New Year's Evil (film)

New Year's Evil is a 1980 American slasher film written and directed by Emmett Alston, co-written by Leonard Neubauer, and starring Kip Niven, Roz Kelly, and Chris Wallace. The plot follows a Los Angeles punk rock and new wave show host who receives a series of phone calls during a televised New Year's Eve bash from a killer warning of impending murders that he plans to exact as the New Year dawns on each time zone.

New Year's Evil
Theatrical release poster
Directed byEmmett Alston
Produced byYoram Globus
Menahem Golan
Screenplay byLeonard Neubauer
Story byEmmett Alston
Leonard Neubauer
StarringRoz Kelly
Kip Niven
Grant Cramer
Chris Wallace
Music byLaurin Rinder
W. Michael Lewis
CinematographyEdward Thomas
Edited byDick Brummer
Production
company
Distributed byCannon Film Distributors
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Release date
19 December 1980 (United States)
Running time
85 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Plot

As the film begins New Year's Eve is on its way and television's most famous punk rock lady icon, Diane Sullivan (or "Blaze" as her fans call her), is holding a late-night countdown celebration of music and partying, televised live from a Hollywood hotel. All is going well until Diane receives a phone call from an odd-sounding stranger claiming his name is Evil, who announces on live television that when the clock strikes midnight in each time zone, a "Naughty Girl" will be "punished" (murdered), then the killer signs off with a threat claiming that Diane will be the last Naughty Girl to be punished.

The studio crew takes safety measures and heightens security but a string of murders occur across Los Angeles at each stroke of midnight across each time zone. The killer records his victims as he murders them and calls back the station each time, playing the tapes back to prove that he is serious. Diane's son Derek arrives but is mostly ignored by his mother, causing him to start behaving very erratically due to Diane's lack of interest in his life.

There are many suspects as to who the mysterious killer and caller is: a crazed fan, a religious psychotic or maybe it is someone much closer to Diane than anyone could have ever expected. Evil eventually infiltrates Diane's party and upon confronting her is revealed to be Diane's husband Richard who was previously thought to be too busy to attend. Richard reveals his motivation to be a similar feeling of neglect and anger of Diane's and other women's treatment of him.

He gets caught by security trying to kill Diane and flees from the scene. He races toward the rooftop where he commits suicide by jumping. Diane is loaded into an ambulance while Derek is seen wearing the killer's old mask in the ambulance with the corpse of the medic at the front.

Cast

Filming

Filming began in Los Angeles, California on 15 October 1980.

Release

New Year's Evil was theatrically released in the United States on December 19, 1980 by Cannon Film Distributors.[1] The "New Year's Evil" 35mm print played at Quentin Tarantino's New Beverly Cinema in Los Angeles, California on December 29, 2018.[2][3] New Year's Evil was released on DVD through on-demand pressings from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's Limited Edition Collection on June 28, 2012.[4] Scream Factory, a subsidiary of Shout! Factory, released the film on Blu-ray on February 24, 2015.[5]

Reception

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, New Year's Evil has an approval rating of 14%, based on seven reviews. [6] On Metacritic the film has a weighted average score of 33 out of 100, based on 4 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".[7] Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film a 1½ and wrote, "New Year's Evil is an endangered species - a plain, old-fashioned, gory thriller. It is not very good. It is sometimes unpleasantly bloody. The plot is dumb and the twist at the end has been borrowed from hundreds if not thousands of other movies. But as thrillers go these days, New Year's Evil is a throwback to an older and simpler tradition, one that flourished way back in the dimly remembered past, before 1978".[8] Gene Siskel gave the film zero stars out of four, calling it "a hideously ugly motion picture".[9] Variety wrote, "The true horror of New Year's Evil is the endless musical numbers by punk rockers and shots of their dancing fans. Amongst that, the bloody killings seem a welcome relief."[10] Among retrospective reviews, Eric Vespe of Ain't It Cool News said, "New Year's Evil falls into that 'didn't love it, didn't hate it' gray area of mediocrity that doesn’t exactly inspire any kind of passion one way or the other. On the one hand it's too goofy and amateurish to really be creeped out by and on the other it's not fun enough to rally behind".[11] Dread Central's Matt Serafini concluded, "This isn't worth your time if you're looking for a horror film to deliver in scares or suspense, but as a late night horror fix, it's ideal. What New Year's Evil lacks in scares it makes up for in pure entertainment. And really, that's all you can ask for".[12] The film was labeled "another routine mad-slasher film" and a "strictly paint-by-numbers effort" by TV Guide.[13]

Soundtrack and theme song

W. Michael Lewis and Laurin Rinder composed the film soundtrack and produced the title track's recording, "New Year's Evil".[14][15][16]

No.TitleWriter(s)Performer(s)Length
1."New Year's Evil"Roxanne Seeman, Eduardo del BarrioShadow 
2."When I Wake Up"John PakalenkaShadow 
3."Simon Bar Sinister"Music by Clifford White, Lyric by Ray MegaShadow 
4."Temper Tantrum"Ray MegaShadow 
5."Headwind"Clifford WhiteShadow 
6."Cold Hearted Lover"Clifford WhiteShadow 
7."Auld Lang Syne"Uncredited  
8."Dumb Blondes"Anthony H. FriedMade in Japan 
9."The Cooler"Anthony H. FriedMade in Japan 
10."Suicide Ways"Lyrics by Anthony H. Fried, Music by David Stuart CodlingMade in Japan 

