Misplaced Pages

Revision as of 20:13, 12 December 2024

Billy
Black Christmas character
Billy (Bob Clark) in Black Christmas (1974)
First appearance	Black Christmas (1974)
Last appearance	Black Christmas (2006)
Created by	Roy Moore Timothy Bond Bob Clark
Portrayed by	Black Christmas (1974) Bob Clark Albert J. Dunk Black Christmas (2006) Cainan Wiebe (young) Robert Mann (adult)
Voiced by	Bob Clark Nick Mancuso Mugsey Sweeny
In-universe information
Nickname	Billy The Caller The Killer The Moaner The Sorority House Killer
Species	Human
Gender	Male
Occupation	Stalker Mass murderer Serial killer
Family	Black Christmas (2006) Frank Lenz (father, deceased) Constance Lenz (mother, deceased) Agnes Lenz (half-sister/daughter, deceased) Unnamed stepfather (deceased)
Nationality	Black Christmas (1974) Unknown Black Christmas (2006) American

Billy is a fictional character from the Black Christmas film series, first appearing in Black Christmas (1974) as a deranged murderer who taunts and kills a group of college students during the Christmas season. Created by Timothy Bond and A. Roy Moore, the character was partly inspired by the urban legend "The Babysitter and the Man Upstairs", as well as a series of real murders in Montreal during the 1943 holiday season.

Several members of the cast and crew portrayed and voiced the character in the original film, such as Nick Mancuso, who performed the voices for the phone calls, while cameraman Albert J. Dunk performed Billy's POV shots and director Clark portrays both the villain's shadow and the phone voices. Neither the character nor his portrayers were listed in the end credits. In the years following the original film's release, fans and media outlets have often cited the character's name as Billy, and director Clark has himself referred to the character by that name in interviews.

Unlike later slasher film antagonists, the character's true identity and motivations were intentionally omitted from the 1974 version of the film, which the filmmakers felt made him more frightening. Critics and art historians have stated that by leaving the character enigmatic, it allowed the audience to place their own fears onto the character, forming their ideas about him and his motivations. While largely overshadowed by more popular horror or slasher film villains, Billy has also been identified by some critics and film historians as establishing many of the tropes that later became a staple of the slasher film genre, predating John Carpenter's Halloween (1978). He has been described as one of the greatest horror villains of all time and has been referenced in several other entertainment media.

Appearances

Billy made his first appearance in the original 1974 film Black Christmas as a mentally disturbed man known as "The Moaner", who regularly calls a local sorority house, leaving disturbing and obscene messages. During one such phone call, Barb (Margot Kidder), one of the sorority sisters, provokes him; he responds by threatening to kill them. The caller then goes on a killing spree, murdering most of the sorority house's inhabitants, including Barb. Jess (Olivia Hussey), the lone survivor, is attacked by Billy but manages to fight him off, and after discovering the corpses of Billy's victims in Barb's room, accidentally bludgeons her boyfriend Peter (Keir Dullea) to death, thinking he is the killer. The film ends with Billy, still alive, talking to the corpses in the attic, before making a final phone call to the house.

In 1976, Billy appeared in the novelization of the film written by Lee Hays. Hays based the novelization upon Moore's original draft, which expands upon Billy's actions, depicting the character's inner dialogue, and alterations to key sequences. Another novelization was published in 1983 by Campbell Armstrong, under the pseudonym Thomas Altman. While Armstrong's novelization contains similarities to the original film, the plot and characters are considerably altered. In the novel, the mentally-challenged Billy Cole is partially based on Billy, he is revealed to be a red herring to the actual killer.

In the 2006 remake, his full name is William "Billy" Edward Lenz (Cainan Wiebe), and his backstory is prominently featured. Born with severe jaundice due to liver disease, he is physically and emotionally abused as a child by his mother, Constance (Karin Konoval). After murdering Billy's father along with her lover, Constance rapes Billy after she is unable to conceive a child with her lover, giving birth to Billy's sister/daughter Agnes (Christina Crivici). Billy later goes insane and murders his mother and her lover, disfiguring Agnes before being caught and sent to an insane asylum. Years later, an adult Billy (Robert Mann) escapes and goes on a rampage with Agnes (Dean Friss) at their old family home, which has been converted into a sorority house. After murdering most of the inhabitants, both Agnes and Billy are killed by Kelli Presley (Katie Cassidy), the sole survivor.

Concept and creation

Original concept and inspirations

The original concept for Billy was created by Timothy Bond and Roy Moore, with further contributions to the character by Bob Clark. During the early 1970s, Bond and Moore sought to jumpstart their careers in the film industry by writing a horror film. Hearing stories of a babysitter who terrorized children in his care, Bond and Moore began writing the script. When developing the script, Bond and Moore used oral traditions and real-world events as a basis in crafting what would become the character of Billy. The urban legend of "The Babysitter and the Man Upstairs", which itself is based on the unsolved murder of Janett Christman, who had been babysitting for the Womack family in Columbia, Missouri. At the time of the script's development, the urban legend had become widespread in Canada and the United States, with slight variations depending on the region. the basic storyline describes a young woman who, while babysitting three children, is tormented by a madman who leaves threatening phone calls, later revealed to be coming from upstairs in the house. The legend was also the basis for other films including the 1979 film When a Stranger Calls, and its subsequent remake. Additional inspiration was drawn from serial killer William Heirens, who left taunting messages in lipstick for one of his killings, and a series of murders that occurred during the 1943 holiday season in the Westmount area of Montreal, in which 14-year-old George Webster bludgeoned several of his family members to death and attempted to kill others. Modern publications have described the crimes of serial killer and rapist Wayne Boden as an additional influence on the character.

Backstory and identity

While developing the script, which was then titled Stop Me, Bond and Moore created a detailed backstory for Billy to explain his identity and motivations, Bond comments that the character was "very well fleshed out in the sense that we knew his entire back story". As Clark explains, Billy would have originated from a small town, where he either injured or killed his baby sister. As Clark elaborates:

He was a disturbed child, and we got a lot of tension from his behavior, was probably jealous of his baby sister and created that schism between him and women. You could write a whole history on him if you wanted, there were enough dynamics, but we never really did.

