History Characters / BlackChristmas1974

!!Phyllis Carlson

* ShiftingVoiceOfMadness: In his phone calls, Billy often alternates between voices and personalities, often mentioning someone named Agnes ("You left Billy alone with Agnes?!" "Where's Agnes?" "Dirty Billy!"). In addition, he has a habit of screaming randomly and squeaking like a pig.

* AmbiguouslyBi: Alludes to having sex with men, but is also seen looking at a nude woman in a magazine.

* HiddenDepths: Despite her coarse behavior, feels genuine guilt for Clare's disappearance.
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: She puts up a tough front, but is sincerely heartbroken over what happened to Clare.
* LovableAlphaBitch: Barb can be obnoxious, but is a good person underneath it all.

* HellIsThatNoise: Billy's demented phone calls.
* KickTheDog: Killing Clare by suffocating her with plastic wrapping and then hiding her corpse in the attic so that no one finds her.

* WouldHurtAChild: A little girl reported missing and is found dead later. It's heavily implied that this is one of Billy's victims. It's also implied through his insane ramblings that it may not have been the first time he hurt a child, as he keeps referring to a baby and something horrible happening between himself and a person named Agnes.

[[folder:Billy]]

--> Played by Creator/NickMancuso (voice), Creator/BobClark (shadow), Albert J Dunk (POV), unknown actor (shown in picture)

The sorority house murderer. A psychopathic madman who sneaks into the Pi Kappa Phi house to prey on the resident female college students. After harassing his victims with disturbing phone calls, Billy kills Clare Harrison and brings her corpse with him to hide in the sorority's massive attic. When the other girls notice Clare missing, they go to the local authorities, never realizing how close the killer has been the entire time.

--> Played by Creator/OliviaHussey

The main heroine of the film. A kind and empathetic young woman, Jess is nevertheless troubled by her recent pregnancy and wishes to have an abortion. To make matters worse she becomes the unwilling recipient of a rash of terrifying obscene phone calls

--> Played by Creator/MargotKidder

[[folder:Ms. [=MacHenry=]]]
!!Ms. [=MacHenry=]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/2_98.jpg]]

--> Played by Creator/MarianWaldman

The middle aged house mother of the Pi Kappa Phi sorority. A seemingly sweet old lady, who harbors a hidden snarky attitude and is a closet alcoholic.
* TheAlcoholic: Stores hidden booze bottles in old books, her closet, and even in a toilet.
* CoolOldLady: One of the most beloved characters in the film.
* DeadpanSnarker: Second only to Barb in this regard.
%%* DirtyOldWoman:
[[/folder]]

--> Played by Creator/AndreaMartin

--> Played by Creator/KeirDullea

!! Lt. Ken Fuller

--> Played by Creator/JohnSaxon

--> Played by Creator/NickMancuso (voice), Creator/BobClark (shadow)

* ReluctantPsycho: One of Billy's calls have him saying the following; "''Help me... Please stop me... Oh god please help me...''", implying that he isn't entirely in control of his actions. The original screenplay was titled "Stop Me" which also fits the trope.

[[folder:Phyll]]

* NiceGirl: Phyll weeps profusely when she fears that Clare is dead.

A sweet, geeky sorority sister and one of Jess's closest friends

* AxCrazy: He is ''completely insane'', murdering several innocent women, throwing bizarre tantrums, and making nonsensical obscene phone calls after each murder.

--> Played by Marian Waldman

--> Played by Andrea Martin

* ThePeepingTom: He is constantly watching the girls from the attic.

--> Played by Keir Dullea

* WouldHurtAChild: Kills a young girl offscreen.

* WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds: If the scene where he throws a temper tantrum in the attic is any indication, Billy is a great deal of psychological pain.

The sorority house murderer. A psychopathic/possibly schizophrenic madman who sneaks into the Pi Kappa Phi house to prey on the resident female college students. After harassing his victims with disturbing phone calls, Billy kills Clare Harrison and brings her corpse with him to hide in the sorority's massive attic. When the other girls notice Clare missing, they go to the local authorities, never realizing how close the killer has been the entire time.

* AbusiveParents: Implied in Billy's ravings over the phone.

* AmbiguousDisorder: Billy certainly has severe emotional problems, but his rantings over the phone, in which he seems to play several roles, seems to indicate possible schizophrenia.

* DeconstructedCharacterArchetype: Compared to his slasher contemporaries, Billy's characterization is much closer to a real mentally ill person. Rather than a [[Franchise/FridayThe13th mute, masked]] [[{{Franchise/Halloween}} murder machine]] or a [[Franchise/ANightmareOnElmStreet wise-cracking]] [[{{Franchise/ChildsPlay}} jokester]], Billy is a killer shown to suffer from deep psychological pain.
* FreudianExcuse: Billy is implied to be a victim of abuse.

* TragicVillain: Downplayed. He's obviously in a state of extreme mental distress, but is portrayed as more frightening than sympathetic.

[[folder:Ms. MacHenry]]

!!Ms. MacHenry

The main heroine of Black Christmas, portrayed by Olivia Hussey. A kind and empathetic young woman, Jess is nevertheless troubled by her recent pregnancy and wishes to have an abortion. To make matters worse she becomes the unwilling recipient of a rash of terrifying obscene phone calls

The resident party girl of the Pi Kappa Phi sorority house. This foul-mouthed, hard-drinker is the only character to stand up to the killer. Played by a pre-superman Margo Kidder.

[[folder:Ms Mac]]
!!Ms. Machenry

* RedHerring: His erratic behavior and the veiled threats he makes against Jess make him the prime suspect. In the end however, he is revealed to be completely innocent. [[...''After'' Jess has already murdered him, and only to the audience. Jess goes to sleep completely unaware that not only did she kill an innocent man, but the real killer is still there with her.]]

* AttentionWhore
* DeadpanSnarker: Barb pretty much shit-talks everyone, her sorority sisters, the housemother, the police. Even the killer isn't safe from her silver tongue.

* DirtyOldWoman:

* RedHerring: [[spoiler: His erratic behavior and the veiled threats he makes against Jess make him the prime suspect. In the end however, he is revealed to be completely innocent.]]

* AxCrazy: He is ''completely insane'', murdering several innocent women, throwing insane tantrums, and making nonsensical obscene phone calls after each murder.

* AxCrazy: Yep.
* BigBad

* MurderersAreRapists

* PsychopathicManchild
* SerialKiller
* ThePeepingTom
* TragicVillain: Downplayed.

* TheVoice

* AllLovingHero
* AudienceSurrogate

* BrainyBrunette

* NiceGirl
* PluckyGirl

* JerkWithAHeartOfGold
* LovableAlphaBitch

* DeadpanSnarker
* DirtyOldWoman

* NerdGlasses
* SmartPeopleWearGlasses