Mrs. "Mac" MacHenry is a supporting protagonist in the 1974 psychological slasher film, Black Christmas. Mrs. Mac is introduced as a former Vaudeville star turned alcoholic who hides booze all over the sorority house; despite her drinking problem, Mrs. Mac displays a motherly side towards the girls, particularly Jess Bradford. She is portrayed by Marian Waldman.
Description[]
The film introduces Mrs. MacHenry as a former Vaudeville star, now the housemother for Pi Kappa Sig. Mrs. Mac is also a functioning alcoholic and hides bottles of alcohol all over the sorority house, such as in books or in the upstairs bathroom's toilet tank. She was well-liked by all of the girls, especially Jess Bradford. At the beginning of Black Christmas (1974), the girls jokingly give Mrs. Mac an ugly nightgown as a Christmas present, encouraging her to wear it around the house, which she does begrudgingly.
Mrs. Mac was frustrated over her responsibilities as a housemother, though she kept this to herself. She was known to have a swearing problem when angry, such as when Mr. Harrison comes searching for his daughter, Clare Harrison, and berates her for the state of the house. She claims she is unable to control the girls, as they are adults, before giving Clare's father the middle finger. Despite this, Mrs. Mac deeply cared for the girls and was a maternal figure to them.
After the house was empty, save for a drunken Barb asleep in her room, Mrs. Mac planned to travel to her sister's house for Christmas, only to become distracted when she heard her pet cat, Claude, meowing somewhere in the upper level of the house. She later investigated the attic, where she discovered Clare's body, her head wrapped in plastic. Mrs. Mac became aware of another person in the attic with her, turning to see a shadowy figure holding a crane hook, their hands shaking. The person then threw the hook into Mrs. Mac's face and dragged her into the attic, where her and Clare's bodies would remain, undiscovered for the remainder of the film.
Mrs. MacHenry's body.
Notes[]
- Along with Clare Harrison and Billy, Mrs. Mac is one of the only characters to be directly adapted in the 2006 remake, with the rest of the cast being expanded upon or substituted by other characters. Andrea Martin, who portrayed Phyllis Carlson in the original Black Christmas (1974), played Mrs. Mac's remake counterpart.