Much of the character's enigmatic nature was intended from the outset, which Bond admits that details of Billy's character were always meant to be subtle and never fully revealed. Once Clark joined the project, the script went through more rewrites to further develop the characters and story, adding more ambiguity to Billy. Clark was adamant that the character should remain as obscure as possible, feeling that he was more terrifying when the least amount of information was revealed about Billy and his motivations. Though Billy is never fully revealed, Clark admits to the subtle backstory he kept engrained into the character, and was embedded in "his behavior and responses".

Clark worked closely with cameraman Bert Dunk to create shots that obscured the character as much as possible, this included using lighting techniques to "shape the shadows" cast by Billy, making him look slender in some scenes and burly in another to distort the audience's perception of the character. Clark intentionally played upon the mystery of the character's identity, creating the allusion that Claire's boyfriend Chris was Billy, only to reveal in the film's conclusion as a red herring, with Billy still at large. Once distribution rights for the film were purchased by Warner Brothers, studio executives requested that Clark make significant changes to the character's identity, as they disliked the film's ambiguous conclusion. During preparation in 1975 for the film's American release, studio executives suggested that Clark alter the film's ending to reveal the character's identity as Chris, in a proposed scene where Chris appears in front of Jess, the film's final girl, telling her to " tell Agnes what we did" before killing her. Clark however, was able to convince the studio to retain the original ending, in which both the ending and the character remained ambiguous.

In Glen Morgan's 2006 remake, Billy's enigmatic nature was abandoned for a greater physical presence. Morgan had intended to rework elements of the original film that were left ambiguous or implied, such as the cryptic phone calls to the sorority house. Morgan, a huge admirer of the original film, wanted to create a more defined version of Billy, as well as reveal more of the character's traits. He also wanted to explore sub-plots from the original film that he felt were not fleshed out, including Billy's history and the reasons for his insanity. Morgan thus created a subplot exploring the origins of Billy revealing the connection between Billy and Agnes, the film's secondary antagonist. Morgan was inspired by the life of Edmund Kemper, a real-life serial killer who as a child had been locked in the basement of his home by his mother, whom he later murdered. According to Morgan, he and producer James Wong had various disputes with Dimension Films executives Bob and Harvey Weinstein. In a 2014 interview Morgan said his original intention was to have Billy as the film's only antagonist, but the studio forced him to include a second killer.

Billy was originally intended to have survived at the end, with the original conclusion having Kelli and Leigh, who thought he was dead, in the hospital getting a phone call from him. Bob Weinstein, who disliked the original ending, scrapped it shortly after the scene was filmed, and requested that Morgan write and shoot a new one, which radically altered the fates of many of the characters. In it, Billy is ultimately killed after being impaled on the hospital's Christmas tree-topper.

Name

While commonly referred to by fans and some media outlets as Billy, the character and his portrayer(s) are not mentioned in the end credits. Modern sources acknowledge Nick Mancuso as the primary voice of Billy, though he did not recieve an actor's credit in the film as he was not a member of the actor's union at the time of production. The script credits the character as "The Caller", while in the film, he is referred to by sorority sisters as "The Moaner". Several of the original film's cast members, including Clark himself have referred to the character as either "Billy" or simply "The Killer" in interviews.

For the 2006 remake, he was formally named William "Billy" Edward Lenz, and given a sister/daughter Agnes.

Casting and portrayals

Billy was played by multiple actors in the original film. Point-of-view shots of the character were performed by Clark, who also contributed the voice. The scene shot from Billy's point of view, where Billy scales the house and enters the attic, was done by Dunk using a custom-made camera rig attached to his shoulder, the rig allowed Dunk to keep both his hands free to perform the various actions during these sequences. Dunk also portrayed the character in the POV scene where Billy murders Clare, using this same technique. Scenes that required Billy to be shown on screen, an unknown actor was utilized, though members of the cast and crew have failed to recall the name of the actor who portrayed the character during these scenes. One scene in particular, where Billy peers through the crack in the door, Clark himself has stated that he had no recollection on who portrayed the character during the scene. Dunk suggested that Keir Dullea, who portrayed Peter in the film, was used in the sequence and was fitted with a special contact lens, however, Dullea has denied this claim. Years later, several crew members have described Clark as the one who performed most of the character's on-screen appearances, which included the eyeball scene. The cast was deliberately kept in the dark about the character and did not know what Billy would be saying during the phone calls. Clark, himself, provided Billy's voice for the other actors while filming the obscene phone calls, to assist with the cast's performance. While filming, Clark would shout obscenities to the cast off-camera to facilitate their reactions of surprise.

For Clark, the character's voice during the phone calls was a substantial part of creating Billy's character. According to Clark, he wanted the voices heard during the calls to "sound almost supernatural". As a result, a total of five separate actors voiced the character in various sequences, including actress Mugsey Sweeney; while the primary voices for Billy were Clark and Mancuso, the latter in his feature film debut. When auditioning for the role, Clark directed Mancuso to sit in a chair facing away from him, so as not to see the actor's face. Clark then had Mancuso experiment with different voices to come up with one that was right for the character, which got Mancuso the part. Mancuso spent three days during post-production Recording dialogue for the character, describing the experience as being "very avant-garde", with Clark encouraging him to improvise with the character's voice. During some of these sessions, Mancuso stood on his head to compress his thorax, making his voice sound more raspy and demented. Mancuso also redubbed some of Dullea's lines during post-production. Carl Zittrer, who composed the film's soundtrack and audio, later recalled that Mancuso brought such a 'chilling intensity' to the role while performing the voice for the character, one that he had never seen before or since. Mancuso later reprised the role in the 2015 DVD and Blu-ray special edition, voicing the character as a part of the release's additional commentary track.

