Black Christmas

by Lee Hays

When the sisters of Pi Kappa Sig begin clearing out for Christmas break, three friends decide to stay behind, only to be terrorized by obscene phone calls that chill them to the bone and lead them to suspect someone dangerous may be stalking them.

Based on the classic, chilling film by Bob Clark, if this book doesn't make your skin crawl, it's on TOO TIGHT!

Genres: Horror, 20th Century, New Adult, Fiction

Paperback

First published January 1, 1976

Reviews

[Alejandro · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent novelization!


This is a novelization of the original 1974 film titled “Black Christmas”, don’t confuse with the sequel from 2006 with the same name.


THE ORIGINAL, THE SEQUEL & THE BOOK

If you are so kind, please indulge me and let me begin with the sequel since it’s where everything started, at least for me.

I was checking the filmography of Mary Elizabeth Winstead, back in 2008, when I read about a recent movie (2006) with her titled Black Christmas (sometimes called “Black Xmas” to differentiate from the original film) and I noticed that besides her, the horror flick had an astonishing cast (at least for men) with Michelle Tratchenberg (Buffy, the Vampire Slayer), Lacey Chabert (Party of Five) and Katie Cassidy (Arrow (while she still had to be cast in that series premiered until 2012), so it wasn’t that odd that some months when I met the DVD in a store in a cheap price, I bought it blind. It wasn’t any cinema masterpiece but quite fair entertained slasher movie with that already mentioned hallucinating sexy cast.

This sequel helps a lot to understand better the backstory of the main killer, “Nasty Billy”, since in the middle of the current action, you’re able to watch flashbacks of his bizarre past and how and why he turned out as a pyscho serial killer.

Later, I found out about the original 1974 horror film and something that I attracted my attention was that Margot Kidder was in the cast (that I was only watching her in the Superman saga) so I ordered the DVD and it became one of my favorite horror films ever!

The original 1974’s Black Christmas is quite a pioneer in the genre of horror films using serial killers as the villains. It’s not that known due it’s a Canadian produced film, so it wasn’t marketed so large as an American film.

However, definitely this is truly a horror masterpiece, in a time that only Psycho was made so far using a serial killer, curiously Black Christmas was premiered almost at the same time than the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and definitely Black Christmas was a solid inspiration for the 1978’s Halloween in various details, besides the obvious choice of a serial killer as the antagonist instead of a paranormal creature, this film was visionary in using a holiday for the date in the story, seldom presentation of blood or gore scenes and showing the POV of the serial killer.

And fate put me, some months ago, in a local little store of used books, where I found this novelization in a very cheap price, so I didn’t hesitate to buy it, but I waited until this times (2016 December) to read it.


YOU DON’T NEED BLOOD TO BE SCARED

'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the Sorority house not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse. The bottles of liquour were laid by the kitchen with carelessness, not hoping that Nasty Billy soon would be there…

…but he would be there…

…oh yes, he was already there! And they didn’t know it!

I think that that it’s the cornerstone of the scary factor in this story, that “Nasty Billy”, the serial killer, is hidden since the beginning of the story, inside the Sorority house, without the awareness of the student girls or the house mother, and when he begins to murder them, one by one, he kept the victims hidden, so while the residents and other visitors are in and out of the house, “Nasty Billy” and his dead bodies are there…

…Dang!

Another good element in the story is that the Police (and nope, I don't mean the music group) really is preocupied to do all the possible things, not like most of the average slasher movies where the Police didn’t believe that there is some menace. The situation begins as a case of a unknown dirty caller and a missing girl, but since then, the detective which takes the case, started to move everything, tapping the phone to trace the calls, a plainsclothes cop watching the house, coordinating a search (using cops and volunteers) in the area, checking profiles of suspects, etc…

Also there is something totally disturbing about one of “Nasty Billy” ‘s killings that not matter you aren’t able to watch the action per se, if you takes in account the victim and her situation, dang! That’s something quite awful.

I am aware that sadly, this novelization is quite tricky to find, so if you aren’t able to buy it, so, look for the 1974 movie, that it’d easier to find taking in account that many current ways like online rental, used dvd’s stores, pay web movie services, etc… since if you are fan of horror genre in literature or film alike, I am sure that you’ll be able to appreciate this rare masterpiece.

[Garrett]

I've always preferred Black Christmas to the much more popular Halloween.

Halloween is definitely more iconic and gave us the archetypal slasher villain, and don't get me wrong I love it, but mostly because it is so expertly shot, lit, and staged. The soundtrack also really does wonders for the movie, and the ending is great.

But the acting, outside of Jamie Lee Curtis and Donald Pleasance, leaves a lot to be desired and so does much of the dialogue (the bit where Lynda goes on about Laurie's books comes to mind first). I find the characters are largely one-note stereotypes in Halloween, while the sorority sisters of Black Christmas are intelligent, profane, hilarious, and complex. Black Christmas is also the more suspenseful film: those phone calls might have started out as pranks, but they become unbearable in their intensity and are still genuinely disturbing today. I started dreading the ringing of that phone. And the “quiet” ending of Black Christmas, with just the ringing of the phone in the not-so empty house, was as good as Halloween's.

