Who is the greatest Christmas filmmaker of all time? There are strong arguments to be made for both Chris Columbus — the absolute king of conjuring that Yuletide atmosphere — and Shane Black, who, no matter the violent and vile content in his screenplays, will always set the film at Christmastime. But biased as I may be (as someone who loves horror and the holidays equally), the answer has to be Bob Clark, the semi-forgotten director who somehow cranked out both proto-slasher Black Christmas and revered TNT classic A Christmas Story. Questions about how those two films can come from the mind of the same man aside, it’s hard to argue with that CV. The Belcourt is showing the uber-influential Black Christmas — released a full four years before the other holiday-based slasher classic Halloween — as part of its Holiday Classics series. There’s nothing quite like a fresh splatter of syrupy fake blood across lily-white snow in the glow of vintage Christmas bulbs.
9:15 p.m. Dec. 13 & 17 at the Belcourt
2102 Belcourt Ave.
