O CANADA: Black Christmas (1974) + Ghostkeeper (1981)

Our December edition of Fright Night pays tribute to our neighbors to the North with a double-bill spotlighting two singular works of Canadian horror: Bob Clark’s seminal Black Christmas and Jim Makichuk’s cult rarity Ghostkeeper. From the urban unease of 1970s Toronto to the remote Canadian Rockies, prepare yourself for a wintry night of psychological disquiet, impending violence, and escalating dread. We’re proud to present this Fright Night double-feature on 16mm.

BLACK CHRISTMAS (dir. Bob Clark, 1974)

Four years before Halloween codified the modern slasher film, Bob Clark’s Black Christmas established much of its vocabulary while delivering something stranger, darker, and more insidious than most of its descendants. Olivia Hussey, Margot Kidder, and Andrea Martin lead the residents of a Toronto sorority house whose Christmas festivities are interrupted by a series of increasingly obscene phone calls and the disappearance of one of their sisters, unaware that a killer may already be inside. Clark turns the house itself into a labyrinth of menace, employing prowling subjective camerawork, disembodied voices, and carefully spaced eruptions of violence to generate an atmosphere of almost unbearable unease. Beneath its wintry holiday setting runs an equally unsettling current of sexual politics, as Hussey’s determination to terminate an unwanted pregnancy collides with her boyfriend’s refusal to accept her autonomy. Bleakly funny, psychologically elusive, and profoundly unsettling, Black Christmas locates its deepest horrors in a world where male entitlement and violence intrude upon even the most seemingly secure domestic spaces.

Format: 16mm

Print Note: Black Christmas will be projected from a RARE Eastman SP theatrical print with some fade and presented in its original 1.85:1 aspect ratio.

GHOSTKEEPER (dir. Jim Makichuk, 1981)

Something like a low-budget Canadian answer to The Shining, Jim Makichuk’s Ghostkeeper is an eerie excursion into snowbound isolation, psychological unease, and a touch of Wendigo folklore. Stranded in the Canadian Rockies, three vacationers seek refuge in a seemingly deserted mountain lodge, where they encounter a mysterious elderly woman and intimations of an ancient presence lurking within the wilderness. Emerging from Canada’s notorious tax-shelter filmmaking era, Ghostkeeper turns its modest resources into a hypnotic study in wintry desolation, dwarfing its characters against vast expanses of gray and white before enclosing them within the shadowy corridors of the hotel. With its languid rhythms, Bergman-esque interpersonal turmoil, and pervasive sense of something unknowable stirring beneath the frozen landscape, Ghostkeeper favors atmosphere and slow-burning dread over conventional shocks, resulting in one of the stranger curiosities of early-’80s Canadian horror.

Format: 16mm

Print Note: Ghostkeeper will be projected from a gorgeous low-fade 16mm print boasting great color.

SCHEDULE

Introduction: 7:30 PM

Black Christmas  (1974): 7:40 PM

Intermission (15 minutes) + Trailers: 9:20 PM

Ghostkeeper (1981): 9:45 PM

End of Show: 11:15 PM

TICKETS

Adults: $20

Senior/Student/Military/Veteran: $18

Members: $16

Designer/Director/Visionary Members: $5