If I watch them back to back I just find there's more life to Black Christmas. I think it's amazing that there was even an abortion subplot in 1974, and it gives Jess a lot of depth. And the POV of the killer, the sense of evil getting closer and closer, the stylistic choice to show big empty rooms and dark spaces where he could be, and the looong and scary sequence from the time she is made aware of the danger to the time she finds the killer - these are things that Halloween does amazingly well, but in fact Black Christmas did just as well and arguably pioneered.

[E B · Rating 2 out of 5]

Definitely a phoned-in novelization. Jess's name changes from Bradford to Bradley across the entire book (movie was Bradford). It reads more like audio descriptions of the movie for the visually impaired and doesn't add any more depth than the film provides.

[George Harting · Rating 5 out of 5]

I never knew this novelization of one of my favorite horror movies even existed, but I was fortunate enough to stumble upon the ebook version of it recently. A rare gem that I will be adding to my annual holiday reading list from now on, in addition to watching the movie!

[Phrique · Rating 5 out of 5]

📞📞📞📞📞/5

Alright guys, I cheated. I read the novelization of one of my favorite horror movies even though I’ve seen it a million times. It was an amazing experience tho! It felt like the first time I had seen it. So many creepy parts were amped up and I legit was turning the page like oh shit what happens next when I already knew. 👀 Just about everyone knows the story from the movie, Christmas-themed slasher that takes place in a sorority house that’s been getting obscene phone calls. The novelization feels just like the movie, (obv) but you get to actually read and better understand what the obscene calls are saying and it just 😬😬😬😬. So this was my first novelization that I’ve ever read but I loved it & now I must find more to add to my TBR.

p.s. I’m taking recommendations, so lay them on me.

[Gabriel · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love Black Christmas, it’s one of my favorite movies of all time let alone of my favorite horror movies. Easily one of if not the best proto slasher in cinema history. (Yes over Psycho don’t come for me) Also I just love novelizations and collecting them. So this was a solid novelization, I just wish it added a lot more details to the characters, I would have loved to know more about Barb or Jess and their lives before or at the college. Maybe even Peter? But for some reason the book chooses Ms Mack to shine the light on? For whatever reason? Still a feminist masterpiece, and one of the creepiest movies ever. The book is pretty good too, and I’m glad Billy was kept ambiguous. I would have yawned if they added anything besides what we can glean from his dialogue, it worked in the 06 movie because it was intentionally trashy. It wouldn’t have worked here and for that I’m grateful.

[Dasha · Rating 4 out of 5]

3,5 estrellas
Mucho mejor de lo que esperaba. Es una lástima que sea tan difícil de encontrar y que no esté traducido.
Lo he leído para el reto "Sé lo que leíste el último verano", organizado por Evita lecturitas y La biblioteca de Bluerose. Premisa: "Un libro con más de un asesinato" pero es que en este caso es un slasher puro y duro que, además, es adaptación de una de las películas precursoras del género. Esta historia tiene mucha más chicha de lo que pudiera parecer. No sé cómo de fiel es a la peli pero lo descubriré pues la voy a ver para el reto.
Por cierto, es ideal para leer en Navidades 😁

[Glenn Patterson · Rating 3 out of 5]

I gave this three stars despite the fact that the author could have benefited tremendously from a high school creative writing course. The whole book is damn near one big run-on sentence. Although, I don’t know why I’m being so critical of a paperback novelization of a slasher film. This is one of my top 10 favorite movies of any genre and despite the flaws in the writing, I enjoyed this little book tremendously because of that.

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a bad novelization. It added a few new lines but for the most part, it really stuck to the script, often times word for word in descriptions. It also stuck so closely to the script that when Jess was first introduced, the script (and then the novel) said her last name was Bradley. When the script has a character refer to her last name as Bradford (which is what they went with in the movie), the author followed suit in the novel but then proceeded to return to calling her Bradley.

[a.k.a. forest · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love this movie, and while the writing in the book leaves something to be desired, it is compelling, to the point, and I appreciate the slightly more in-depth insight into Billy's mental state. Everything a novelization should be—it summarizes and expands upon the movie where appropriate. Really, the only thing is that the writing could have been more artful.

[James Seger · Rating 3 out of 5]

A decent novelization of the classic Canadian horror flick, released two years after the fact. I enjoyed reading it and the end was fairly tense, though I wish the author built the remain a little more evenly though the novel.

[Morrigan Aguayo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Decently written, though the movie itself is far, far superior. I do LOVE how Billy was written, though. He was the star of the book.

[Sarah Leis · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5⭐