1974 Cult Classic, Named No. 1 ‘Most Terrifying Movie Ending,' Changed the Genre Forever
A horror movie that became a cult classic recently topped a list of the "Most Terrifying Movie Endings of All Time." The 1974 movie Black Christmas became a blueprint for horror and slasher movies that is still heavily used to this day.
In a recent ranking, Collider putBlack Christmas in the top spot of their list of the most terrifying movie endings.
Night of the Living Dead made the list, as did The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. The first Halloween movie, which debuted in 1978, took the second spot on the list. However, it was Black Christmas that outranked them all.
In the movie, Olivia Hussey plays Jess, who is enjoying her winter break with her sorority sisters. However, they start receiving strange, anonymous phone calls that leave them rattled.
Soon after the calls begin, members of the house are murdered one by one. Police are initially slow to investigate, and the killer remains elusive.
Before the police pin down where the calls are coming from, Jess finds herself alone in the house. Jess learns from a police officer that the disturbing calls are coming from inside the house. Instead of racing out of the house, she goes upstairs to check on two of her sorority sisters. She discovers they are dead, and the killer targets her next.
Jess escapes to the cellar, where her boyfriend Peter finds her. When police catch up to them, Peter is dead. Jess, thinking that Peter was the killer, killed him to save herself.
The movie's final moments show Jess, sedated and alone upstairs in the sorority house, as one solitary officer remains outside. The police believed that Peter was the killer, so they thought Jess was safe.
However, movie viewers discover that the killer is still alive and in the house. The phone rings, and the credits roll. The fate of Jess and the identity of the killer are never explicitly revealed.
In 2022, Comic Book Resources broke down how Black Christmas laid the groundwork for the horror slasher films that followed, including Halloween.
For one, Black Christmas didn't write Jess and her sorority sisters as helpless women. Instead, the site indicated, they made smart choices in trying to resolve the dire situation they found themselves in.
At the time, the way that Black Christmas had a mysterious villain killing people one by one was not a common approach. Now, of course, many horror movies follow that formula.
The blog Perisphere further made the case that Black Christmas was the "Godfather of Slasher Genre." The writer suggested that "Black Christmas was the inception of the serial killer's home invasion on film."
In addition, the killer, often referred to as "Billy," remained mostly unseen. The brutal actions are shown via his perspective, and those were components not common to slasher films at the time.
The fact that Black Christmas leaves just one victim, Jess, alive at the end was also a part of the movie that became a staple in the genre.
"Black Christmas doesn't get the credit it deserves," the writer suggested. "The genre's formal techniques and conventions owe a lot to this movie's silent slasher narrative and its point-of-view shots," they continued.
In addition, they wrote, "Let's not forget that Black Christmas is the movie that reminded audiences that even their homes aren't safe. There's always some place you haven't looked: an attic, a basement, or a closet."
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This story was originally published April 26, 2026 at 2:39 PM.