Revenge Of The Slashers: “Billy”

“Filthy Billy. I know what you did, nasty Billy!”

Although we barely get a glimpse of him in the film, “Billy” is easily one of the creepiest slashers on my list this year. Appearing in 1974’s Black Christmas, “Billy” terrorizes a houseful of sorority sisters by making obscene phone calls to them and then killing them off one by one. He does all of this from the attic of the sorority house and even manages to frame an innocent young college student for the murders that he commits.

Billy spends most of his time making obscene, vulgar calls to the sorority sisters. He hides in the attic and patiently waits for one of the girls to become isolated from the rest of the group and then kills her. His first kill in the film is perhaps the most memorable, as he suffocates poor Clare to death and then stores her in the attic in a rocking chair near the window. He has no specific weapon of choice, happy to use crane hooks and glass unicorns to kill his victims.

“Billy” was portrayed by three different actors in the film. Many of his kills and general movements throughout the house are seen from his point of view, and in the POV shots, Albert J. Dunk performs as Billy. Nick Mancuso and Bob Clark provide Billy’s voice on the phone calls and we briefly seek Clark’s shadow-covered face in the film.

There have been two remakes of Black Christmas, neither of which had the same impact that the original film did. The original 1974 film has become a cult hit over the years and is considered to be one of the first slashers in the slasher film era. It also partly inspired the first Halloween film.

Thanks for checking out today’s post. Have you seen Black Christmas? Let me know what you think of the film and of “Billy” in the comments section.