It’s the holiday break in the 90’s. Your family turns on the TV in the evening, and change the channel to TNT. There’s now a 50 / 50 chance you’re watching A Christmas Story. On the off chance it isn’t on, a commercial is. This was tradition at the time. It became a part of the cacophony of festive background sounds. The movie was just as much a part of the holiday as a decorated tree, or vibrant colored lights being strewn across the house.
If you were tuned into TNT on television during the holiday seasons of the 1990’s, there was a significant chance that A Christmas Story was playing. Bob Clark’s holiday classic showcased the exploits of a young boy, his comedic family, a passionate pursuit for a “Red Ryder” air rifle, and an iconic leg lamp that was sure to put a smile on any father’s face. If Bob Clark was good at anything, it was catching the spirit of the season. And if there was anything else he was good at, it was turning it upside down to make it feel cold, isolating, and foreboding. Nearly a full decade before Bob Clark would showcase a charming winter vacation, he would terrorize a sorority of young women in his holiday horror hit, Black Christmas.