If I could be like Mike

In December, 1982, Richard Delmer Boyer murdered a couple in California, stabbing the husband 24 times and the wife 19 times. Two months earlier, HALLOWEEN II the sequel to John Carpenters groundbreaking HALLOWEEN was released in theaters.
Boyer was convicted on two charges of first degree murder in 1984, but he had the convictions were overturned due to his constitutional rights being broken during interrogation.. This paved the way for his retrial in 1992, where Boyer made some interesting claims. See People v. Boyer, 133 P.3d 581 (Cal. 2006). According to Boyer, he cosumed pcp, speed, whiskey, cocaine, and smoked marijuana on the day of the murders, and when he was at the victims' house, "He felt he was part of Halloween II....Events kept changing speeds, and items inside the house became distorted." -Boyer claimed. A doctor who examined Boyer also testified that Boyer told him in 1990 that "he was 'tripping' at the [victims'] residence, felt like he was in the movie Halloween II, and 'actually hallucinated a man coming at him with a knife.'" On cross-examination, however, the doctor admitted that when he interviewed Boyer in 1982 and 1983, Boyer "did not mention this hallucination."
Boyer's main defense at trial was that he should have been found guilty only of voluntary mansalughter because he was "unconscious" as a result of voluntary intoxication, a valid defense under California law. The trial judge instructed the jury on this defense, but failed to instruct the jury on the legal definition of "unconsciousness," which extends to those "who are not conscious of acting but who perform acts while asleep or while suffering from a delirium of fever...." (Defense counsel did not ask for such an instruction).
Last year, the California Supreme Court affirmed his convictions, and I think that it acted correctly in doing so. Boyer raised a lot of issues on appeal, but I'll only address two. First, the Boyer claimed that because his confession violated his rights, his statements to doctors in the early '80s (where he didn't mention the hallucinations) were inadmissible as the "fruit of the poisonous tree." The court found that this doctrine did not apply because this evidence did not come from subsequent police investigation, but instead was evidence voluntarily compiled by the defendant himself such that its exclusion would have "a negligible deterrent effect on police misconduct." Id. at 618
Second, Boyer claimed that the court erred in failing to instruct the jury on the legal definition of "unconsciousness" The court, however, found that "[n]o rational jury, having heard the trial evidence and an instruction permitting it to find that defendant killed while unconscious, would require further instructions to realize that it could accept defendant's hallucination claim as one of unconsciousness

A special thanks to....

Hysteria-Lives and his name is Justin.

Only a handfull of people (as of the present) will be reading this, but it's the thought that counts. But, we all know that's not the case on Christmas. We're all getting tired of socks and cologne, but where are the simple thank yous? Well, here's one.

This one goes out to Justin Kerswell of .http://hysteria-lives.co.uk/. The guy is almost soley responsible for turning me back to the beloved slasher film. I watched scary movies constantly as a kid, but not until 1998, when I first started to surf the web, did I stumble upon Justin's site -and it all started from there. I've read 'almost' every review and interview on his site. Some of the best, well-rounded and truthful reviews of the slasher film on the entire net.

I used to be part of a very large (now defunct in content only - The domain still exists with a whole different presentation) horror themed website, and just so happened to have a few extra interviews lying around. Since they didn't have a home, and since some of them were slasher themed, I asked Justin if he would put them on his site. Sure enough, he did.

A helluva guy I tell ya! If you like slashers, don't go anywhere else but Hysteria-Lives. It's the ONLY place to go for your slasher fix. So, in a nutshell, thanks Justin. Thanks for all your hard work and sincere dedication to the genre.

The Final Friedrich

The Final Terror - Campsite Massacre - Three Blind Mice - Carnivore - Bump in the Night -

It seems as if The Final Terror has more aka's than Puff Daddy. It's quiet the shame, really. The Final Terror gets a lot of flack due to the low bodycount and high survival rate. Nevertheless, this isn't a review for The Final Terror, but an update on the southern talking, mushroom popping, dope smoking, ex-Army guy, 'Zorich', who runs the show when the killing starts. John Friedrich 'Zorich' seemed to drop off the face of the earth after TFT was released. There was all kinds of speculation as to where this prominent 70's and 80's rising star may have ended up. He supposedly died in the 80's. He then was supposed to be Ken Wahl's live-in gardener. But, thank goodness none of that was true. The co-star of The Thornbirds, The Wanderers, and The Boy In The Plastic Bubble is is alive and well, living in New Mexico with his family.

