10 Horror Movie Questions That Will Never Be Answered
9. Who Is Billy? - Black Christmas
Not only is Bob Clark's Black Christmas a solid flick in its own right, it was instrumental in spawning countless other slashers. If it wasn't for this 1974 proto-slasher, Halloween, Friday the 13th, and A Nightmare On Elm Street may have never come to pass.
It's deeply ironic how Black Christmas kickstarted an entire subgenre of horror, considering it utilises few slasher tropes of its own.
The story centres around the psychopathic Billy who calls his victims before murdering them. When the Final Girl, Jess Bradford, encounters Billy during the third act, it looks like the killer's identity is about to be revealed.
But save for his haunting eye, Billy is never seen. His past remains a mystery. The motivation behind his killing spree is never explained. And since Billy is proven to be alive in the closing shot, it's not clear whether he killed Jess or not.
Fortunately, this lack of answers didn't stop Black Christmas from being an eerie horror picture from beginning to end, and it just goes to show there are times when the best explanation is no explanation at all.