Jessica Bradford is the main protagonist of Black Christmas. She is portrayed by Olivia Hussey.
History[]
Jess was prominent member of the sorority who are hosting a Christmas party for their friends when she answers a phone call. The man makes strange noises and starts to say obscene things to her. Jess is horrified and gives the phone to her friend Barb, who berates him. Later that night, Jess contacts her boyfriend Peter and tells him they need to talk.
The next day, Jess goes to see her musician boyfriend and tells him she's pregnant but she does not want to keep the baby. He is angered by her decision as he wants to keep the baby and the two get into a fight before she leaves. Sometime later, Jess answers the phone to the same anonymous caller who again, says obscene things to her which prompts her to go to police for help.
The police arrive to tap the phone and will relay back information on who the caller may be. Jess stays in the house and answers the door to carolers, thinking her friends are safe upstairs. The singing is interrupted by another phone call, this time the killer repeats back some of the thing Peter said to her and she starts to panic.
After putting the phone down, Lieutenant Fuller calls Jess and tells her the trace failed but to keep answering the phone so they can trace the call. The anonymous man calls again, this time Jess keeps him on the phone for longer while he talks in several different voices and screams a mixture of his own words as well as that of phrases he has overheard.
The police call Jess back and instruct her to leave the house by herself, quickly, she asks why and is eventually told that the calls are coming from inside the house. She almost rushes out of the door but stops when she realises she can't leave her friends alone. She grabs a fire poker and heads upstairs. Entering Barb's room, she finds both Barb and Phyl slaughtered on the bed and the killer's eye through the crack of the door.
He chases her through the house but she manages to fight him off and runs downstairs to the basement, locking the door behind her. While down there she hears someone approaching the window. It's Peter who is calling out to her. He smashes the window and breaks inside to check on her but Jess doesn't answer back, fearing he may be the killer.
The police arrive to find Peter, killed by Jess and laying in her arms with the bloodies fire poker. The police assume Peter was the killer and all of it is pinned on him.
Sometime later, Jess has returned to the sorority house to recover from her ordeal and is left alone by the police. Billy is seen descending down from the attic near her room as the phone rings.
Trivia[]
- It is unknown what Jess's fate is at the end of Black Christmas due to the killer Billy still being alive at the end of the film.
Victims[]
- Peter Smythe