Screening Log, January 2009

Bloody New Year
UK / 1987

Should old acquaintance be forgot? Or just brutally murdered.

Evil elevators absorb foolish girls, killer fishing nets tackle the unsuspecting, disgruntled newel posts bite the arms of the careless, and through it all a ghostly, Tom-Petty-inspired rock band belts out the “Recipe for Romance.” Though the song is catchy and the effects are solid, when I sat down to watch Norman J. Warren’s final horror feature to date I was hoping for a love-starved maniac hacking up happy couples as the ball drops. Instead, I got a convoluted science fiction story about a radar-thwarting experiment gone wrong and an island forever trapped on January 1st, 1960. When a shipwrecked sextet of horny youngsters stumbles across said island, they too are trapped in time, and though they fight back with shotguns, knives, and sound logic, there is no escape.

Though Bloody New Year opens with a terrifically entertaining scene—centered on a terrifying tilt-a-whirl ride, a lively game of keep away, and a spirited chase through a haunted house—once the main players find themselves stranded on the island, the fun-loving storyline grinds to a halt. In its place is that most objectionable of late ’80s horror narrative features—demonic possession. Whether it’s the island’s occupants from long ago or the kitchen table, someone or something in this film is always possessed by evil, and angry at anyone that isn’t. And while some of the subsequent killings by these demonic denizens incorporate enjoyable special effects, the very concept of a haunted island hotel is boring, and it’s hard to get excited about much that happens there. We can only hope this film doesn’t stand as Norman J. Warren’s horror swan song.

by Thomas Scalzo | Source: Academy Entertainment VHS
12 Jan 2009 10:29 PM | Comments (1)

Comments / 1 total / Submit Comment

  1. craig
    9 February 2009
    7:02 PM

    i was an extra in the film when i was 15 i spent a week off school filming it and it was great fun and the cast and crew were lovely ,im sure one of te stuntman was in shaun of the dead to as the pub landlord , would have loved to have stayed in films but bradd pitt got there before me o well hollywoods loss lol

Submit Comment / Some HTML is OK / Preview your remarks below

Preview Comment

January 2009 activity

Total Log Entries: 16

Total Comments: 11

Full Archive

Recent Updates