Black Christmas: parents' guide

Several murders, mostly quick and not very bloody by modern standards: a woman suffocated with plastic, the housemother killed with a crane hook, a stabbing with a glass figurine and a fatal blow with a fireplace poker. A girl's body is found in a park.

Harsh words come in bursts rather than nonstop: the c-word and the f-word are both used. The obscene phone calls are full of vulgar, aggressive sexual remarks aimed at women, and one hard-drinking student swears freely.

No sex scenes or nudity, but crude sexual talk is frequent: the caller describes sex acts, and a student makes raunchy jokes. A young woman tells her boyfriend she is pregnant and plans an abortion, which angers him.

One student is drunk for much of the film, played for laughs, and the housemother hides liquor bottles around the house and drinks constantly. Cigarette smoking is common, as was typical of the 1970s.

Steady, creeping menace: the killer is never clearly seen, his rambling calls in strange voices are unsettling, and a victim's body sits wrapped in plastic in the attic for much of the film. The ending leaves the threat unresolved.