Robert Mann was hired to portray the character in the 2006 remake, while Cainan Wiebe was cast as a younger version of the character. Mann attended two short auditions before he was cast in the role, with the filmmakers initially questioning him on his height, size, and his ability to endure small spaces and prosthetic makeup. Likening the character to a "time bomb", Mann felt that the character harbored a long-boiling rage due to the severe abuse he suffered, leaving the character incapable of expressing any emotions other than rage. Mann recalled having a lot of fun on set while filming, calling the experience "funny and surreal". Burn makeup and prosthetics for the unused alternate ending took over four hours to apply, and Mann was instructed not to wear anything over the makeup for fear of ruining it. When it came time to film Billy's death scene, Mann was strapped to an elevated back brace with the tip of the tree attached on top of him.

Characteristics

Where other horror movies would have tried to explain the madman's behavior, or pull a big reveal in the final scene, this killer stays hidden throughout. At a time of year when everyone is supposed to be together and celebrating, he's at the edges, shrieking with a fury so intense and destructive that it's barely recognizable as human. Instead of drawing the attention of the authorities, his bizarre behavior makes him invisible. He's a creature so out of bounds with the season that he can operate with unsettling impunity. And not just impunity.

In both the original and the 2006 remake, Billy is depicted as mentally disturbed, and sexually perverted. Unlike many slasher film villains, Billy's true identity and motivations are never revealed in the original; his appearances are mostly offscreen. Film scholar Adam Rockoff states that Billy's actions and motivations are never explored in a way that would "rationalize or justify his madness", with insanity his defining trait. This lack of physical presence and identity led to behavioral scientist and psychiatrist Sharon Packer and art historian Jody Pennington to classify the original's Billy as a "faceless killer". Film historian Martin Rubin commented on the parallels between the character and the Bruce the Shark from Jaws, both of whom are a remorseless, near omnipresent and omniscient force. 

Advocators of the original film point out that Billy, unlike the more popular slasher villains, is defined by his grounding in reality. This realistic approach to the character was described by John Saxon, who portrayed Lt. Fuller in the original film, who felt that Billy had a "naturalistic basis" rather than a supernatural one, representing the darkest part of humanity "tormented and was capable of committing horrific ". As Bud Wilkins of Slant Magazine wrote, the main attribute that distinguished Billy from the more traditional slasher villains, such as Halloween's Michael Myers, was that Billy represented a more human killer as opposed to what he called "the unstoppable boogeyman that Michael Myers represents". This sense of realism for the character was noticed by some film critics, for the online publication IndieWire,  Jamie Righetti pointed out that Billy's obscene phone calls, "ma it clear that some horrors are all too common, and don't require a boogeyman in a mask." Filmmaker and literary critic John Kenneth Muir felt that part of Billy's effectiveness during the phone calls was due in part to their believability, drawing parallels between the phone calls and crank calling. The parallel was also echoed by film historian Marc Olivier, who referred to the character as a "psychopathic prank caller", attributing the phone Billy uses as an extension of the character, representing what he called, "the primordial terror hidden in the device itself".

Billy's lack of a clear backstory in the original film, according to some commentators, forced the audience to place their own fears on the character. As Paul Corupe wrote, "Lacking a distinct form or personality, Billy's really anything you want him to be." Brian Collins of Birth.Movies.Death echoed this sentiment, noting that by leaving so many questions unanswered, the original invites viewers to try and solve the mystery of Billy. Pointing out Clark's statement on the character, in which he purportedly revealed Billy and Agnes as siblings, and Billy's dialogue hinting at something horrible that occurred in the character's past. Film journalist Hannah Shaw-Williams stated that leaving Billy's true identity, backstory, and motivation ambiguous, she stated, made the film more interesting.

With this absence of any clear motivations, some have offered their suggestions for the reasons behind Billy's actions. Thrillist's Jourdain Searles the character represented a critique of toxic masculinity, calling the character "more metaphor than man, an unstoppable, unexplainable personification of masculine id with a singular purpose: to kill all the pretty women." Searles commented that Billy's dialogue hinted at a deep-seated fury towards women, which seemed to emerge in their presence. In her analysis of the original film, Lauren Taylor of Bloody Disgusting delved deeper into the character's psychology. Billy's obsessive rambling about Agnes and a baby, Taylor asserts, hinted at a real or imaginary event where the character failed to protect a loved one, further exemplifying the original film's themes of motherhood. Further clues to the motivation behind Billy's killing spree, Taylor wrote, could be found within the victims themselves, all of whom displayed negative characteristics associated with motherhood, such as promiscuity, negligence, and lack of responsibility. With this Taylor concluded that Billy's motivation could be linked to this and the holiday season itself, with his killing spree being the character's way of 'ridding the world of sinners'.

For the 2006 remake, writer and director Glen Morgan wanted a more defined killer, abandoning the original character's ambiguity in favor of a more traditional slasher villain. As Jason Zinoman stated, Billy's lack of backstory was altered by Morgan for the remake, with the film going "back in time" to reveal the character's identity and motivations. In the remake it is revealed that Billy was born with severe jaundice, which turned his skin yellow. Billy's insanity was also explained as being the result of severe abuse at the hands of his mother, leading to the birth of his sister/daughter after being raped by his mother.

Robert Mann, who portrayed the adult character in the remake, felt that Billy's abuse at the hands of his mother created a long-suppressed rage that threatened to emerge at any moment and Billy's moments of extreme violence came from that long-boiling hatred stemming from years of abuse. Mann also felt that this severe abuse and isolation left Billy incapable of dealing with his emotions, with the anger being an expression of the character's sadness, which Mann felt was Billy's true feelings. Morgan stated that the character's motivations arise from their twisted definitions of love and family, which Billy equated with violence after witnessing his father's murder, and the years of maternal abuse he suffered. Morgan went on to reveal that Billy's acts of cannibalism were, in the character's view, a way of "showing his love to them".

