Bloody New Year

1987 "Should old acquaintance be forgot? Or just brutally murdered."
4.5| 1h34m| R| en
Details

Six shipwrecked English teenagers take refuge in an island hotel that is decorated for New Years. The problem is, it's early summer, and soon enough, even the walls themselves are striking out against them…

Director

Producted By

Lazer Entertainment

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Trailers & Clips

Also starring Suzy Aitchison

Also starring Steve Wilsher

Reviews

SpuffyWeb Sadly Over-hyped
Phonearl Good start, but then it gets ruined
Kidskycom It's funny watching the elements come together in this complicated scam. On one hand, the set-up isn't quite as complex as it seems, but there's an easy sense of fun in every exchange.
2freensel I saw this movie before reading any reviews, and I thought it was very funny. I was very surprised to see the overwhelmingly negative reviews this film received from critics.
The_Void I went into this film expecting it to be another seasonal slasher along the same lines as Halloween and April Fools Day, but was surprised to find that it's actually a bizarre demonic horror films, sort of along the same lines as The Evil Dead. The good news stops there, however, because in spite of a decent idea that could have lead to a successful horror film; Bloody New Year just has far too many things wrong with it for it to really be a success. The plot takes the usual 'bunch of kids' base and we focus on a group of them that become shipwrecked and end up having to take refuge in an old abandoned hotel. Unfortunately for them, this is no ordinary old abandoned hotel and that soon becomes apparent when the place comes alive and several members of the group become demons. The film is directed by British director Norman J Warren who was also behind the moderately successful 'Terror' as well as the awful 'Satans Slave' in the late seventies. This film is just as trashy as those. The main influence would definitely seem to be Sam Raimi's masterpiece 'The Evil Dead' and the film directly rips it off when it gets into the second half with the noises the demons make. However, the rip off basically stops there; which is a big shame because if there's one thing this film needs, it's a big bucket of gore. Most of the stuff that goes on is not explained and it's all a bit mind numbing really. The film does pick up in the second half but not much and it's a definite case of 'too little too late'. Oh well. I wouldn't recommend anyone goes out of their way to find this film.
Scarecrow-88 British teens escape a near altercation with three thugs at a fun park, take a little ride on the sea, and wind up on some island when a rock puts a hole in their boat. This island has a Grand Island Hotel, seemingly a ghost resort decorated for New Years 1960. At first we the viewer are witnesses to the strange shenanigans that go unseen by our cast..a magazine, after being read, closes on it's own, or pool balls, once scattered across a billiards table returning to their proper positions. Then, a maid pops up literally out of thin air to do a little clean up before leaving the film. A movie character(..a sheik) literally leaps from a projected movie to maul one of the gang. A fishing net wraps around one victim attacking her! A table cloth turns into a monster to strangle a victim(..I swear to God, I'm not making this up!). Our cast often see the reflections of ghosts when looking into mirrors. A dead downed pilot, often hinted at rustling in the bushes, is about to speak to one of our female characters when his head explodes into a cloud of dust after being hit from behind by another fearing for her life. Plates are scattered in a kitchen on their own with our cast members trying to duck. One of the cast is turned into a zombie with a silver face, while another speaks with a demonic voice while chasing a victim who screeches in horror as she runs for her life. An elevator wall "grabs" a victim. Bushes move with the sounds of invisible people as foot prints become visible on sand chasing two of the cast. Film from a movie projector trips a victim. When one of the characters, whose turned into a zombie, is shot in the stomach with a rifle her stomach explodes. The animal wood carving of a staircase bites into a victim, with a seemingly impenetrable grip as she tries to break free. Those murdered, by whatever this crazy force on the island is, turn into zombies so you have two survivors not only fighting against the supernatural, but the walking dead popping up to terrorize them. The three thugs follow on boat to finish what was started at the fun park, with each dying in one gruesome way or another. One gets boiled in a pot, one gets his head twisted completely around not once but twice, and another is thrown through a wall.I've read that it was writer Frazer Pearce and director Norman J Warren's intent for this to be a "time warp terror tale", but to me it was just one surreal set-piece after another. The last two remaining survivors find out through one ghoul, "taken by the island", that a plane containing a device which could reshape time and matter, crash-landed resulting in the madness taking place. Anyone who enters this "time warp" are slaves to it's power. I felt myself that this explanation was merely an excuse for Warren and Pearce to embellish their wild desires for mindless carnage placing the characters in a series of oddball scenarios leaving the viewer's mouth open in shock, bewilderment, giggles & kicks. All I can say is expect the unexpected, and I dare you to try and make sense of it all.
HumanoidOfFlesh "Bloody New Year" is a very cheesy horror film set on an isolated island.The acting is wonderfully bad and the gore scenes as well as various exploitation elements known from earlier Norman J.Warren's releases("Satan's Slave","Alien Prey")are almost completely absent.The film has some really surprising moments-the scene where Rick and his girlfriend are chased by a crowd of people through the rustling woods except their pursuers are invisible is the highlight of the film.6 out of 10!
greaser-3 This movie is really cheesy. For some reason, there are these killer nets about chasing these nerdy teenagers around. Nets just fly around and try to kill people. And what's up with those red socks?