found this helpful
Tiberius –
Classic: First and Best of the Genre
This is a classic movie. Most folks would refer to it as a “cult” classic because of it’s low budget but it’s nothing more than a very good mystery well directed with wonderful acting. I would put this movie up there with Psycho in that it was the first of it’s type and started a new genre of films, the “slasher” movies, which showed gore to enhance the drama. The reality is, the actual gore only takes place one time and it’s during one of the best ever directed scenes in cinema, in my opinion.Whenever there is a successful movie, you will see tons of imitations come onto the scene to cash in on the success. Black Christmas is that movie that started the whole genre of “scream queen” movies. But not only was it a first modern “scary” movie, it was also well directed with a logical storyline and good foreshadowing without being too obvious. The ambiguities deliberately fit the storyline rather than being poor story telling.The plot is fairly simple. At Christmas break, a sorority college student goes missing and, at the same time, the sorority house is receiving prank phone calls. The viewers know she has been murdered but the question is by whom. Because most people are leaving the school over the Christmas break, when someone disappears it it assumed they simply went to visit family.The actors are well accomplished: Olivia Hussey, Keir Dullea, John Saxon, Margot Kidder and Andrea Martin. It’s a shame that many people will half pay attention to this while watching because every line and every scene adds something to the plot that helps clue you in to what is happening. Don’t get me wrong, this is not a convoluted plot, but it does need to be followed closely to get the most out of the story.When I first heard of this movie it was titled “Stranger in the House” and I continue to put this in the top five of all time thrillers. Psycho, The Ring are a couple others that come to mind.
Eduardo Corrochio –
This Fun Film from 1974 is The GrandDaddy of Modern Horror Movies
This is easily one of the most fun horror movies ever, and one of the most frightening. I would have difficulty watching this alone in the dark. I am fine with “The Exorcist”, “The Shining”, “Alien”, and “Halloween”. But not this one. The killer in this movie is too scary. And you hardly ever see him.It’s been referred to as the first true “slasher” movie, although there are more interesting methods of killing here than mere slashing! You can tell that the director really had a good time making this. It shows.It was so innovative, and so influential on the horror movie genre; you’ve seen it all before in horror films of the 70’s, 80’s, and 90’s… but those movies all copied from this film.”Black Christmas” includes techniques and concepts that have since become cliche but were original back in 1974: the unseen maniac hiding in the house, camera angles from his point of view, the disturbing phone calls, very minimal but very effective use of creepy background music, and the solitary female survivor who must try to outwit/escape the bloodthirsty, unhinged psychopath.There are some truly scary moments (including those really horrifying schizophrenic phone calls about Agnes), but then there are comedy bits peppered throughout. Today’s movie audience might not like this original version because it takes its sweet time, relishing and savoring the dread and suspense until the taut climax.Margot Kidder (Barb) really hams it up playing the brassy, common, boozy, chainsmoking girl. Olivia Hussey (Jess) gives a nice performance. And as her tense pianist boyfriend, Keir Dullea plays the most tempermental musician you’d ever want to meet. I’d never want to be late for an appointment with Peter.The most exciting moment for me is when the cop on the phone tells Jess to just walk out the front door. That’s all she has to do. Just take a few steps and escape. (I will write no further, so the ending won’t be ruined for those who haven’t seen it yet.)…And to all a good night.
5 people found this helpful
Z B –
The Sound, the Brilliant Sound!
