"Oh, why don't you go find a wall socket and stick your tongue in it? That'll give you a charge!"

Margot Kidder died a few days ago. Most of you mortals will forever remember her as Lois Lane in the Superman movies of the 1970s and 80s, but before she was typecast in that role, she was in horror films. She starred in Brian de Palma's Sisters in 1972 and in The Amityville Horror in 1979, but there was one in between I'd like to talk about.

This week's Thursday Thrillers is Black Christmas.

Bob Clark directed this 1974 holiday slasher classic about some gals staying at their sorority house over Christmas break. They regularly receive obscene phone calls and they think it's no big deal at first, but then Clare (Lynne Griffin) goes missing. Her dad comes to pick her up but she's nowhere to be found because no one checks the attic to see if there are any corpses with plastic bags wrapped around their heads. Jess (Olivia Hussey) has been arguing with her temperamental musician boyfriend Peter (Keir Dullea) because he wants to drop out of the conservatory and get married and Jess just wants to have an abortion.

The missing girl, the obscene calls, the angry boyfriend -- Lt. Ken Fuller (John Saxon) thinks it may all be connected.

There are some good performances in this film, but Kidder really shines as Barb, the quick-witted, always drunk, chain-smoking sorority sister with the dirty mind and the sardonic sense of humor.
when she talks to the heavy breather, she really lets him have it.

Second City alum Andrea Martin is in it, too, though they gave Kidder all the funny lines.

Black Christmas is a bloody suspense thriller that helped lay the groundwork for later slasher greats like Halloween. Billy the obscene caller's voice will give you goosebumps. You may not be able to guess who he is, but you probably already know where his calls are coming from.

Black Christmas streams on Shudder.