Rish Outfield's reviews
I had to rush out and see this movie after hearing so many great things about it (if you click on the above link, you'll find almost a dozen glowing reviews on the IMDB), and while I didn't find it as frightening as I had hoped, it was a truly well-made and chilling horror picture.
It's Christmas time, and in a quaint sorority house, the girls and their closet lush house mother have an unexpected guest . . . a gibbering maniac with a penchant for ending human life!!!!!!!!!!!! And that's pretty much the story. But it is well-told, and frightening, as well as featuring future celebrities Margot Kidder and Andrea Martin, former celebrity Olivia (banish the envious moon) Hussey, and all-around celebrity John Saxon.
I really enjoyed this movie, even though there were some severe lapses in logic and the ending left me somewhat unsatisfied and with a lot of questions. I like Olivia Hussey, and though the problems her character is experiencing didn't resolve themselves completely, she's cute as a button. Margot Kidder was great as the happy drunk, and manages to be offensive even by today's standards. Saxon plays the same cop character he always does, but he's really good at it. And Marion Waldman's performance as the house mother was funny.
The thing I had most heard about this film was the horror of the killer's obscene phone calls, and wow, they were shocking, even a quarter-century later.
There were some truly disturbing/terrifying shots in the film, proving once again that . . . well, I don't know what it proves, but they were real good.
Best Scare: That insidious noise over the phone. Indescribably twisted.
I'd Recommend It To: Fans of slasher movies everywhere.
Note: After watching this and going to bed, I had an honest-to-Shania-Twain nightmare. Now I recommend the movie even more.

The tyranist's thoughts
The minute that the credits rolled on the video, I knew that I had a new favorite overlooked movie. This slasher from 1974 is perhaps one of the scariest movies I have ever seen. From the start it involved me and in the end I had a hard time letting it go. Of course, an ending like that is hard to stop thinking about let alone forget.
So its Christmas and most of the sorority girls are heading home for the holiday. A few stick around for various reasons, but soon they'll wish they had gone. Someone is making prank phone calls of the sickest sort and soon people will start to die.
You'll note that this pre-dates the glut of slasher and sorority house flicks that would pop up in the 80's. Still, it features many of the elements that would go on to make other great films. I guess the only way to say it is to say it was ahead of its time. Still, this one is creepier and better made than many of the films that would follow it.
Margot Kidder is pretty good as the drunken sorority sister. Olivia Hussey turns in the best performance though. There is so much tension in her scenes that I found myself talking back to the screen. John Saxon plays the good cop, of course, but it's still fun to see him. Keir Dullea of 2001 fame doe a fine job playing Hussey's boyfriend. Really, I just want to laud the entire cast. I am finding it difficult to speak rationally about this movie I enjoyed it so much.
And that's what this is all about, isn't it? That's why we watch horror movies. We want to be scared and when we are we like to revel in it. This movie scared me. It scared me enough that I found myself sitting up straight and talking back to the TV. I was involved and I loved it. Beginning to end, this is a fine, fine movie and I recommend it to all horror fans.