50 Fun Facts About Black Christmas Movie

Black Christmas (1974) was produced and directed by which filmmaker, who later made A Christmas Story?

He also directed Porky's and Murder by Decree, and won three Genie Awards.

In which Canadian city was Black Christmas filmed?

The 20-room sorority house was a real home at 6 Clarendon Crescent, found by Clark while location scouting.

What was the working title of Roy Moore's screenplay?

Clark chose the final title because he liked the irony of something dark happening at a festive time.

Which urban legend inspired the film?

Moore also cited a real series of holiday-season murders in the Westmount area of Montreal.

What nickname have the sorority sisters given the obscene caller?

The caller raves about someone named Billy, and later echoes an argument Jess had with her boyfriend.

Which actress plays the final girl, Jess Bradford?

She had found fame as Juliet in Zeffirelli's 1968 Romeo and Juliet.

Hussey signed on after a psychic told her what?

Margot Kidder recalled that Hussey was also convinced the psychic would lead her to marry Paul McCartney.

Which future Lois Lane plays the boozy sorority sister Barb?

She played Lois in the Superman films from 1978 to 1987.

With what object is Barb murdered in her bed?

The carollers at the door cover the sound of the attack.

How is Clare, the first victim, killed?

Actress Lynne Griffin said being a strong swimmer helped her hold her breath and stare without blinking.

Where does the killer leave Clare's body?

Her body is never found by the police, even at the end of the film.

Which Second City performer replaced Gilda Radner as Phyllis a month before shooting?

Martin returned as the housemother in the 2006 remake, the only original cast member to do so.

Which Hollywood legend turned down the role of housemother Mrs. Mac?

Clark based the tippling Mrs. Mac on his own aunt.

Bob Clark cast Keir Dullea as Peter on the strength of his role in which film?

Peter is Jess's boyfriend, furious that she plans to have an abortion.

John Saxon replaced which ill actor as Lieutenant Fuller at two days' notice?

Saxon later played another horror-movie cop, Nancy's father in A Nightmare on Elm Street.

How did actor Nick Mancuso make his voice sound more demented while recording the killer's phone calls?

Bob Clark also contributed voices to the calls, and Mancuso auditioned facing away from the director.

How did composer Carl Zittrer create the film's eerie score?

He then slowed the recordings down on tape to distort them further.

How were the killer's point-of-view shots of him climbing the house achieved?

Such killer's-eye shots became a slasher staple, borrowed from Italian giallo films.

Under what alternate title did Warner Bros. first release the film in the United States?

The studio feared the original title would make audiences think it was a blaxploitation film.

Under what title was the film scheduled for its 1978 NBC television premiere?

Some Southern affiliates were allowed to show Doc Savage instead after real sorority murders in Florida.

The 1978 TV premiere was disrupted because of murders at a Florida State sorority house committed by whom?

Florida's governor personally asked NBC not to air the film.

Warner Bros. pulled a promotional phone line after how many New York calls in 24 hours?

A plan to have two women in Santa suits hand out cards with the number in Manhattan was cancelled too.

How does the film end?

Warner Bros. wanted Clark to reveal Clare's boyfriend as the killer; he insisted on keeping it ambiguous.

Whom does Jess kill with a fire poker, believing him to be the murderer?

The police assume he was the killer and leave Jess asleep upstairs, with Billy still in the attic.

Which 1978 film grew out of Clark telling Carpenter what a Black Christmas sequel might be like?

Film historians rank Black Christmas among the very first slasher films.

Which comedian told Hussey he had seen Black Christmas 27 times?

She had assumed he meant Romeo and Juliet.

Roughly what was the 1974 film's production budget?

$200,000 came from the Canadian Film Development Corporation.

Which sorority-house horror ranking did Paste give Jess Bradford in 2018?

Critics have called the film feminist for giving Jess agency, including her decision to have an abortion.

On which date did the 2006 remake open in US cinemas, angering religious groups?

Dimension picked the date after Wolf Creek's success on Christmas Day 2005.

Who wrote and directed the 2006 remake?

He took the job after his 2003 remake of Willard flopped.

In the 2006 remake, why is Billy Lenz's skin yellow?

He is caught by police eating cookies made from his mother's flesh.

Who is revealed as the second killer in the 2006 film?

The names Billy and Agnes both come from the phone calls in the 1974 original.

How does Billy die at the end of the 2006 remake?

Kelli finishes off Agnes with a hospital defibrillator.

Which original cast member returned for the 2006 remake, this time as the housemother?

She had played Phyllis in the original.

How much did the 2006 remake gross worldwide, against a $9M budget?

It made more on home video than in cinemas.

Which studio produced the 2019 remake?

It was released on Friday 13 December 2019 by Universal.

Who directed the 2019 Black Christmas?

She sought a PG-13 rating to reach young women interested in horror.

Where was the 2019 film shot, standing in for its fictional Hawthorne College?

It was an international co-production between the US, New Zealand and Canada.

Which actress plays Riley Stone, the lead in the 2019 film?

Critics who disliked the film still praised her performance.

In the 2019 film, the killings are linked to a bust of college founder Calvin Hawthorne that oozes what?

Cary Elwes plays Professor Gelson, who refuses to teach books by women.

Unlike the two earlier films, what MPAA rating did the 2019 remake receive?

It grossed about $18 million on a $5 million budget.

Which 1968 role had made Olivia Hussey internationally famous before Black Christmas?

She took the horror role after a psychic predicted she would make a lucrative film in Canada.

Which real crimes, alongside an urban legend, inspired Roy Moore's screenplay for the 1974 film?

The urban legend was 'the babysitter and the man upstairs', and Moore's script carried the working title Stop Me.

On which date did the 2019 remake open in US cinemas?

It grossed $18.5 million worldwide, opening against Jumanji: The Next Level and Richard Jewell.

Which New Zealand campus provided the setting for the 2019 film's Hawthorne College?

The 27-day shoot took place around Dunedin and Oamaru in mid-2019.

Which remake had Glen Morgan directed just before being hired for the 2006 Black Christmas?

That 2003 film flopped at the box office, but Dimension Films still approached him to write and direct the sorority slasher.

In which city was the 2006 remake shot in 2005?

Morgan later said he clashed with the Weinsteins over the film's tone and ending, and at least two different cuts were released.

What is the name of the sorority in the 2006 remake, housed in Billy Lenz's former home?

The house belongs to Clement University in New Hampshire in the film's story.

Which studio first released the 1974 film on VHS in 1986?

A LaserDisc followed in 1999 and Scream Factory's collector's Blu-ray in 2016; a restored 4K version played cinemas for the 50th anniversary in 2024.

Which two 2019 films opened against the Black Christmas remake in the US?

It was projected to earn $10-12 million from 2,100 theatres in its opening weekend but fell short.