Below is a recent pic of John Friedrich during his speech in Hawaii in May 2007. Accompanied with the pic is an article on Friedrich and his willingness to step back in front of the camera ofter 25 years. Enjoy!

"If John Friedrich wants to revive a once-flourishing acting career, he's on his way. At the University of Hawaii Tuesday night, the youthful-looking 49-year-old attracted a crowd to analyze clips from his movies and unearth tidbits about major stars in the 1970s and early '80s. He hinted at his reasons for leaving Hollywood more than two decades ago and confessed his desire to return to what he considers "an unfinished chapter" in his life.
Sitting next to facilitator and UH professor Marc Moody and wearing gray slacks, a black shirt and the requisite lei, Friedrich shared behind-the-scenes stories about the acting process and working with some of Hollywood's biggest names in a stream-of-consciousness style that drew the audience from one anecdote to the next.
The peak of his career was the role of Frank Cleary in "The Thorn Birds" with Richard Chamberlain, Jean Simmons, Barbara Stanwyck and Rachel Ward. "'The Thorn Birds' was like you had finally gotten into the Ferrari," Friedrich recalled of the 1983 miniseries. "The level of acting was substantially higher. It's one of my great memories. Richard was one of the reasons I became an actor," he said of Chamberlain, whose work on the stage first inspired Friedrich.
The part had been offered to Friedrich's good friend Brad Davis, a household name at the time. "They were looking for a star, and I was not at that level yet," he said. But Davis ("Midnight Express") refused the plum role, insisting Friedrich would be better. The two had become close on the set of the iconic cop show "Baretta" and the movie "A Small Circle of Friends," Rob Cohen's ill-fated directorial debut.
Friedrich also recalled his brief time with Lana Turner and considered Stanwyck and Turner "a dying breed, just royalty. They really had a presence or a charisma that I haven't seen since. You can't not look at it."
An amusing story arose from the set of "Thank God It's Friday," about a dinner with Donna Summer. "So you sing disco songs?" he said to the mega-star at the time, who answered incredulously, "You really don't know who I am!" A friendship with Debra Winger also blossomed during that film. Later, Winger often called while shooting "Urban Cowboy," worried that nobody on the set liked her.
John Travolta traveled with an entourage even when he and Friedrich filmed "The Boy in the Plastic Bubble." But Friedrich said Travolta told his assistants to leave when it was time to shoot a scene, and focused intently "so that working with him was an absolute pleasure."
Friedrich got his start in 1975 at age 16 with Robert Blake on "Baretta." The rebellious teen left home the moment he started making a living as an actor. "My life took a 90-degree turn from that point," he said. "I got a good agent, and my ability to get work really took off."
Ambitions to attend Yale faded as offers flowed. He could go to college any time, his fellow actors told him. Consequently, he never went, something he still regrets. Had he attended college first, "I think my ability to last in the business would have been greatly enhanced."
When viewing clips from his movies in sequence, his range is especially evident in his ability to master accents totally unfamiliar to him.
For example: the role of Joey, an Italian kid from the Bronx, in "The Wanderers," a 1979 flop with Karen Allen that became a cult classic. Friedrich, a self-described kid from the San Fernando Valley, recalled that he'd never even visited New York City until he got the part.
"Those were just a terrifying first few days," he recalled, feeling sure the director would fire him. "I cried in the bathtub on many occasions."
Despite his impressive performance, shooting turned out to be a struggle. To make matters worse, the movie disappeared from theaters in about a month.
After "The Thorn Birds" and "The Final Terror" in 1983, he moved to New Mexico, met his wife and started a family, worked as a financial consultant and settled into what most people might call a normal life.
Gradually, evidence that he should consider reviving what he'd left behind began to emerge.
When "The Wanderers" was re-released on DVD two years ago, director Philip Kaufman publicly appealed to Friedrich to get in touch with him.
"Did I call him?" Friedrich asked the audience, laughing. "No!"
Asked what inspired such a dramatic departure, he answered, "Life happened." He indicated that his psychological state during a less-than-ideal youth was "tied to my ability to express myself as an actor; I came to the party because I liked the mask. This became more untenable as I matured."
But the fire never died. "I thought I could get the actor out of me, but I really couldn't," he said. Recently, he returned to the stage, playing the Donald Sutherland role in "Ordinary People" in an Albuquerque theater. About this time the unexpected letter from Moody arrived, inviting him to Hawaii.
"How do I reconnect with these talents and these gifts?" he asked rhetorically.
The first step, he's discovering, is to say yes."