Art and cultural historian Berit Åström explained that many aspects of the character in the remake, including his backstory and motivations, mirrored that of Norman Bates in Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho, noting both characters have Oedipus complexes toward their abusive mothers. Åström further explained that both eventually committed matricide. Several critics, including admirers of the original film, have criticized the remake's exploration of the character's backstory as being generic, and less frightening. In her book Life Lessons from Slasher Films, Jessica Robinson argued that the remake's extensive backstory for the character was an attempt by the filmmakers to elicit sympathy for the character.

Legacy

Since his first appearance in the original film, Billy has been credited by several critics and film historians as introducing many of the tropes that later became a staple for the slasher film genre, such as the image of the "faceless killer", predating John Carpenter's Halloween. Both Billy and Black Christmas itself, have been described by authors as being overshadowed by more popular slasher film entries and villains.

According to some critics and historians, Halloween was possibly inspired and influenced by Clark's film and its antagonist. Clark himself has stated that Carpenter might have drawn partial inspiration for Carpenter's film after a conversation about what a possible sequel to Black Christmas might look like. However, Clark also admitted that this may or may not have been the case, and Carpenter himself denied 'borrowing' anything from Clark's film, noting that Halloween was not originally his idea. Many aspects of Billy, including his threatening phone calls, were utilized in many other slasher films and characters. Complex's Matt Barrone pointed out that Scream franchise's Ghostface killer, who uses the same method of phoning his victims, would not have existed if not for Black Christmas and Billy.

In 2016, Bloody Disgusting included Billy in their list of "The 10 Best Non-Monster Horror Villains", calling him "the prototypical slasher villain". Since then, the character has appeared in several lists of top horror film villains, including GamesRadar's "30 Cruelest Horror Movie Villains" (2017), Collider's "10 Great Horror Movie Villains With No True Backstory" (2023), and Screen Rant's "Top 35 Slasher Villains of All Time" (2024). Other publications have included Billy in lists of top film villains, including SlashFilm's "10 Best Christmas Movie Villains" and CinemaBlend's "32 Movie Villains From The 1970s We Love To Hate", both published in 2024.

The character has appeared in several unofficial parodies and sequels over the years. In the 2006 mockumentary slasher film Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon, the title character was mentored by a "retired" killer named Eugene. According to writer David J. Stieve, the character was written as both a homage and an allusion to Billy, pointing out allusions to the character by stating that both characters helped "pioneer the business of fear", but were not as widely recognized as much as their successors. In earlier drafts of the film's script, Eugene was heavily implied to be Billy, but the idea was later abandoned in subsequent drafts in favor of making the character a combination of various slasher villains. He made an appearance in Season 2 of the flash cartoon parody series 30-Second Bunnies Theatre in 2013.

Billy did not appear in the 2019 remake; instead, the character was replaced by a cult of misogynistic killers. According to the film's director Sophia Takal, the original version of the character was symbolic of what she claimed was "all the misogyny and sexism implicated against women". Wanting to further convey this theme, Takal reinterpreted the character as a cult rather than a single killer. Despite not appearing in the film, co-writer April Wolfe revealed that the fight scene at the end of the film, where the main characters use Christmas decorations as weapons, was a direct reference to Billy's murders in the original film. The decision to remove Billy from the film was unpopular both with critics and fans of the original. As one critic wrote, the character's "terrifying ambiguous threat" had been replaced by what they called a more "explicit and hackneyed embodiment of the patriarchy itself".

Billy later appeared in the 2021 fan film It's Me, Billy, written and directed by Dave McRae and Bruce Dale. The short, an unofficial sequel to the original film, is set nearly fifty years after the events of the original film. The premise centered on Sam, the granddaughter of Jess Bradford, as she visits her grandmother's old country mansion with her friends and begins to receive phone calls from Billy, who begins stalking them. A sequel titled It’s Me, Billy: Chapter 2 was released in 2024, continuing immediately after the first film, as Sam and Jess fight back to survive Billy's killing spree. In both films, Billy was voiced by McRae and portrayed by Bryan Charles Peter.

See also

• List of horror film villains

References

Footnotes

1. Attributed to multiple references:
2. Attributed to multiple references:
3. Attributed to multiple references:
4. Attributed to multiple references:
5. Attributed to multiple references:
6. Attributed to multiple references:
7. Attributed to multiple references:
8. Attributed to multiple references:
9. Attributed to multiple references:
10. Attributed to multiple sources:

Notes

1. Billy's on screen appearances have been subject to debate, with some involved in the film insisting that Bob Clark or Albert J. Dunk was the actor in this scene.
2. While the film is set in Toronto, Ontario, no information on the character's nationality is mentioned.
3. The name "Agnes" was constantly mentioned by Billy in the original film, which Clark confirms is Billy's sister.
4. According to Morgan, this ending was intended to be an homage to the original film's conclusion.
5. Several media outlets have mistakenly reported that the character was listed in the end credits as The Prowler, but neither the character nor his portrayer(s) are listed in the end credits.

