Jingle bells, Batman smells - Black Christmas (1974)

Believe it or not but the nights are drawing in, there's a chill in the air and the shops have started selling festive chocolate. Which I will eat by Halloween. My body is a temple. I've been keeping this little film on the back burner for quite some time, waiting for the weather to change.

Beginning with a classic 70's slasher feel it doesn't take long to break the mould and shock us with some deliciously foul language. I adore the Halloween films but something they miss is some dirty talk. And surely that's what your typical teen slasher is based on; debortuary. The point of view camera work lets us watch through the windows of a sorority house on the evening of a party to celebrate the end of term. We go inside and the phone rings and all the girls gather to witness what seems to be the latest in a series of heavy breather calls. But this time the man seems to want to interact a little more and we hear some of that filthy talk I was telling you about earlier.

Unlike many films of its type, the campaign isn't confined to one night. They receive calls from the demented psycho over a couple of days and nights. After the police discover a dead girl in the park and some of the other kids go missing they decide to take the calls more seriously and put a trace on them.

There are classic and dare I say corny lines and set ups all over the place. In the very first scene someone is being chastised for leaving the door open, there are two telephone lines in the house, there is an alcoholic character and all the girls seem to be deviant in some way shape or form. But these are all set ups I love.

The ending is more relaxed than it should be and heightens the urgency of the viewer. You're left thinking, save her, save her, but no one can hear you and no one comes. There are similarities with a lot of films but one that strikes a chord the most is the When a Stranger Calls original, right down to the zoom shots and bellowing soundtrack. Although in this film you know early on that the killer is in the house the whole time. The reveal here is replaced with the shock the characters get from this information and realising that we have gained a perverse pleasure in the fact that we knew all along.