New Year's Evil
Review by Peter Syslo

This is the time of year when you may seek some comfort in horror movies, or you may not. Some people take a break for the holidays or others, like me, want to take a break from the holidays and settle down with a good old horror film. Christmas is a strange time, because it is tough to get in the mood for certain types of horror films – for example, it’s tough for FRIDAY THE 13th films, because they are mainly a summertime thing. But, I’m finding that there are a few Christmas-time films out there that may fill the void and feed the need, so to speak. NEW YEAR’S EVIL may or may not be one of them.

NEW YEAR’S EVIL (1980) is a Golan/Globus production (they did a lot of horror/action films in the 80s) which is directed by Emmett Alston and written by Alston and Leonard Neubauer. The movie stars Roz Kelly, Kip Niven, Chris Wallace, and Grant Cramer.

The film is about a TV/radio personality, Diane (Kelly), who is hosting a New Year’s Eve party at a hotel; it is kind of like a punk-rock “American Bandstand”. Right before midnight she receives a call from a killer (Niven) who says that he is going to kill someone at midnight, in each US time zone; of course, Diane panics and alerts the police. Most of the movie follows the killer, who stalks, kills, and tape records each killing – this all happens in the typical slasher style. The killer plays the recorded kills during each subsequent call to Diane and the police race to catch him. Meanwhile, Diane’s son Derek (Grant) is waiting in the hotel, at the show, for his mother and is acting very strangely (he takes some pills and he seems like he is going to loose it – he is really neglected by his mother). There is the standard slasher climax and the movie ends with sort of a twist, as you find out the true identity of the killer.

NEW YEAR’S EVIL isn’t bad – it’s pretty much a typical/generic slasher film, but it does have that little bit a charm to it, that movies in this era had. I did like the premise (killing at midnight in each time zone); that was interesting, even though it seemed like an attempt to capitalize on the “holiday themed slasher” that had gained popularity, since 1978’s HALLOWEEN. Some elements of the film did seem unnecessary, like the whole concept of Diane as the punk-show host and her son Derek; those two elements do play into the end of the film, but their significance is minimal. Also, the killer in this film is one of the most sloppy killers I have seen on film – most slasher-type killers are pretty good at doing what they do, covering their tracks, remaining secretive, etc. but this guy just leaves a lot of loose ends and a lot of t rails. I think that may have taken some power away from the film – you know this guy is going to get caught and you question some of his moves (he doesn’t seem that clever).

Aside from the storyline, the film looked good; it had the classic urban appeal of late 70s/ early 80s films and it was even reminiscent of “made-for-TV” films of the time period (that is some of the “charm” I was speaking about). The acting was OK, with Niven being the best performance, as the killer. The music was decent and actually made the whole movie more appealing, even though the punk-rock aspect seemed like throwing in a “time-period fad” (kind of like the way that the POLICE ACADEMY films would throw in skateboarding, jet skis, etc. for some mass/youth appeal). Overall, the movie has a bit of that “cheesy” appeal, which made it entertaining and enjoyable.

Cutting to the chase: NEW YEAR’S EVIL was OK; it is not a ground-breaking film but it was fun to watch. It is a traditional slasher, in a lot of ways, but the premise was slightly different and it is one of the only New Year’s Eve horror movies. If you like holiday-themed slashers or the cheesy/fun slashers of the 1980s, like APRIL FOOL’S DAY, MY BLOODY VALENTINE, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME, etc., you may like this movie. It’s easy to watch and it does have that nostalgic feel to it.