Citations

1. ^ Clark 1974.
2. ^ Friedman, Max (December 16, 2023). "Black Christmas: Revisiting the Classic Christmas Slasher Movie". MovieWeb. Valnet.
3. Hays 1976.
4. Library of Congress 1977, p. 2472.
5. ^ Hastings & Downey 2022, pp. 152–154.
6. Lê, Paul (December 17, 2020). "A Slasher Classic in Print: Unwrapping the 'Black Christmas' Novelization". Bloody Disgusting. Archived from the original on January 5, 2022. Retrieved January 5, 2022.
7. Altman 1983.
8. Delaney, Eamon (September 4, 2000). "Campbell Armstrong: Making It Whole Again". PublishersWeekly.com. Publishers Weekly. Archived from the original on February 6, 2020. Retrieved February 6, 2020.
9. ^ Hastings & Downey 2022, pp. 155–159.
10. ^ Morgan 2006.
11. Hastings & Downey 2022, pp. 169–178.
12. ^ Nowell 2010, p. 63.
13. ^ Hastings & Downey 2022, pp. 7–11.
14. ^ Smith, Richard (2016). "Black Christmas (1974)". Turner Classic Movies. Archived from the original on December 20, 2016. Retrieved December 4, 2019.
15. ^ McConnell & Mihalka 2015.
16. Hastings & Downey 2022, pp. 12–17.
17. ^ Koven 2008, p. 129.
18. ^ Adams, Lee (December 10, 2022). "Black Christmas (1974) Ending Explained: A Bleak End To The Blackest Of Christmases". SlashFilm. Retrieved December 1, 2024.
19. ^ Hays, Matthew (November 27, 2024). "It's been 50 years since this landmark Canadian movie changed the course of the horror genre. It's still scary as hell". The Star.com. Toronto Star. Retrieved December 1, 2024.
20. ^ "True story behind Black Christmas and the first slasher film True story behind Black Christmas and the first slasher film". BOL News. December 5, 2022. Retrieved December 1, 2024.
21. ^ Paige, Rachel (December 14, 2019). "Black Christmas Is Based On An Urban Legend & A True Story". Refinery29. Sundial Media Group. Retrieved December 1, 2024.
22. ^ Dutta, Debopriyaa (December 22, 2023). "The Chilling Real-Life Murders That Inspired Black Christmas". SlashFilm. Retrieved December 1, 2024.
23. T.J. Greaney (March 7, 2010). "Who killed Janett Christman?". Columbia Tribune. Gannett Company. Archived from the original on July 9, 2021. Retrieved June 15, 2021.
24. Tobia, Anthony (December 15, 2018). "12 Slays of Xmas: "Black Christmas" Viewing the film 'Black Christmas' through a psychiatrist's lens". Psychology Today.com. Sussex Publishers. Archived from the original on August 17, 2023. Retrieved June 13, 2021.
25. Brunvand 2012, p. 46.
26. ^ Jackson, Matthew (December 19, 2018). "12 Surprising Facts About Black Christmas". Mental Floss. Archived from the original on February 27, 2020. Retrieved February 27, 2020.
27. Brunvand 2003, p. 54.
28. ^ Presnell, Riley (December 21, 2023). "The Chilling True Story That Inspired 'Black Christmas'". Collider. Valnet. Retrieved December 1, 2024.
29. Dupuis, Chris (October 28, 2016). "Homegrown horror: 5 Canadian scary movies you need to watch this Halloween". CBC Arts. Archived from the original on November 2, 2019. Retrieved December 4, 2019.
30. Duffin 2006, 1:07-1:18.
31. ^ Power 2019.
32. ^ Sambeck, Becca (November 29, 2021). "Is 'Black Christmas' Inspired By True Story Of Wayne Boden?". Oxygen.com. Archived from the original on December 11, 2021. Retrieved December 11, 2021.
33. Bohannon, Sharai (June 29, 2022). "4 Classic Movies Inspired By Terrifying Real Life Events". Dread Central. Retrieved December 1, 2024.
34. McConnell & Mihalka 2015, 6:02-6:16.
35. ^ Hantke 2010, p. 112.
36. Hastings & Downey 2022, pp. 105–109.
37. Hastings & Downey 2022, p. 111.
38. Hastings & Downey 2022, p. 17.
39. Hastings & Downey 2022, p. 105-113.
40. ^ Brundtland 2002, 10:58–13:06.
41. ^ Duffin, Dan; DuFort-Leavy, Lyne (May 2005). "Bob Clark interview – Black Christmas, A Christmas Story, Children Don't Play with Dead Things, Deathdream". IconsofFright.com. Archived from the original on February 22, 2020. Retrieved December 4, 2019.
42. Hastings & Downey 2022, pp. 110–111.
43. Morgan 2006, 5:50-6:07.
44. Morgan 2006, 6:41-7:17.
45. ^ Vander Kaay & Fernandez-Vander Kaay 2014, pp. 168–169.
46. Hastings & Downey 2022, p. 178.
47. ^ Bibbiani, William (December 14, 2019). "[Interview] Sophia Takal on Why the New Black Christmas Replaces Billy With a Cult of Killers". Bloody Disgusting. Archived from the original on December 15, 2019. Retrieved December 19, 2019.
48. ^ Blauvelt, Christian; Erbland, Kate; Kohn, Eric; Thompson, Anne; Ehrlich, David; Righetti, Jamie; Nordine, Michael; O'Falt, Chris; Obenson, Tambay; Greene, Steve (October 9, 2019). "The 100 Best Horror Movies of All Time". IndieWire. p. 4. Archived from the original on March 27, 2022. Retrieved February 6, 2020.
49. ^ Searles, Jourdain (October 20, 2018). "Black Christmas: How the 1974 Horror Film Created the Slasher Genre – Thrillist". Thrillist. Group Nine Media. Archived from the original on January 30, 2020. Retrieved December 19, 2019.
50. ^ Wilkins, Budd (December 23, 2016). "Review: Bob Clark's Black Christmas on Shout! Factory Blu-ray". Slant Magazine. Archived from the original on August 1, 2020. Retrieved December 4, 2019.
51. ^ Hastings & Downey 2022, pp. 114–119.
52. Hastings & Downey 2022, pp. 105–113.
53. Crump 2013, p. 43.
54. ^ "Six for Her Scythe: An Interview with Lynne Griffin: Part I". TerrorTrap.com. July 2011. Archived from the original on May 10, 2019. Retrieved March 25, 2019.
55. Morris, Clint (December 1, 2005). "Exclusive Interview : Bob Clark". Moviehole.net. Archived from the original on January 12, 2021. Retrieved February 11, 2020.
56. ^ Lipsett, Joe (December 20, 2018). "[Remake Fever] Where Did the 'Black Christmas' Remake Go Wrong?". Bloody Disgusting. Archived from the original on July 30, 2020. Retrieved January 9, 2020.
57. ^ Smith, Derek (December 12, 2019). "Black Christmas Review: A Simplistic Stab at the Battle of the Sexes". Slant Magazine. Archived from the original on December 13, 2019. Retrieved December 19, 2019.
58. ^ Hastings & Downey 2022, pp. 43–47.
59. ^ Doupe, Tyler (December 25, 2015). "13 Things You Didn't Know About Black Christmas". Chiller (TV channel). Archived from the original on December 29, 2015.
60. ^ Hastings & Downey 2022, pp. 51–56.
61. ^ Duffin 2006, 7:37-8:15.
62. McConnell & Mihalka 2015, 26:51-27-33.
63. ^ Hastings & Downey 2022, pp. 44–46.
64. ^ Brundtland 2002, 13:17-14:50.
65. Hastings & Downey 2022, pp. 44–45.
66. ^ Duffin 2006, 12:04-13:35.
67. Markusen 2021, p. 209.
68. Rist 2001, p. 135.
69. "Slay bells ring: an interview with Black Christmas stars Lynne Griffin, Nick Mancuso and Doug McGrath". The Film Reel. November 24, 2015. Archived from the original on December 20, 2016. Retrieved December 18, 2016.
