Black Christmas – Scream Factory (4k UHD/Blu-ray Combo)

Theatrical Release Date: Canada, 1974
Director: Bob Clark
Writer: Roy Moore
Cast: Olivia Hussey, Keir Dullea, Margot Kidder, John Saxon, Andrea Martin, Doug McGrath, Art Hindle, Lynne Griffin, Michael Rapport, Leslie Carlson, Nick Mancuso

Release Date: December 6th, 2022
Approximate Running Time: 98 Minutes 10 Seconds
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 Widescreen / 2160 Progressive / HEVC / H.265 / Dolby Vision HDR10
Rating: R
Sound: DTS-HD Mono English, DTS-HD 5.1 English
Subtitles: English SDH
Region Coding: Region Free (4K UHD), Region A (Blu-ray)
Retail Price: $39.98

"The college town of Bedford is receiving an unwelcome guest this Christmas. As the residents of sorority house Pi Kappa Sigma prepare for the festive season, a stranger begins to stalk the house. A series of obscene phone calls start to plague the sorority and it becomes clear that a psychopath has more than merriment on his mind. As the police try to trace the phone calls, they discover that nothing is as it seems during this Black Christmas." - synopsis provided by the distributor

Video: 5/5 (4K UHD), 4.75/5 (Blu-ray)

Here’s the information provided about this release's transfer, “2022 4K Scan of the Original Camera Negative.”

Black Christmas comes on a 100 GB triple layer 4K UHD.

Disc Size: 72.8 GB

Feature: 64.9 GB

The new restoration that was used for this transfer looks excellent. Color saturation, contrast, and compression are solid; black levels are consistently strong; and grain remains intact. That said, this new transfer is easily the best Black Christmas has ever looked on home video.

Black Christmas comes on a 50 GB dual layer Blu-ray.

Disc Size: 32.1 GB

Feature: 29.3 GB

The Blu-ray uses the same source that was used for the 4K UHD.

Audio: 5/5 (DTS-HD Mono English, DTS-HD 5.1 English)

This release comes with two audio options, a DTS-HD mono mix in English and a DTS-HD 5.1 mix in English. Here is information provided about both audio tracks: "2022 restoration of the original mono track" and "2022 restoration of the 5.1 audio, restoring missing dialogue, music, and sound effects." Both of these audio tracks sound excellent, and it is immediately noticeable how much work went into their 2022 restorations. Dialog always comes through clearly, everything sounds balanced, and range-wise ambient sounds are well-represented. The DTS-HD 5.1 track does a good job expanding the soundtrack. Also, there are removable English SDH.

Extras:

Extras for this release are spread over three discs.

Extras on the 4K UHD include an audio commentary with director Bob Clark, an audio commentary with actors John Saxon and Keir Dullea, an audio commentary with Billy (actor Nick Mancuso), and an audio Interview with Director Bob Clark (26 minutes 17 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles).

Extras for the Blu-ray disc one include a newspaper ad gallery, a featurette titled Black Christmas - Restoring the Sound (8 minutes 5 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English no subtitles), an audio commentary with Bob Clark, an audio commentary with John Saxon and Keir Dullea, an audio commentary with Billy (Nick Mancuso), and an audio Interview with Director Bob Clark (26 minutes 17 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles).

Extras on Blu-ray disc two include a photo gallery (52 images - posters/other promotional materials/lobby cards/home video art), two alternate title sequences under the titles Silent Night, Evil Night and Stranger in the House (2 minutes 47 seconds, Dolby Digital mono), three TV spots and two radio spots (3 minutes 9 seconds, Dolby Digital mono English, no subtitles), English language theatrical trailer (4 minutes 8 seconds, Dolby Digital mono English, no subtitles), French language theatrical trailer (4 minutes 8 seconds, Dolby Digital mono French, no subtitles), two scenes with a new vocal soundtrack (3 minutes 4 seconds, Dolby Digital mono French, no subtitles), Midnight Screening Q&A with Bob Clark, John Saxon and Carl Zittrer (20 minutes 21 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), archival interviews with Olivia Hussey, Art Hindle, Margot Kidder, Bob Clark, and John Saxon (101 minutes 30 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), an archival featurette titled Black Christmas Revisited (36 minutes 25 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), an archival featurette titled 12 Days of Black Christmas (19 minutes 48 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), an archival featurette titled On Screen!: Black Christmas (48 minutes 41 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), 40th Anniversary Panel at FanExpo 2014 Featuring John Saxon, Art Hindle, Lynne Griffin and Nick Mancuso (18 minutes 2 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), an archival featurette titled Black Christmas Legacy (40 minutes 42 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), an archival interview actress Lynne Griffin titled Victims and Virgins Remembering Black Christmas (26 minutes 35 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), an archival interview actor Art Hindle titled Film and Furs Remembering Black Christmas (26 minutes 11 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), and Black Christmas, 2006 Critical Mass HD Master (98 minutes 5 seconds, 1.78:1 aspect ratio, DTS-HD 5.1 English, no subtitles).

Other extras include a slipcover (limited to first pressing).

Summary:

Visually is where Black Christmas is most effective. And nowhere is this more evident, then when it comes to the killer’s point of view. The main location, the house that the sorority girls live in, is shot in a claustrophobic way that further drives home the building tension. And this film also features many memorable death scenes. Most notably Barb’s death scene, where the killer stabs her repeatedly with a glass unicorn.

Another strength of Black Christmas is its solid cast. Which includes Olivia Hussey (Romeo and Juliet), Keir Dullea (2001: A Space Odyssey), Margot Kidder (Sisters) and John Saxon (Tenebrae). All around all the cast are very good in their respective roles.

The slash and stalk visual style in Black Christmas, bears many similarities to the visual style employed in Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho and Italian thrillers. And In the years following the release of Black Christmas, many films like Halloween and the Friday the 13th films would employee a similar visual style.

The narrative for Black Christmas is meticulously laid out. It's open-ended finale that leaves the killers’ fate unresolved is a very satisfying conclusion. Ultimately, Black Christmas is an underrated thriller that is just as effective today as when it was released forty-eight years ago.

Black Christmas makes its way to 4K UHD via an exceptional release from Scream Factory that comes with a solid audio/video presentation, highly recommended.

Note about the 4K screenshots: It is not possible to make Dolby Vision or HDR10 screenshots that faithfully match the experience of watching a film in motion on a TV. Instead of not having any screenshots, all of the 4K screenshots are m2ts taken with a VLC player and lossless PNGs.

Written by Michael Den Boer