Horror films based around holidays were nothing new but they really kicked off in the 70s. BLACK CHRISTMAS and SILENT NIGHT BLOODY NIGHT were two films that did decent at the box office. Who would have thought that the release of HALLOWEEN in 1978 a whole new slew of films would solidify holiday killers in the mainstream? FRIDAY THE 13TH in 1980 just cemented the genre and Hollywood was off and running with a ton of low budget holiday based horror. The same year that came out a film was released that has found a cult following of sort. That movie was NEW YEAR’S EVIL.
Video DJ Diane “Blaze” Sullivan (Roz Kelly) is working her way towards bigger things. She’s covering this year’s New Year’s celebration live from a Hollywood hotel where fans are dancing the night away to live bands and getting countdowns from across the country with each time zone’s own celebration. Diane’s concentration is so intense that she pays little attention to her son Derek (Grant Cramer) who’s just gotten a big part in a TV series telling him they’ll talk later. She also has a problem with her husband who is nowhere to be found.
The show goes live and fans are calling in. One in particular talks straight to Diane and tell her his name is Evil. He then let’s her know that with each midnight celebration across the country, he will kill a naughty girl there in LA, culminating with her murder at midnight pacific time. Upset she contacts the police who blow off her concerns. Until the first body shows up.
As the body count rises the police search for the killer. We the viewer watch and know the face of the killer early on. He goes though his choices of victims carefully and yet at one point begins to make mistakes that could land him in trouble with not just the police but a biker gang as well. But the twist in the story comes when he makes his way to the hotel where Diane is.
It’s easy to see why this movie has developed such a faithful group of fans. It’s not pretentious enough to consider itself a class act, aiming more towards a campy fun type film that some movies in the genre failed to follow. Sure there is an amount of seriousness needed when doing a film about a serial killer but ones like this have to display a certain amount of charm and fun along the way as well. This one accomplishes that.
The film is no display of enormous thespian talent and yet the cast handles their roles perfectly, in particular Kip Niven as Evil who brings a combination of charm and dread to the character. Roz Kelly is slammed in most reviews of this film. This is about the fourth time I’ve seen the film since different companies have released it in the past. This is the first time I noticed that her performance doesn’t deserve the criticism that she’s received. Certainly some moment are over the top but those fall in line with the action taking place. There are others where she shows her skills though and that needs to be recognized.
Also of note is Cramer in his first film role here, long before he became a regular on THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS. What I found interesting about his playing this role but never mentioned or discussed is that in real life he was the son of a famous movie star, Terry Moore who had starred in MIGHTY JOE YOUNG among others.
The film was co-written and directed by Emmett Alston who only directed eight films in his career. He was a solid enough craftsman when it comes to his film and it makes you wonder what made him decided to stop.
Released by Shout Factory some years ago the new version is
coming out from Kino Lorber. Their version starts out with a brand new 2k
master of the film making it better looking than ever. Extras include an audio
commentary track featuring director Emmett Alston moderated by Code Red’s Bill
Olsen, “The Making of New Year’s Evil” featuring interviews with the cast and
crew, the theatrical trailer, newly commissioned art by Vince Evans and
reversible original artwork for the sleeve. They’ve done a great job of it and
if you’re a fan you’ll want to pick this one up.
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