New Year's Evil Review

Disclaimer: Contains spoilers!

Plot Summary: A famous rock icon is harassed by a mysterious killer as they count down the new year with blood!

Review: Although I mentioned how cool it would be, this film does not have any connection to "Christmas Evil," but I figured this would be the best way to close out the year nonetheless. I suppose you could lump this in with the hundreds of "Halloween" clones during the early '80s era, but surprisingly this film has a unique approach to the killer, and his motive, you don't see too often. If it weren't for the near-unbearable levels of stupidity that comprise the majority of the story, you might even say this were an original movie; in fact, had the plot only centered around the killer in an almost point-of-view style descent into madness this would be badass. Instead, we get a "hot" chick who looks like a clown, punk rockers that confuse zombie-esque swaying for dancing, and some kind of in-film gag about nervous diarrhea (oh I wish I were making that up).

Listen--do you hear that? It's the sweet sound of a song exclusively made based on the title of the film! You know you're in for an interesting ride when they can't even wait until the end credits for their piece of shit song about "New Year's Evil." So the heart of the story is that some clown-makeup-wearing woman dubbed, Blaze, is launching a big New Year punk rock party with the impressive likes of whoever the fuck "Shadow" is/are; Blaze is allegedly popular, but the movie doesn't really present this notion. The idea is that they will be celebrating all night long with the multiple midnight countdowns across the USA's time zones: starting with the East coast and working back to the West where Blaze is burning (yeah, I went there) up the stage. Since this needs to be as cornball as possible, Blaze has a call-in number so you can...talk to her...I guess. Of course when you set the stage for shenanigans, shenanigans is what you will get as a crazed caller proclaims he will murder someone during each New Year countdown with Blaze being his final victim. Things actually get a bit interesting at this point since a few abnormal events occur atypical to this kind of slasher: for one, the killer uses a voice changer like Ghostface, we see his face the whole film long, and he's a devious and clever bastard. It's pretty cool, because instead of trying to guess who the killer could be, this film wants us to figure out what's his connection to Blaze (although, personally I'd want to kill Blaze just for calling herself Blaze but that's me). A large chunk of the film deals with the killer trying to get his victims isolated at the right moments and his struggles along the way; we are given a glimpse inside the manipulative abilities of the killer with a borderline, realistic approach to the scenarios. This could have really worked and played with some creative ideas, but everything feels halfhearted since we keep cutting back to Blaze, Blaze's emo-forerunner son, idiotic cops, those retarded, zombie-like extras, and one aneurysm-inducing song after another.

Why couldn't this film simply gain clarity and focus on the killer or go into whodunnit territory? In my mind I picture this visceral, disturbing look inside the mind of the killer as he stalks his prey in the night. I'd have completely different angles and shots to enhance his madness with way more emphasis on seeing his reactions to the kills with the added bonus of a worthy musical score, but this film does not deliver that level of execution. After a night of mayhem, the killer's plan slowly unravels as he's reduced to moving on foot and luckily taking advantage of moronic cops. It sucks because the last victim before Blaze was meant to be some nun, and we never learn why she was on his list; the killer even had a priest outfit and everything! The killer manages to sneak inside Blaze's hotel where we learn his identity is that of her husband, Richard. Oh shit! As for the killer's motive, he simply hates women--that's it. It's sort of brilliant in its simplicity and realism, if you think about it, and matches up with the serial killers of the day that were the obvious inspiration. Richard explains all the things women do, say, and the way they are, and it's kind of hard to argue with him on a lot of points, but he is mostly projecting Blaze onto other women and Blaze is a bitch (enjoy that run-on sentence?). What I also liked was that Richard acknowledged how Blaze's actions have affected their son and their relationship as father and son which most movies would never even bother with. With a few witty lines under his belt, Richard then sets up Blaze to have a gruesome death involving an elevator, but the police stop him in a weak shoot-out. Richard then jumps off the roof of the hotel, committing suicide, in yet another surprise choice when typically it would be Blaze to save the day or some dumb shit. The film ends with Blaze being taken away in an ambulance with the son now wearing the mask Richard had used briefly implying he will finish what his father started.

I want to like this film, because I feel like I know what the creators were going for, but there are too many stupid moments such as: the random biker gang, easily duped imbeciles that felt like contrivances, lots of padding and filler, bouts of bad acting and dialogue, Blaze's makeup, Shadow, the punk rockers, the laughable "dancing," the shitty music, the switch blade fetish, the cheesy nature of everything, and Blaze presented as being "hot" while not dying was unforgivable! At the same time, the film presented a unique take on the killer while simultaneously feeling real with some cool tactics, an interesting scheme, and a decent and believable motive. I think I'm going to have to declare this one only for horror fans who are used to these zany antics with bad '80s clothes, hair styles, and uses-the-title soundtracks. There are simply too many bad moments accompanied by a general sense of pointlessness to it all that will turn off a casual viewer. What a shame too, because this movie had a fair amount of potential to explore.

Notable Moment: When Richard tells Blaze, "I can hear your heart beating--I don't like that." What a great line. I'm still laughing over it.

Final Rating: 5/10