Slasher Double Feature! Black Christmas and Scream

For today's films I went for a spontaneous slasher double feature to shake up the haunting trend I've been on. 

Black Christmas: The first movie today was Black Christmas, one of the original slasher movies. Like Halloween this one cemented the tropes of the slasher genre (maniacal killer, calling from inside the house, etc) and it's damn good. The killer is a maniac in a way I haven't seen in slashers before; genuinely insane and bonkers on the phone with multiple voices and crazed rambling. The killer in the sorority house and the questions of who is the real killer is the horror template that many films after it have copied. I honestly have no idea why this doesn't hold the same respect and place in horror history as Halloween because it's right up there. A damn fine slasher full of twisted kills and a terrifying killer. What more do you need really?

9/10

Scream: Watching Black Christmas got me in for Scream, a film that wears it's influence from slashers, namely Black Christmas, on it's sleeve. I watched this one during a binge a few years ago but it's so good, why not do it again. 

Wes Craven created Scream as a very meta nod to the slasher genre and his own films in particular. The kids of the movie are obsessed with slashers and are constantly laying out in both their conversations and actions the machinery of the genre. It's brilliant how Craven creates almost a movie within a movie and pays homage to his horror roots (cameo by Freddy!). I think this movie is easily dismissed as a 90s cheese fest as it itself was parodied over and over but it is in fact a great movie. Like Black Christmas, the kills are killer (pun absolutely intended) and the killer is scary and interestingly human. He's not invincible, a character trait that is surely dropping hints to the twist at the end. I really do love this movie. 

9/10