New Year's Evil (1980)

A Slasher Movie where the Slashings, or at Least Most of the Killing and Blood, are Off Screen. But the Movie Tries to be a More Sprawling and Deeper than Most with its Inclusion of a Cross Country Spree Combined with a New Year's Eve Telecast Featuring New Wave Music.

Roz Kelly is "Totally" Miscast as a VJ Hosting the Event and is Central to the Story. She Just Looks Haggard and Over the Hill and Ruins the Lead Role Not by a Lack of Talent but Being Misplaced and Over Aged.

This Genre Piece is Slightly Above Average, but Some Fans May Deduct Points for Bloodless Killings. But there is Enough B-Movie Sleaze Here to Satisfy. It's Not Quite as Dated as Some Other Low-Budget Pile-Ons and the Thing is Just Quirky Enough to Not be Dismissed.

It's Not as Lame as its Reputation but it Isn't a Top-Notch Slasher Entry Either. Worth a Watch for the Sprawl and the Movie Never Crawls. Worth a Watch for the Dated Concepts and Better than Average Story. Gore-Hounds May be Disappointed.

Note...Punk Rock (1977-79) was by definition self-destructive like the Sex-Pistols and of course Sid Vicious. It became the more commercial and digestible "New Wave" almost immediately. This Movie rightfully announced its concert as "New Wave" and never mislabeled the Music "Punk".

Fmovies: A middling slasher that is mostly made watchable and entertaining by the performance from Kip Niven, who goes through several costume and hair changes (that mustache is so on point for 1979/1980 that it's only a surprise it didn't get homaged in Boogie Nights). I also enjoyed the stock rock band that is playing the all-night New Year's show and does about 75% New Wave and then a random slow blues and Bowie song are in the mix for what is essentially a punk audience (and actually a few of the songs are kind of catchy in a disposable way). And maybe one or two of the chase/kills are effective. But by leaving less than zero mystery - well, except for who the killer is in relation to the woman hosting the concert - the filmmakers needed to find some more interesting supporting characters or found some new angle (it almost comes close with an idea that maybe one of the victims will just comically annoy the villain to the point that he gives up), or give Roz Kelly more meat on the bone and neither written or acted does it do much; it sounds mean to say, but the makeup is meant to do most of the acting and it doesn't cut it.

Most disappointing is a total WTF dangling subplot (if that) involving her adult son, played by Hardbodies and Killer Klowns alumni Grant Cramer, who looks five damn years younger than her and gets so oedipal he melodramatically at one point pulls one of her red stockings over his head. He has almost proto-young Nicolas Cage energy there, but until the end he just disappears into his own palm and five fingers until the last couple of minutes (where it uh... Proposes a sequel? Guess nothing changes New Year's Day...) Anyway, New Year's Evil is not entirely boring and may suffice if you're not expecting much, and being on Prime helps. It's another Not Quite But Almost slice of slasher meat with a somewhat unsatisfying ending and the highlight is aside from Niven that elevator set piece (or set pieces really, the dialog and then the wild action).

The story has already been summarized by previous posters so I won't bother.

This is a rock-bottom, stupid, boring, horrendous "Halloween" clone--HORROR movie is right! The plot is silly (killing people for every hour it turns midnight across the U.S.--please!), the performances are truly bad (it's truly astounding at how bad Roz Kelly was--you just stare at the screen in amazement. It's no wonder she's not in films anymore). Also the music--this was NOT punk rock!!!! This is some Hollywood studios version of it. Also the "dances" the kids did were hilariously bad (also those are the cleanest punks I've ever seen). But, more often than not, I was bored. Bad acting (everybody is bad--I mean EVERYBODY), a plot that is totally predictable (I figured out the killer within 10 minutes), very minor gore (yes, that's a problem--this IS an early 80s slasher film after all!), unlikable characters, HUGE gaps in logic...need I go on? A must-miss. It might be fun to sit around watching it with a bunch of friends and tear it apart.