70. McConnell & Mihalka 2015, 30:14-32:45.
71. Hanley, Ken (October 15, 2015). "Exclusive Trailer: Anchor Bay Canada's "Black Christmas" Blu-ray, 'Seasons Grievings' Edition!". Fangoria Magazine. Archived from the original on December 1, 2017. Retrieved July 30, 2021.
72. Willis & Monush 2010, p. 240.
73. ^ Adams, Jenn (December 7, 2023). "'Black Christmas' (2006) Takes the Knife Out of Billy's Hands [Fatal Femmes]". Dread Central. Retrieved December 1, 2024.
74. ^ Hastings & Downey 2022, pp. 185–188.
75. ^ Morgan 2006, 7:18-8:10.
76. Handlen, Zack (December 19, 2014). "Black Christmas reminds us that nothing is sacred". The A.V. Club. Archived from the original on September 7, 2023. Retrieved May 1, 2019.
77. ^ Shaw-Williams, Hannah (September 17, 2019). "Black Christmas Original Movie Ending & Killer Identity Explained". Screen Rant. Archived from the original on December 10, 2019. Retrieved December 10, 2019.
78. Hart 2019, p. 236.
79. Rockoff 2011, p. 44.
80. Zinoman 2011, p. 181.
81. Muir 2012, p. 25.
82. Hart 2019, p. 92.
83. Zinoman 2011, p. 216.
84. Housman, Andrew (November 28, 2022). "Bob Clark Takes Pride In The Subtle Bloodshed Found In 1974's Black Christmas". SlashFilm. Retrieved December 1, 2024.
85. Rockoff 2011, p. 42.
86. ^ Packer & Pennington 2014, p. 38.
87. Rubin 1999, p. 161.
88. McConnell & Mihalka 2015, 13:15-13:41.
89. Muir 2012, p. 316.
90. Olivier 2020, p. 56.
91. Olivier 2020, p. 62.
92. Corupe, Paul (May 15, 2006). "Canuxploitation Review: Black Christmas". Canuxploitation.com. Archived from the original on May 15, 2006. Retrieved December 4, 2019.
93. Collins, Brian (December 6, 2016). "Collins' Crypt: Why I'll Never Get Sick Of Black Christmas". Birth.Movies.Death. Archived from the original on February 13, 2020. Retrieved February 13, 2020.
94. Taylor, Lauren (December 13, 2012). "Horror Education of the Week: Black Christmas". Bloody Disgusting. Archived from the original on February 23, 2020. Retrieved February 23, 2020.
95. Zinoman 2011, p. 223.
96. Shotwell 2016.
97. Robinson 2012, p. 175.
98. Morgan 2006, 25:44-26:29.
99. Åström 2017, p. 212.
100. Åström 2017, p. 214.
101. Hartlaub, Peter (December 27, 2006). "Partridges, pear trees ... and deadly icicles". San Francisco Chronicle. Archived from the original on January 28, 2020. Retrieved January 28, 2020.
102. Robinson 2012, pp. 112–113.
103. Benshoff 2014, p. 323.
104. Weinberg, Scott (October 22, 2019). "Best Horror Movies of All Time, Ranked: Scariest Movies Ever Made". Thrillist. Archived from the original on June 1, 2023. Retrieved December 19, 2019.
105. Harper 2004, p. 11.
106. Paszylk 2009, p. 136.
107. Collum 2015, p. 10.
108. Thrower 2007, p. 25.
109. Paszylk 2009, p. 135.
110. Hantke 2010, p. 111.
111. Schaefer 2019.
112. Zinoman 2011, p. 185.
113. ^ Zinoman 2011, p. 186.
114. Muir 2012, p. 315.
115. Barrone, Matt (December 23, 2013). "Yuletide Chills: In Appreciation of "Black Christmas," the Other Holiday Classic from "A Christmas Story" Director Bob Clark". Complex.com. Archived from the original on January 12, 2021. Retrieved March 9, 2020.
116. Barrone, Matt (October 23, 2017). "The Best Slasher Films of All Time". Complex.com. Archived from the original on October 7, 2019. Retrieved February 6, 2020.
117. Kurland, Daniel (October 12, 2016). "The 10 Best Non-Monster Horror Villains". Bloody Disgusting. Archived from the original on May 14, 2020. Retrieved January 22, 2020.
118. Winning, Joshua (March 2, 2017). "The 30 cruelest horror movie villains. They will find you..." GamesRadar+. Archived from the original on October 8, 2021. Retrieved January 22, 2020.
119. Leunig, Maximilian (March 27, 2023). "10 Great Horror Movie Villains With No True Backstory". Collider. Valnet. Retrieved December 5, 2024.
120. Lealos, Shawn; Mello, Nichole (September 20, 2024). "Top 35 Slasher Villains Of All Time, Ranked". Screen Rant. Valnet. Retrieved December 1, 2024.
121. Fried, Larry (December 3, 2024). "The 10 Best Christmas Movie Villains, Ranked". SlashFilm. Retrieved December 5, 2024.
122. Wiese, Jason (September 7, 2024). "32 Movie Villains From The 1970s We Love To Hate". CinemaBlend. Future US, Inc. Retrieved December 5, 2024.
123. Hastings & Downey 2022, pp. 111–112.
124. Squires, John (December 20, 2016). "[Exclusive] The 'Black Christmas' Connection That Will Change the Way You Watch Behind the Mask". Bloody Disgusting. Archived from the original on November 19, 2019. Retrieved January 9, 2020.
125. "David J Stieve interview – Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon". IconsofFright.com. 2007. Archived from the original on January 12, 2021. Retrieved January 9, 2020.
126. Shiman 2013a.
127. Shiman, Jennifer (August 30, 2013). "Big news: WE'RE PARTNERING WITH FEARNET..." Facebook.com. 30-Second Bunnies Theatre. Archived from the original on March 10, 2020. Retrieved March 10, 2020.
128. Page, Aubrey (December 13, 2019). "How 'Black Christmas' Takes Dead Aim At The Patriarchy". The Huffington Post. Archived from the original on December 27, 2019. Retrieved March 5, 2020.
129. Deckelmeier, Joe (December 14, 2019). "April Wolfe Interview: Black Christmas". ScreenRant.com. Archived from the original on December 15, 2019. Retrieved March 5, 2020.
130. Grierson, Tim (December 12, 2019). "Black Christmas: Review". Screen Daily. Archived from the original on December 20, 2019. Retrieved February 13, 2020.
131. Kennedy, Michael (December 24, 2019). "Black Christmas Utterly Betrays The Original Movie". Screen Rant. Archived from the original on February 18, 2020. Retrieved February 18, 2020.
132. Millican, Josh (May 28, 2021). "IT'S ME, BILLY: Unofficial BLACK CHRISTMAS Sequel Now Streaming!". Dread Central. Archived from the original on June 13, 2021. Retrieved June 13, 2021.
133. Squires, John (July 6, 2020). "Videos 'Black Christmas' Fan Film 'It's Me, Billy' Will Be an Unofficial Sequel to the Original Classic [Trailer]". Bloody Disgusting. Archived from the original on June 13, 2021. Retrieved June 13, 2021.
134. "In Production". 79 Films.com. Dave McRae. 2021. Archived from the original on June 13, 2021. Retrieved June 13, 2021.
135. Hastings & Downey 2022, pp. 253–254.
136. Squires, John (August 13, 2024). "'It's Me, Billy: Chapter 2' – Jess Bradford Returns in Fan Film Sequel [Trailer]". Bloody Disgusting. Retrieved November 30, 2024.
137. Romanchick, Shane (August 13, 2024). "'It's Me, Billy: Chapter 2' Trailer Celebrates the 50th Anniversary of This Holiday Horror Classic". Collider. Valnet. Retrieved November 30, 2024.