John Friedrich at a speaking engagement in Hawaii.

Antonella ''daughter of Lucio" Fulci Interview

The 'Godfather of Gore'. We've all seen at least a few of his films. He's only one of the most prolific directors of his time. Lucio Fulci could pull you in like no one else. Sadly, we lost him back in 1996, but his daughter (Antonella) is alive and well and more than willing to discuss her father with us here at The Stupid. Hope you enjoy!~

The Stupid: How did being the daughter of such a controversial figure in the Italian/American horror industry play a part in your younger years?

Antonella: When my father shot Zombie, I was already 19 y.o, and for us, it was just another film. If you think that my father had already shot about 40 films as a director and had written about 90 as a screenwriter, you can understand why. My father had a job like any other father, the only difference was that his 'office' was a set. When I was a kid, in the 60's, the words 'let's go say hello to dad at work' meant going somewhere where a bunch of wonderful people were playing a game and joked with meand bought me ice creams . I loved it, and thought that my dad was the luckiest guy in this world, cause his job was having fun with his friends. I don't think that, if he could decide, he'd like to be remembered for his horror movies even if, as a professionist, he surely did the best about the matter. After all, he had 30 years of carrier on his back. I must say I don't like it too, cause I find it very limitative. To shed some light on my horror background a little: One of the first films that ever gave me nightmares was 'The Gates of Hell'- The scene where the lady vomits up her intestines is pure art in my book! I am curious to know, what was the first horror related experience you ever had?Good scene indeed, and functional for the mood of the film. The first time I saw my father shooting a 'horror' scene I was very young, 12 or 13 I think. I went to 'visit dad at work' on the set of 'Don't torture a Duckling'. We were in a small real cemetery in Abruzzo (a region of central Italy) and my first vision was miss Florinda Bolkan, and I still remember how beautiful she was, with the longest black hair I'd ever seen, sitting on a chair and happily chatting with a guy that was fixing little tubes full of a red substance on her skin with some plaster. While I was still staring at that awesome 'creature of the wood', the guy started modeling a horrible scar on her shoulder, and I became curious to see what would happen next....There were guys around there, with plastic chains in their hands, familiar faces that I had seen 'playing games' with my dad since when I was a little kid, so nothing frightened me until then...But when it came to shoot the scene of the brutal killing of the 'Maciara' everything changed. It was so real! Their faces changed, those harmless plastic things really seemed deadly weapons, that false scar kept bleeding tomato in front of me, and I felt strange, because I somehow understood that I wasn't scared by the chains or by the fake blood, but by what was behind that scene. When my father said 'cut!' the villains and the victim started joking and laughing as always, but lately, when I saw the movie, I understood that my fears were related to something that my father always repeated to me. He always said that the most horrible things in this world come from ignorance and bigotism, and as they were both well represented by that scene, my mind had gone beyond the false chains and the tomato.....

The Stupid: As is probably obvious to you, many movie critics wrote Lucio's films off as being barbaric and lacking vision. I personally couldn't disagree more and consider him a master at delivering 'atmosphere'. How did it make you feel to hear such things about your Father's work?

Antonella: I think that they probably have seen the wrong movies. As I said it's impossible to judge my father's work only from his horror movies. If it goes on like this, his fate is to be misunderstood. If you could see all the beautiful comedies he's done and written, and all the different kind of movies he has made, you'd see that there are many good horror directors and only one Lucio Fulci! :)))))

The Stupid: I understand that you were a special guest at 'Cult Con 2002' of November of last year in Tarrytown, New York. Could you maybe give us some background on who was there and maybe share a mini experience you had while attending?

Antonella: I was in Sleepy Hollow-Tarrytown 2 years ago for the 2000 edition of the Cult Con. It's been mostly a great experience for me, I met a lot of very nice people, and a couple of them have become my dear friends. Plus I feel that New York is my second hometown. Me and Valentina, mr. Deodato's girlfriend, were the only girls of the gang (I'm 42 now but please let me call myself a girl once more), and I had a lot of fun with all the Italian bunch. There I had the chance to meet many american hardcore horror fans, all great guys, and even if I think that some of them make a little confusion between fiction and reality they've been truly exquisite. The touching side of the story is that sometimes I felt 'watched'. You know when you feel someone's eyes right on you? Well, most of the times I turned back and saw a guy staring at 'the daughter of the Godfather of Gore'. Everytime that it happened, I would have liked to go there, introduce myself and say: 'Hi guy, I'm Antonella, nice to meet you', just to show I was nothing special.....