4K Blu Ray release review only I’m afraidThis film is a quintessential piece for horror fans, general genre fans and anyone remotely interested in brilliant fine filmmaking.Enough said on it’s worthA classic proto slasher, and when watched in a dark quite setting with high volume, it can still can still pack a punchThe picture here was drawn from the best possible sources, and looks very clean and detailed compared to any former release.I won’t compare it to anything more modern, but it can still beat the picture quality of some other films in 4K.It does look and feel brilliant, you won’t be disappointedPlus the HDR really makes it shine, with the Xmas setting allowing for some really dazzling colours to erupt (that you could never have seen before on any of the old masters, as they cannot represent the mass of colours present within a film print within SDR). And I’ll make it clear, it’s “dazzling” when compared to how this film has been seen since the VHS days. Not compared to let’s say Kubricks 2001So the sound, Scream Factory hired an external agent (you can find out from various posts by him and others on Blu Ray.com) and the sheer monumental effort that went into this; is nothing else than inspiring.Somewhat severe sibilance can be heard in this films orginal soundtrack masters – it’s been present from the beginning – only made worse by the only available materials (a mag strip from a print, since the original master tapes were lost 20 years ago by a DVD company) deteriorating with age and use.However, this individual painstakingly used existing tools and his own personal techniques and methods, to individually fix all of the sibilance in the soundtrack – one millisecond at a time (basically)The effort put in and the results we haveIt’s justWell outstanding, this film sounds outstandingAnd this restored Mono was used to create a new 5.1 track – which very much rocks !Even if it isn’t authentic, it’s the one I use nowSo what can I say, if you have seen this beforeYou haven’t seen the film, I mean not really – because in the end (outside of a cinema) this is the way to Experiance this motion pictureIf you haven’t seen it, well your in for more than an Xmas treatIt will blow your socks off
5 people found this helpful
N. P. Stathoulopoulos –
Rocking Chair Blues
It’s Christmas time, and the sorority sisters of an unnamed college (re: filmed in Canada) are partying before they return home for the holidays. Meanwhile, an unseen lunatic/psycho/madman enters the house to do bad things. As the police investigate a missing girl in town, they learn about the obscene phone calls being made to the sorority house and try tracing them…Black Christmas is sometimes credited as “the first slasher movie”, but let’s put it up there with Bava’s earlier Twitch of the Death Nerve, say they both “created” or popularized the genre, and call it a day. These days, having been through literally decades of “slasher” movies, and then Saw, and all manner of onscreen nastiness, Black Christmas a) should be viewed in context and appreciated for its time and ::gasp:: originality, and b) is still creepy and demented enough for today’s fans to enjoy.The film also created or least popularized some of the most dependable elements (now clichés) of horror movies: – “College” students played by people well out of college (including Keir Dullea / Bizarro Joe Montana) – Unspeakable horror during a holiday – The killer’s point of view shot / heavy breathing – The obscene, creepy phone calls – The phone calls coming from within the house(!) – The killer sometimes “hiding” in plain sight (because the cast is blind) – The cops as complete idiotsUsing the “less is more” approach, Black Christmas eschews gore for suspense and just general creepiness. There’s some blood, but nothing like its successors. Director Bob Clark has a nice touch when, during a scene where a town search party looks for a lost girl, they come upon what we can only assume is her dead body…but it’s never shown, and we hear only the barking of the hounds. The restraint is old-fashioned compared to today. Clark fought to keep the gore minimal and the ending ambiguous when—surprise!—the studio wanted more explicit material. John Carpenter cites it as a big influence on Halloween (often credited for being the first slasher), and rumor has it that Halloween actually came out of early ideas for a Black Christmas sequel. (Halloween is great on its own, and there never was a Black Christmas sequel.)The film holds up well, though some weaned on not-scary gore zone freak shows may not get as excited. Horror fans will appreciate a horror movie that lets the audience’s (depraved) imagination fill in the blanks. Remade in 2006, when—surprise!—the gore was far more explicit, and they went through the trouble of thoroughly explaining the killer and his motivations.The film looks great on DVD, and I’m sure it’s even sharper on BluRay, though there must be limitations to how sharp it can appear given the source material and age. Fans will love the photography, how the cheerily decorated sorority house takes on a creepy feeling, how the Christmas lights start to look…eerie. The extras include making-of and behind-the-scenes material, very welcome for this cult flick. Oddly, no trailers?Highly recommended on DVD or BluRay, it’s still seems like an underrated classic, and definitely a keeper. Not recommended to those who have a problem with horror movies set during Christmas.