Works cited

Bibliography

• Catalog of Copyright Entries. Third Series: 1976: January-June. Copyright Office, Library of Congress. 1977. Archived from the original on September 7, 2023. Retrieved February 6, 2020.
• Altman, Thomas (1983). Black Christmas. Bantam Books. ISBN 978-0-5532-3198-4. Archived from the original on September 7, 2023. Retrieved December 4, 2019.
• Åström, Berit (July 11, 2017). The Absent Mother in the Cultural Imagination: Missing, Presumed Dead. Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 978-3-3194-9037-3. Archived from the original on September 7, 2023. Retrieved February 19, 2020.
• Benshoff, Harry (July 31, 2014). A Companion to the Horror Film. Wiley. ISBN 978-1-1188-8349-5. Archived from the original on September 7, 2023. Retrieved December 19, 2019.
• Brunvand, Jan (December 17, 2003). The Vanishing Hitchhiker: American Urban Legends and Their Meanings. W. W. Norton. ISBN 978-0-3933-4653-4. Archived from the original on September 7, 2023. Retrieved February 3, 2020.
• Brunvand, Jan (2012). Encyclopedia of Urban Legends. Vol. 1 (Revised ed.). ABC-CLIO. ISBN 978-1-5988-4720-8. Archived from the original on September 7, 2023. Retrieved February 12, 2020.
• Collum, Jason (January 27, 2015). Assault of the Killer B's: Interviews with 20 Cult Film Actresses. McFarland & Company. ISBN 978-0-7864-8041-8. Archived from the original on September 7, 2023. Retrieved December 19, 2019.
• Crump, William (August 28, 2013). The Christmas Encyclopedia (3rd ed.). McFarland & Company. ISBN 978-1-4766-0573-9. Archived from the original on September 7, 2023. Retrieved March 3, 2020.
• Hastings, David; Downey, Paul (February 14, 2022). It's me, Billy - Black Christmas Revisited. BearManor Media. ISBN 978-1-6293-3869-9.
• Harper, Jim (2004). Legacy of Blood: A Comprehensive Guide to Slasher Movies. Critical Vision. ISBN 978-1-9004-8639-2. Archived from the original on September 7, 2023. Retrieved January 8, 2020.
• Hart, Adam (2019). Monstrous Forms: Moving Image Horror Across Media. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-1909-1623-7. Archived from the original on September 7, 2023. Retrieved January 13, 2020.
• Koven, Mikel (2008). Film, Folklore, and Urban Legends. Scarecrow Press. ISBN 978-0-8108-6025-4. Archived from the original on August 17, 2023. Retrieved December 5, 2019.
• Hantke, Steffen (June 1, 2010). American Horror Film: The Genre at the Turn of the Millennium. University Press of Mississippi. ISBN 978-1-6047-3454-6.
• Hays, Lee (1976). Black Christmas. Popular Library. ISBN 0-9658-6577-0. Archived from the original on September 7, 2023. Retrieved February 6, 2020.
• Markusen, Bruce (July 16, 2021). Hosted Horror on Television: The Films and Faces of Shock Theater, Creature Features and Chiller Theater. McFarland & Company. ISBN 978-1-4766-8461-1. Archived from the original on September 7, 2023. Retrieved December 11, 2021.
• Muir, John (November 22, 2012). Horror Films of the 1970s. McFarland & Company. ISBN 978-0-7864-9156-8.
• Nowell, Richard (December 23, 2010). Blood Money: A History of the First Teen Slasher Film Cycle. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 978-1-4411-8850-2.
• Olivier, Marc (February 11, 2020). Household Horror: Cinematic Fear and the Secret Life of Everyday Objects. Indiana University Press. ISBN 978-0-253-04656-7. Archived from the original on September 7, 2023. Retrieved October 4, 2021.
• Packer, Sharon; Pennington, Jody (July 15, 2014). A History of Evil in Popular Culture: What Hannibal Lecter, Stephen King, and Vampires Reveal About America. ABC-CLIO. ISBN 978-0-3133-9771-4.
• Paszylk, Bartłomiej (June 8, 2009). The Pleasure and Pain of Cult Horror Films: An Historical Survey. McFarland & Company. ISBN 978-0-7864-5327-6.
• Rist, Peter (2001). Guide to the Cinema(s) of Canada. Greenwood Publishing Group. ISBN 978-0-3132-9931-5. Archived from the original on September 7, 2023. Retrieved January 14, 2020.
• Robinson, Jessica (June 7, 2012). Life Lessons from Slasher Films. Scarecrow Press. ISBN 978-0-8108-8503-5.
• Rockoff, Adam (October 21, 2011). Going to Pieces: The Rise and Fall of the Slasher Film, 1978–1986. McFarland & Company. ISBN 978-0-7864-6932-1. Archived from the original on September 7, 2023. Retrieved February 24, 2020.
• Rubin, Martin (March 28, 1999). Thrillers. Genres in American Cinema. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-5215-8839-3. Archived from the original on September 7, 2023. Retrieved January 15, 2020.
• Thrower, Stephen (2007). Nightmare USA: The Untold Story of the Exploitation Independents. FAB Press. ISBN 978-1-9032-5446-2. Archived from the original on September 7, 2023. Retrieved March 3, 2020.
• Vander Kaay, Chris; Vander Kaay, Kathleen (August 15, 2014). The Anatomy of Fear. Norlightspress.com. ISBN 978-1-9352-5497-3.
• Willis, John; Monush, Barry (May 1, 2010). Screen World 2007. Hal Leonard. ISBN 978-1-5578-3729-5. Archived from the original on September 7, 2023. Retrieved January 28, 2020.
• Zinoman, Jason (July 7, 2011). Shock Value: How a Few Eccentric Outsiders Gave Us Nightmares, Conquered Hollywood, and Invented Modern Horror. Penguin Publishing Group. ISBN 978-1-1015-1696-6.

