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New Year’s Evil Blu-ray Review

“New Year’s Evil” is a forgettable slasher.

On New Year’s Eve, Diane Sullivan (AKA Blaze) is hosting a rockin’ televised event in which viewers can call in to vote on their favorite song of the year. Blaze takes a call from a man who identifies himself as Evil. Evil states he will murder a person at midnight for each of the 4 USA time zones and that one of those murders will be someone she knows. Understandably freaked out, Blaze works with the police to try and beef up security at the event as well as attempt to track down this psycho killer, but can  Evil’s reign of terror be stopped?

When it comes to the slasher film genre, “New Year’s Evil” isn’t a title that comes up frequently and it’s easy to see why. By and large, the 1980 Cannon Films slasher is simply forgettable. Thankfully, however, it is not without merit.

Unlike many slashers out there, “New Year’s Evil” is watchable. Yes, the ending is predictable and, yes, it borrows from countless slashers (namely “Friday The 13^th”), but the simple story set-up grabs your attention from the get-go. The biggest draw though is the sheer amount of 80’s cheese. How can you not be entertained by the catchy titular theme song or the ultra bizarre scenes involving Diane’s unstable son?

Video/Audio:

Presentation: 1.78:1 1080p. How does it look? Despite a little grain, this is a solid hi-def upgrade.

Audio Track: 2.0 DTS-HD MA. How does it sound? Very lively for a mere 2.0 track. The music is especially peppy here.

Extras:
* “New Year’s Evil” trailer.
* A 37 minute “The Making of New Year’s Evil”- featurette. DP Thomas Ackerman, Kip Niven, Taffe O’Connell, Grant Cramer, tell stories about the director, the production, cast members, Golan and Globus, set stories, and more.
* A commentary by moderator Bill Olsen and director Emmett Alston.

Overall Thoughts: While “New Year’s Evil” is by no means a classic, I’m sure there are some horror fans out there whole will be thrilled to see this relatively unknown slasher on Blu-ray.

March 6, 2015 - Posted by nicklyons1 | Blu-Ray review | New Year's Evil Blu-ray Review, Scream Factory, Slasher Movie