The Stupid: As is obvious to any Fulci fan, your Father didn't start off his directing career with the horror genre. I understand that he has a few spaghetti westerns and comedies under his belt. Do you have any idea why Lucio transgressed from the direction of light-hearted material, to the the macabre world of gore and death?

Antonella: The producers offered him to shoot those kinds of movies, and probably he showed up so good in making them that the producers, or better let's say The Producer a.k.a. Fabrizio de Angelis, a genius in my humble opinion, understood that he had a winning horse by the hands. They became collaborators and good friends, and together made great stuff. Behind the scenes, the making of those movies was a fun and a pleasure. With a wizard of the lights like Sergio Salvati, cameramen like Franco Bruni and Maurizio Lucchini, make up artists like De Rossi and Maurizio Trani and all the other wonderful people there, you can imagine that it was heaven, for my dad. Unfortunately, even when Fabrizio de Angelis stopped producing his movies, his name has been typecasted into horror genre, and italian genre cinema started to fall down the hill. I hate the fact that some people may start to know Lucio Fulci from film like the ones he just did for money, like Demonia or Zombie 3, that he only directed partly. I can't really disagree when someone says that my father has made crappy movies, cause they've just seen those ones, but it hurts....

The Stupid: It was brought to my attention that you are a very big 'American' horror film enthusiast as well. What is your favorite 'American' horror film and why?

Antonella: Actually, I'm a big fan of 'unusual movies' and a John Waters and Divine's true worshipper. Horror is a genre like the others, for me. There's good and (terribly) bad in it. Anyway, there's a recent enough American movie that terrified me, and made me fall in love with it. It's 'Requiem for a Dream' by Darren Aronofsky. I consider it a horror film with a touch of genius. There's fear, there's gore, there's hallucination, and the sensation that you are somehow part of the story. At the end of the movie, I was petrified on my chair, feeling that I was Sara, and Harold, and Marion, and that other guy (wonderful actor by the way), all at once. What I'd just seen was the nightmarish side of everyone's everyday life. My father would have loved it so much! Ironycally the title of one of his best short stories, that's been published on one of his books is 'The killer of the dreams'. I've also had a crush for 'The Blair Witch Project', so hard that I wrote a book about it that went very well, but that's another story....

The Stupid: I understand that a hardcore Lucio fan named Mike Baronas is in the process of publishing a biography on your Father. I would imagine you played a part in the making of the book. Can you maybe give us a little information on the book and when it will be released?

Antonella: As you've probably understood, I don't think that a horror fan could be the right person to write my father's biography. I really appreciate the passion that one may put in such a thing, and am grateful to every single Lucio's fan, but to speak about my dad so that people may really know him, one should dig deeper, so as always I put a big distance between me and these projects. I had problems, in the past, with people who wrote for horror magazines, and with some 'wish I was a writer' people who put out bad books and articles about my father that only helped to typecast him. I'm not saying it could happen again, but sincerely I prefer not to be involved with these things. The only book that gave me a big satisfaction was Stephen Thrower's 'Beyond Terror'. Actually there's a book that I'm supporting, soon to be published by an Italian author, Paolo Albiero, that's the most complete Lucio's biography you can imagine. The author, a professor in psychology at the University of Padova, spent 5 years collecting material and interviewing all the people (some of them are not with us anymore, unfortunately) that had an impact on my father's personal life and carrier. The result is so awesome that reading it I, myself, sort of reconstructed parts of my family life that I had missed. I'm glad that now the readers will have a choice. Not only books about Lucio's carrier in the horror scene, but also books about Lucio, that was a more interesting human being than most of his horror films

The Stupid: I would have loved to have visited the set of any of Lucio's films (preferably New York Ripper) so I could have experienced the magic of filmmaking first hand. Did you ever get to visit the set of any of his films? And if so, could you maybe share an experience with us?

Antonella: You're lucky cause I've been in NY during all the making of The Ripper. A nice anecdote regards Howard Ross, the guy with the amputated fingers in the film, and the nicest and gentlest person you could ever meet. They had to shoot the scene where the guy is found dead with his head wrapped up in plastic. The make up artist had done a great work on his face, so Renato (Howard) had the idea of making a joke to the hotel clerks. He went down the hall in full makeup, with all the false rotting skin hanging around his face. But the clerks said nothing, looked him normally in the face, took the room key and politely greeted him. He got very disappointed by that at first, but then we looked each other in the face and started laughing so hard that the make up almost fell down.......That was more or less a typical situation, in the making of a Lucio's movie....

