Black Christmas (Blu-ray)

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As for the performances, when you look at what Kidder and Hussey have done with other roles, you wonder if the straight-faced prelude to terror is something that felt like a straitjacket on them, because they look and talk like B-Movie actresses here. And the quality? Cheap is cheap, but boy, is this film grainy and indistinct.

Video:
When I first popped this in my Blu-ray player I found myself wondering, Why? Why was this even released on Blu-ray, unless all the players in the world have suddenly become Blu and it's the only way for catalog titles to see the light of day. But DVD still reigns supreme, and so it's a marvel that a film with the master in such obviously poor shape would be a candidate for Hi-Def. This is the worst-looking title I've screened in Blu-ray. The graininess and fuzzy edges are so pronounced that it would be a 5 or 6 if it were a DVD. But as a Blu-ray? There's been no apparent restoration, and the colors are faded, there's no hint of 3-dimensionality, and the overall picture looks as rough as an old Fifties' TV show played straight from the can. While there's no real artifacting that's the result of the AVC/MPEG-4 transfer, the source materials were clearly so rough that whatever the transfer, without major restoration and post-production clean-up this title was going to look pretty sad in 1080p. And it does. The aspect ratio isn't listed, but it would appear to be 1.66:1, or else a 1.78:1 stretched to fit the entire 16x9 monitor.

Audio:
The audio isn't much better. The original English 1.0 Mono is included, as well as a Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround that was made for this release, but a poor master spells disaster once more. Not only is this not a dynamic soundtrack, but it also sounds as flat as the picture looks. Again, this is not the fault of the treatment or transfer, but of the original source materials being so rough. People who love this film will be glad it exists in any format, but be warned that the bass notes aren't full, the high notes dissipate rather than feeling crisp, and the whole thing feels like the audio recorded from your hand-held video camera. You may as well listen to it in Mono. At least there's the sense of authenticity then.

Extras:
For a title this old there's a good amount of bonus features, and the ones that I liked best were actually three interviews with Hussey, Kidder, and Art Hindle, who plays one of the boyfriends. There's something honest about these raw interviews that's appealing, and the fact that they appear to be outtakes from the talking-heads inclusions in the 20-minute making-of feature makes you appreciate that. This release was supervised by "Uberfan" Dan Dufflin, who created ItsMeBilly.com. The main making-of feature touches all the usual bases, though like the film itself the production values aren't as slick as we're accustomed to. Saxon, Hussey, Kidder, Hindle, Griffin, and Doug McGrath appear. The other bonus feature is a Q&A with Clark that was recorded in 2004 in Los Angeles, in which the director appeared in a panel with his composer, Carl Zittrer, and Saxon. Again, it's pretty standard for such things.

Bottom Line:
If you're into slasher films, this one is a real artifact, and one that will be a must-have. But for those who are only casually into the genre or who are just looking for a well-made thriller, I don't think that "Black Christmas" will hold much appeal. It's a cult film, plain and simple. It may have been one of the first to come out with the genre tropes, but in retrospect, that's the most you can say about "Black Christmas."

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