9 people found this helpful
Mike –
A Christmas Story. ** Special edition dvd features below**
Bob Clark directed this 70s slasher gem and also directed the Christmas classic A Christmas story, along with other notable horror and comedies. In this movie we know very little of the killer, allot of reviewers point out this adds to the mystery and the effectiveness and i would agree. The 2006 remake fills in a back story of the killer and adds depth, but I, like most prefer this and my own imagination. Perhaps this killer didn’t get that proverbially red rider bee bee gun for Christmas and angered and unable to take out his frustrations with said gun he becomes a deranged killer.Bad joke.I consider myself a horror buff but this title for whatever reason has eluded me and I’m seeing it for the first time,(though if i review i watch the movie fresh anyhow) so I miss out on the effect it might have had on me as a younger kid. Most horror films that are the scariest to us I believe stems from what we saw at a young and impressionable age, when our imaginations were at their peak. However seeing this at 29 years old it still is a terrifying movie. For me the part that grabbed me is when the older woman in charge of the girls says goodbye as they are going off with a search party leaving the old woman alone. As viewers we know who is in that house, and I for a moment thought of any late ominous night i had said goodbye to friends and was alone, leaves you with an eerie feeling. In this horror film the killer isn’t trying to get in to get you, he’s already there so for us the scary part isn’t don’t go in the woods or who would go there it is when someone goes to bed, or friends leave then we feel the terror, I think we can relate to that terror. For example think back to when your a child and you saw a horror movie, you really wanted to, you told your parents it’s fine and it was. Now it’s dark out, soon it will be bedtime and we can’t get those horror movie images out of our heads and we panic. Maybe we have some friends over for a sleep over and we watch horror films all night, no big deal, then the next night there gone and were alone now those movies are scary, or even if it’s daytime and we have to go into the basement alone to do laundry, maybe we sing aloud la la la calmly walking to put the laundry in then as if were tricking said ghosts we bolt for the upstairs. That’s the brief familiar feeling i got when they left for the search party leaving that woman in the house alone, that is where the movie for me got freaky and then didn’t let up.Some have pointed out how Halloween got some of it’s ideas from Black Christmas, and that Halloween not Black Christmas is considered such a classic. I would agree Black Christmas could’ve very well influenced Halloween, but i wouldn’t say steal, Halloween is a classic and deservedly so and Black Christmas in any horror forum or discussion is also considered one by most. However i would like to point out a movie i felt did directly take from this that i have not heard mentioned, When a Stranger Calls (1979). Creepy phone calls, a traced call from police, and calls are coming from a second line in the house. I mean now that is pretty specific, almost makes me like When a Stranger Calls less.Also some things i thought noteworthy, the calls that come are very freaky the voice is reminiscent of the voices Regan would make from The Exorcist in one of her devilish outbursts. Olivia Hussey is one of the sexiest sleepers. The ending is top notch as well. The only hole i wanted to say something about was the fact this guy is on a phone line upstairs screaming but nobody hears him in the house, however the good heavily outweighs the bad, this is a great horror film with good character development, this movie could even spark up a pro life debate.The real horror is that Bob Clark and his son were killed by a drunk driver earlier this year April 4, 2007. R.I.PDVDSpecial edition dvd2 hours of new bonus materialSupervised by uberfan Dan Duffin, Creator of the […] Website-Digitally re-mastered anamorphic video and newly created 5.1 surround stereo audio-Two original scenes with a new vocal soundtrack that were recently uncovered-“The 12 days of black Christmas”, an all new documentary featuring current interviews with Art Hindle, Doug McGrath and Lynne Griffin among others.-Separate interview segments with Olivia Hussey and Margot Kidder-Midnight Screening Q&A session with John Saxon, Bob Clark, & Carl Zitter-Animated menus** Black Christmas is ranked # 87 on Bravos scariest movie moments and When A Stranger Calls # 28, personally they should switch **Movie 4.5 B +
9 people found this helpful