'Hell Yeah!' is an ongoing series in which horror filmmakers, critics and fans share their take on movies they love. This month: holiday horror flicks!

It's oddly appropriate that one of the first (if not the very first) holiday-themed horror flicks ever made would be helmed by the director of one of my generation's all-time favorite family-oriented yuletide flicks, A Christmas Story. It's a tribute to the versatility of the late, great Bob Clark that this time of year can be mined for nostalgia, comedy and sheer terror in equal measure, thanks to projects that are about as polar-opposite of one another as a pair of films can get.

Considered by most horror buffs to be an early prototype for the slasher genre, Clark's low-budget Canadian production Black Christmas unfortunately faded beneath the understandably imposing shadow of John Carpenter's Halloween, despite beating that film to the punch by nearly four years. But after a very successful '80s run on cable TV (I first saw it under the title Stranger in the House, and my high-school chums and I couldn't stop talking about it), during which it built a reputation as one of the scariest films ever, fans quickly developed a warm place in their hearts for this gritty little chiller. Largely ignored in the home-video market before finally landing multiple DVD releases, this quirky little gem finally got some respect among multiple generations of horror fans... props it totally deserves.

Starting with the Ten Little Indians-style murder mystery plot formula, then chucking most of that out the window, Clark added Hitchcockian elements and encased it all in a gritty, doom-filled ambiance (which the director also used to great effect in the same year's Deathdream), further heightened by the bitter-cold setting, with inventive editing & camera techniques and an unconventional score. The combination of these elements turns a simple thriller into a surreal nightmare where the rules of the standard who-done-it are tossed into the cold night wind.

The incredibly tasty Olivia Hussey stars as the sweet-natured Jess, one of several oddball coeds (including Margot Kidder as the boozy Barb, and SCTV vet Andrea Martin in a rare straight role) holed up in their sorority house over holiday break with an unseen psychopath (identified only as “Billy”) who terrorizes his potential victims with bizarre, sleazy and often monstrous monologues over the telephone. Jess is currently having some issues with creepy boyfriend Peter (2001's Kier Dullea), which puts him on the top of the suspects list, but the police don't seem to take notice until bodies start turning up elsewhere in the neighborhood.

Arguably the first film to utilize the standard slasher convention of shooting from the killer's-point-of-view – plus the twist of having the psycho phoning his next victim from within the same house – Black Christmas is also noteworthy for its shocking finale, the technique of which might seem a cop-out by today's jaded horror fans, but would have been chillingly disorienting to audiences in the mid-'70s. Not since Hitchcock killed off his heroine halfway through Psycho had a movie so thoroughly bitch-slapped viewers' expectations.

I won't waste your time going into the 2006 remake, which Clark at least produced, but sadly followed the studio trend of throwing away just about everything good about the original (they did at least offer a respectful nod by including Andrea Martin). Instead, go straight to the source – I'm partial to the nice Somerville House special edition DVD, which is jam-packed with extras, including some great interviews with the main cast members, including the eternally cool John Saxon.

Regardless of the climate where you spend your holiday, no amount of blankets or fuzzy slippers can chase away the chills that this cult classic will send up your spine. See it and you'll think twice before looking through a crack in the door...