Media and periodicals

• Carl Brundtland (Director) (2002). Black Christmas Revisited (DVD). Canada: Critical Mass Releasing. Event occurs at 10:58-36:25.
• Bob Clark (Director) (1974). Black Christmas (Motion picture). Canada: Ambassador Films.
• Dan Duffin (Director) (2006). The 12 Days of 'Black Christmas' (DVD). Canada: Critical Mass Releasing. Event occurs at 1:07-13:35.
• Justin McConnell (Director); George Mihalka (Director) (2015). Black Christmas Legacy (DVD). Canada: Anchor Bay Entertainment. Event occurs at 6:02-32:45.
• Glen Morgan (2006). Black Christmas (Motion picture). United States: Dimension Films.
• Glen Morgan (director) (2006). What Have You Done? The Remaking of 'Black Christmas' (DVD). United States: Genius Productions, Inc. Event occurs at 5:50-26:29.
• Power, Ed (December 11, 2019). "The curse of Black Christmas: the man behind The Prowler on the slasher film that ruined his career". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on December 26, 2019. Retrieved January 13, 2020.
• Schaefer, Stephen (December 11, 2019). "Horror fans dreaming of a new Black Christmas". The Boston Herald. Archived from the original on January 13, 2020. Retrieved January 13, 2020.
• McInnes, Douglas; Shiman, Jennifer (December 26, 2013). "Black Christmas in 30 seconds with bunnies". 30-Second Bunnies Theatre. Season 2. Episode 2. Fearnet.com. Retrieved March 10, 2020.
• Shotwell, James (December 15, 2016). "Slay Ride: In defense of Glen Morgan's 2006 Black Christmas reboot". Substream Magazine. Archived from the original on May 1, 2019. Retrieved December 4, 2019.

Further reading

• Kent Byron Armstrong (January 1, 2003). Slasher Films: An International Filmography, 1960 Through 2001. McFarland & Company. ISBN 978-0-7864-1462-8.
• Best, Liane A. (2007). The Myth and Reality of Serial Killers in U.S. Cinema. University of Houston-Clear Lake.
• Crouse, Richard (December 15, 2010). Son of the 100 Best Movies You've Never Seen. ECW Press. ISBN 978-1-55490-330-6.
• Grunzke, Andrew (April 1, 2015). Educational Institutions in Horror Film: A History of Mad Professors, Student Bodies, and Final Exams. Springer. ISBN 978-1-137-46920-5.
• Hamman, Cody (December 21, 2016). "Face-Off: Black Christmas Billy vs. Silent Night, Deadly Night Billy". Joblo.com. Arrow in the Head. Retrieved December 19, 2019.
• Roche, David (February 6, 2014). Making and Remaking Horror in the 1970s and 2000s: Why Don't They Do It Like They Used To?. Univ. Press of Mississippi. ISBN 978-1-62674-246-8.

• Black Christmas (film series)
• Child characters in film
• Christmas characters
• Fictional cannibals
• Fictional characters from Massachusetts
• Fictional characters from Ontario
• Fictional victims of child abuse
• Fictional victims of child sexual abuse
• Fictional characters involved in incest
• Fictional characters with mental disorders
• Fictional mass murderers
• Fictional matricides
• Fictional serial killers
• Fictional stalkers
• Film characters introduced in 1974
• Male horror film villains
• Unseen characters
• Slasher film antagonists