The Stupid: When it came to the films of your Father, some of his ideas were marvelous. I would imagine that being around your Father after a long day of shooting, he would sometimes 'bring his work' home with him. Do you have any ideas where Lucio came up with some of his nightmarish visions? And if so, can you elaborate just a little bit?

Antonella: Questions like this make me more motivated in realizing a project that I have in mind, a documentary about my father. The title will be 'Gimme some truth', and it will be a 'Lucio in his own words' thing. It will include some family movies shot by him in the 50's and 60's and other amazing stuff. Anyway, about your question: 'No, the 'nightmares' stopped when he said 'cut!' then we all went back to our lives, that were very happy at those times. A filmaker is mostly an illusionist, he can make you believe he's having nightmares while he's making wonderful dreams.

The Stupid: I don't think many people realize this, but Lucio authored a few books in his time. Can you give us a little information on this?

Antonella: They're two collections of short stories and memories. The first one is called 'Le lune nere' (the black moons), the second 'Miei Mostri Adorati' (My Adored Monsters). They're both beautiful. They've never been translated in English but, who knows? I have to say, that being a Fulci fan, I tend to enjoy all of his horror films. I'm sure you have a favorite of his as well. Just curious, out of all his films, which do you enjoy most and why?Don't Torture a Duckling, cause every character of the movie is a good fellow and a monster at the same time, and for the reasons I've explained before. And all the wonderful comedies he co-wrote in the fifties with 'Maestro' Steno (Stefano Vanzina), a person that he idolized and that taught him almost all he knew about filmaking, when my father was his assistant director.

The Stupid: Before we close, I would like to say that to most of Lucio's fans, he is remembered as being the 'Godfather of Gore', but to his beloved daughter, what words would you use as a rememberance to describe your famous Father?

Antonella: He was a natural born entertainer and the funniest person I've ever known. Every day with him was a 'happening', and you could never imagine what he could invent next. He was a cinephile and a jazz music big fan. He taught me that if you have a passion, an interest, nothing can be stronger than you, because in every situation, even in the worst ones, you'll have a film to watch or a song to listen to, that will help you overcome the bad times.

Sisters of Death 1972

Above is the new dvd cover (That has absolutely nothing to do with the fucking movie) for the 1972 drive-in flick, Sisters of Death. I'll stick with the old vhs artwork, personally.


In the same vein as Ten Little Indians, Sister's of Death does the 'invitation' thing some years before Paul Lynch's Prom Night, and even before Class Reunion Massacre from 1976. Sorority girls are holding their initiation for two inductees that involves a pistol/murder reinactment in which one of the 'Sisters' would load the gun, place it to the inductee's head and pull the trigger. Of course, the blank bullet is just supposed to make a loud noise and that's it. But, in this case, it splatters the girls brains all over the place and the rest is history. Anyway, it's a few years down the road and the remaining ex-sorority girls receive an invitation and five hundred bucks to attends a 'Sister's' reunion. They are supposed to meet in a designated spot where two guys with a beat-up station wagon (with sheets over the windows) are to pick them up and take them to their destination, where they themselves are to make a couple hundred bucks. After all the girls finally arrive, the two guys drive the girls to their location. One of the guys talks his friend into staying and partying with the girls, and they soon learn they're stranded on the property. (Pussy has been known to get a man into trouble at times.) An electric fence keeps them on the premises while an unknown specter roams throughout the mansion spying and doing away with the girls one by one. Sister's of Death is a film that does a lot of cliché' things before it was cool to do so. The acting is surprisingly good for a drive-in caliber flick. There's copious amounts of cheese that accompanies the actions and dialog of our characters, and a twist ending that I never saw coming. It comes from nowhere. Just who is it that is taking the girls out one by one? Just whose revenge mode is set on high, and what lengths will they go through to extend their murderous rage?

In a nutshell, Sisters of Death could very well be considered one of the first proto-slashers to enter the game. There were other films before it with slasher elements, but not really for the bodycount. Sisters of Death goes for the bodycount, with an abnormally high bodycount for 1972. Well worth the buck you'll pay for it no days in one of those bargain bins.

