Long before masked slashers stalked suburban streets and holiday horror became a subgenre unto itself, Black Christmasquietly rewired what cinematic fear could look like. Released in 1974 and directed by Bob Clark, this Canadian production didn’t just precede Halloween, it laid much of the groundwork for the modern slasher while feeling unnervingly different from what would follow. Where later films leaned into body counts and iconography, Black Christmas thrived on atmospher