It’s not news to any self-respecting Horror fan that BLACK CHRISTMAS, the classic 1974 Slasher flick that helped birth the entire cinematic phenomenon, was inspired by an urban legend. A killer calling a babysitter, and when she in turn calls the police, they call back upon tracing the call to warn her that THE CALLS ARE COMING FROM INSIDE THE HOUSE!!! Sometimes the poor babysitter gets out in time and sometimes she doesn’t. It depends on who is telling the story. Such an event never happened, outside of the confines of the movie, but it makes for a terrific plot device.
The screenwriter, A. Roy Moore (who unfortunately shares a name with a lunatic fascist failed politico from Alabama), also claims to have taken inspiration from the crimes of Wayne Boden (with whom I am unfortunate enough to share a name; “Wayne” is one of the most popular names for serial killers, you know). A serial killer as well as rapist, they called Boden the “Vampire Rapist” because he liked to bite the breasts of his victims, a habit that got him convicted; Boden was the first person in North America to be convicted of a crime based on odontological evidence (i.e. bite marks). Boden killed four women between 1969 and 1971. He went to Hell in 2006. In addition to the nickname “Vampire Rapist” Boden was sometimes called “Strangler Bill”. Fans will recall that the name of the killer in BLACK CHRISTMAS was “Billy”.