I learned a few things from this film as well. Apparently, in 1972, it wasn't abnormal for two guys to drive a beat-up station wagon around with curtains over the windows. You should never take a shower while someone is roaming around the house killing people. Never forget and run into a live electric fence. Joe Tata does the electric boogie and he didn't like it. Old vengeful men keep Gatlin guns in their attic.

Satan's Kitchen Knife

Why would anyone like Satan's Blade? - The rare obscure 1982 slasher film that's as hard to find as a sober Bobby Brown. I first heard about this flick on the mighty Justin Kerswell's monstrocity of a slasher site, Hysteria-Lives!. I'm a sucker for a film set in snowy regions. Since it was also a very obscure title, the slasher completist inside me ventured out and finally picked up a pristine copy.

It's a wonder there's any copies still around, since Tom Bongiorno (Tony - the sensible hero of the film) admitted to actually strolling all Blockbusters and Hollywood Video stores upon its initial video release in 1984, destroying every copy he could find. He was so embarrassed at the final print of the film, he actually walked out on a mindnight showing at a theater the director rented trying to promote it.

Basking in the cheesy glory of Satan's Blade is the closest thing to Heaven this earth has to offer. You have a bunch of fun loving women and two couples who are holed up at a ski-resort for a good time. Just the night before, two women were brutally murdered after a bank heist went bad.

The group of girls reluctantly take the cabin and we're off to the races. I'm sure there should have been a lengthy police investigation, but I guess police officers in Big Bear, California get lazy in the Winter time.

The whole film has this depressing power that grabs you and won't let go. You're on the verge of suicide as the depressing landscape and even more depressing synth score blares in the background.

You have disco-Al who is the absolute fucking king of one-liners. There's Tony, an aspiring lawyer and his wife, who, more or less is quiet the big breasted prude. There's also Al's wife which is nothing more than an excuse for somebody to get stabbed.

Let's not forget our scantly clad, big breasted victims in the cabin next to the two couples. Stephanie knows Tony is married, but this doesn't stop her from wanting to make it with him. Tony eventually fights off her advances and the two become 'friends'. Oh, how sweet.

We get a million shots of someone walking from a mile and a half away while this lonesome depressing score just bounces off the scorched spots in your brain until nostalgia turns from being your friend, to being your friend in suicide. I wanted to find an old beat up 1985 Buick and drive down to the building where the old Maloney's used to be and pretend I was six again.

The first twenty minutes of this flick is quiet grande, if not exceptionally spectacular. There's the usual no-bounce character development that let's us mainly know that Al loves to eat. In the morning. After getting drunk. In the evening. The godamn man likes to eat, and the director and writers make sure we know this.

The murder scenes are quiet disturbing, almost giallo-like. The killer wears a pair of yellow gloves and stalks the premises. When the action gets started, the film is elevated from a carboard piece of paper, to a colorful carboard cereal boxe with puzzles on the back. It gets interesting, especially the murdered girls writhering for thirty seconds in pain while the camera lingers above them. There's also a nightmare sequence that's truly horrifying.

Don't get me wrong, Satan's Blade is a bad film. Everything about it is bad...from the bad 80's wardrobe, to the point and shoot direction, to almost everything else. This still shouldn't stop one from seeing it. It's one of those golden peanuts in all the turds we've seen in the past. The one we've always overlooked. This is the cheesy slasher fan's dream. There's also a good twist ending I never saw coming. Give this movie a chance. I'm sure it would lend you a hand if it had one.

Then and Now

Stephanie Leigh Steele (final girl 1981)

Stephanie Leigh Steele (final gir 2007)


copyright Stephanie Steele 2007

Watching Christmas Slashers

Christmas finally went. Too commercialized for me. The thing for me these days is to actually sit inside and watch Christmas slasher movies. I know. It's a shame really. A young man like me and a young woman like my wife, sitting home on Christmas, not spreading cheer, wasting money and not getting drunk. Instead, we smoked a lot of pot and watched Bob Clark's classic 'Black Christmas'. Simply the best seasonal, if not the best slasher film of all time.

Sorority girls get obscene phone calls and end up murdered one by one. 'Black Christmas' is very atmospheric with an eerie ambience hovering about the large, seemingly empty house. This film can also boast of spinning off a lot of other classic slashers - 'Halloween', 'When A Stranger Calls', just to name a few. 'Silent Night Bloody Night' used the creepy phone call idea a year earlier in 1973.

A great slasher film.

I find it a tragedy that Bob Clark was killed in a car accident alongside his sone when they were hit by a drunk driver. What a waste. I'm sure Clark would have given us another great movie or two.