New Year's Evil fmovies. A middling slasher that is mostly made watchable and entertaining by the performance from Kip Niven, who goes through several costume and hair changes (that mustache is so on point for 1979/1980 that it's only a surprise it didn't get homaged in Boogie Nights). I also enjoyed the stock rock band that is playing the all-night New Year's show and does about 75% New Wave and then a random slow blues and Bowie song are in the mix for what is essentially a punk audience (and actually a few of the songs are kind of catchy in a disposable way). And maybe one or two of the chase/kills are effective. But by leaving less than zero mystery - well, except for who the killer is in relation to the woman hosting the concert - the filmmakers needed to find some more interesting supporting characters or found some new angle (it almost comes close with an idea that maybe one of the victims will just comically annoy the villain to the point that he gives up), or give Roz Kelly more meat on the bone and neither written or acted does it do much; it sounds mean to say, but the makeup is meant to do most of the acting and it doesn't cut it.

Most disappointing is a total WTF dangling subplot (if that) involving her adult son, played by Hardbodies and Killer Klowns alumni Grant Cramer, who looks five damn years younger than her and gets so oedipal he melodramatically at one point pulls one of her red stockings over his head. He has almost proto-young Nicolas Cage energy there, but until the end he just disappears into his own palm and five fingers until the last couple of minutes (where it uh... Proposes a sequel? Guess nothing changes New Year's Day...) Anyway, New Year's Evil is not entirely boring and may suffice if you're not expecting much, and being on Prime helps. It's another Not Quite But Almost slice of slasher meat with a somewhat unsatisfying ending and the highlight is aside from Niven that elevator set piece (or set pieces really, the dialog and then the wild action).

An eeeevilll killer (played by Kip Niven) phones the host of a music television show threatening to claim a new victim as midnight heralds the New Year in each time zone.

Fans of L.A. band Shadow (if there are any) rejoice: here you get to see the band perform numerous bad new-wave/punk songs while a bunch of brain-dead morons pogo and mosh excitedly in the audience. You also get several lame murders performed by a killer who calls himself 'Eeeeevilll', a woman fast approaching her forties dressing like a teenager, a pill-popping kid who pulls a red stocking over his head before piercing his ear (?), Teri Copley's tits, psychiatric patients celebrating New Year, a biker gang invading a drive-in, and a fun final act in which the ageing TV show host (Diane 'Blaze' Sullivan, played by Roz Kelly) is suspended from the bottom of an elevator by the killer.

Although New Year's Evil is sorely lacking in creatively bloody kills (don't expect any Savini-style gore effects in this one), the film proves moderately entertaining nonsense thanks to its hilarious '80s music and fashion plus a healthy serving of cheeze, with Niven's cool, identity-switching character being absolutely hilarious (love the wonky, glued on moustache!). The frequent musical interludes do get a tad tedious after a while, a fact not helped by the sheer lousiness of the songs, but on the whole this is a passable slice of retro-slasher silliness and a neat reminder of a time that taste forgot.

An eeeevilll killer (played by Kip Niven) phones the host of a music television show threatening to claim a new victim as midnight heralds the New Year in each time zone.

Fans of L.A. band Shadow (if there are any) rejoice: here you get to see the band perform numerous bad new-wave/punk songs while a bunch of brain-dead morons pogo and mosh excitedly in the audience. You also get several lame murders performed by a killer who calls himself 'Eeeeevilll', a woman fast approaching her forties dressing like a teenager, a pill-popping kid who pulls a red stocking over his head before piercing his ear (?), Teri Copley's tits, psychiatric patients celebrating New Year, a biker gang invading a drive-in, and a fun final act in which the ageing TV show host (Diane 'Blaze' Sullivan, played by Roz Kelly) is suspended from the bottom of an elevator by the killer.

Although New Year's Evil is sorely lacking in creatively bloody kills (don't expect any Savini-style gore effects in this one), the film proves moderately entertaining nonsense thanks to its hilarious '80s music and fashion plus a healthy serving of cheeze, with Niven's cool, identity-switching character being absolutely hilarious (love the wonky, glued on moustache!). The frequent musical interludes do get a tad tedious after a while, a fact not helped by the sheer lousiness of the songs, but on the whole this is a passable slice of retro-slasher silliness and a neat reminder of a time that taste forgot.