Peter Smythe is a secondary antagonist in the 1974 psychological slasher film, Black Christmas. He is Jess Bradford's boyfriend and an aspiring pianist suffering from emotional issues, exemplified when he attempts to intimidate Jess into having their unborn child and calling her on the phone in a sobbing fit. Peter is eventually suspected of being the person calling the Pi Kappa Sig sorority house, as well as the murderer of a young girl found dead in a local park. He is portrayed by Keir Dullea.
History[]
Peter is introduced as neurotic and an aspiring pianist, and was in a serious relationship with Jess Bradford prior to and during the events of the film. Peter is surprised, but happy, when Jess reveals she is pregnant, but becomes angry when she says she plans to have an abortion. Peter eventually makes numerous threats to Jess about their unborn child in an attempt to intimidate her into having the baby.
As Jess, along with her sorority sisters: Barb Coard and Phyllis Carlson attempt to search for Clare Harrison, who had gone missing the night before, Peter performed badly during a recital, most likely due to the weight of Jess's pregnancy on him. The judges were unimpressed and Peter seemingly gave up on his dreams of playing the piano professionally, instead focusing on the deluded idea of raising his and Jess's baby; following the review, Peter destroyed his piano in a blind rage. The police, along with Jess and Phyllis, became suspicious that Peter was behind the obscene phone calls, and possibly Clare's disappearance and the murder of another local girl, Janice Quaife. This was due to Peter's emotionally unstable behavior throughout the film, as well as the caller reciting word-for-word an argument Jess had with Peter earlier.
Peter's body after getting beaten to death by Jess.
At some point, Peter is seen outside the sorority house. Meanwhile, Jess is told by Sergeant Nash the caller is in the house with her and she goes upstairs to retrieve Barb and Phyllis, only to discover their maimed corpses in Barb's room. She was soon attacked by their killer, who chased her around the house, before locking herself in the basement, armed with a fire poker. Alerted by Jess's screams, Peter showed up, smashing a window and climbing down into the basement to save her. Believing Peter to be the killer, Jess beats him to death with the fire poker. The police arrived and concluded that Peter was indeed the killer, though in reality, he wasn't.