New Year's Evil song
"New Year's Evil"
Single by Shadow
B-side"Simon Bar Sinister"
Released1980
GenrePunk Rock, Metal Rock
Length2:32
LabelCannon Records, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Music
Songwriter(s)Roxanne Seeman, Eddie del Barrio
Producer(s)W. Michael Lewis & Laurin Rinder

Over the years the title song, like the movie, has developed a cult following. It has appeared in horror movies "best songs of" playlists, and the movie has been the topic of numerous podcasts in which the song is a point of discussion.[17][18]

The song was written by Roxanne Seeman and Eddie del Barrio [19] [20] [21] The filmmakers wanted an original title and theme song to be played live by a punk band being featured in the film. Requests for a song were sent to several writers. The music supervisor was Rex Devereaux.[22] Del Barrio and Seeman submitted their original song, "New Year's Evil", for the spec submission. Del Barrio wrote chords and melody on a synthesizer and gave a rough mixdown to Seeman[23][24] to write the lyrics. Seeman wrote the lyrics to visually reflect the storyline:

Shining like the light that hits the knife at the stroke of midnight.

Quiet but so bright my heartbeat swells, oh can't you tell I'm in a fever

Tell me will it be sweet New Year's Eve or do I fear a New Year's Evil

The final demo recording with Seeman's lyrics was sung by session singer Gary Falcone[25] and recorded on del Barrio's 4-track machine.

The movie track was recorded at Salty Dog Studios, Los Angeles, by Seattle rock band Shadow:[26] Cliff White on guitar, Ray Leonard[27] on bass, David Kesterson vocals, Art Bennett on drums, and J.P Pakalenka vocals and guitar.[28] The recording was produced by the soundtrack's composers,[29] W. Michael Lewis[30] and Laurin Rinder.[31][32] Shadow also performed the song on-camera [33] [34] [35] [36] [37] [38] as a punk rock band.[39] The song plays at the opening of the movie and repeatedly throughout.

The recorded studio version also appears in the film. This version was pressed as a 7" vinyl 45 rpm single.[40][41] Promotional singles were sent to radio stations throughout the US. A full soundtrack record is announced in the closing credits of the film, but has not materialized. In March 2020, MGM released the song on digital streaming platforms.[42]

Track listing

A New Year's Evil 2:32

B Simon Bar Sinister 2:50

TV shows
Other versions

Sister Midnight, a project by Steven Darrow of covers featuring different vocalists from all genres of rock from around the world, released a cover version of "New Year's Evil"[46] on December 31, 2017, as the first recording.[47] Derek "Dirty D" Christiansen is the vocalist.

The Angelas, an American alternative rock band from Nebraska formed by Alice Vitale and Natalie Regoli,[48] released an instrumental version of "New Year's Evil" on October 1, 1989 on their second album of horror movie soundtrack covers.[49][50]

Critical reception

Roger Ebert wrote in his review of the film: ""New Year's Evil" has music as its gimmick. The movie takes place on New Year's Eve, during a national TV show obviously inspired by "Midnight Special." The bands are second-rate punk rock groups (Made In Japan, Shadow). The hostess (Roz Kelly) is taking votes over the air for the new wave song of the year."[51]

New Year's Evil has become a cult horror film[52] with a preponderance of podcasts and reviews of the film, the song New Year's Evil and the music soundtrack:

Dreadcentral.com wrote "Much of the music comes from an actual band named Shadow. The odd thing about Shadow is that their music sounds far more like a Seventies metal band than the Eighties punk rock and new wave the film promotes. Ah, who cares? It's 1980 and the top act on a New Year's countdown show isn't Manilow, The Gap Band, or The Oak Ridge Boys. "New Year's Evil" by Shadow it is".[53]

dailydot.com wrote "First off, this movie features the best New Year's Eve song ever made. Like the opening to Friday the 13th Part III, it's just one of those rare original recordings for low-budget horror film that's a complete gem, and it should be an American staple of New Year's Eve celebrations."[54]

filmfracture.com wrote "Of course, no rock and roll horror movie is complete without the music. The rock in New Year's Evil is supplied by two very real bands – Made in Japan and Shadow. Neither could really be called new wave or punk bands (Made in Japan is more of a The Knack-y power pop band and Shadow borders on 70's heavy metal), but both are obviously from the time period in which the film takes place. The theme song, done by Shadow and appropriately called "New Year's Evil," is incredibly infectious and plays over both the opening and closing credits as well as once during the course of the film. As if the song wasn't catchy enough, hearing it three times in ninety minutes means that there is no way that this song will not get stuck in the viewer's head. The incidental and mood music (composed by W. Michael Lewis and Laurin Rinder, who also scored a handful of episodes of “In Search Of…”) is fairly typical Moog synthesizer suspense and stinger fare, but it works well in the context of the new wave slasher film. Between the rock and roll soundtrack and the electronic music score, New Year’s Evil’s music is one of the more memorable elements of the film."[55]

crypticrock.com: "...Blaze starts answering phones to talk to people calling in to vote for their favorite Rock songs, and she gets a call from a Bruce Jenner-haired guy (Niven) calling himself Eeeeevil. He uses a voice disguiser that makes him sound like a Jim Henson creation, but seriously tells her he is going to kill a "Naughty Girl" every time the clock strikes midnight in the different times zones across the country. Blaze is freaked out but gains enough composure to introduce the live band, Shadow, who play the most annoying New Year's Eve song ever." [56]

geekscape.net: "The 12 Best Heavy Metal Songs From Horror Movies...I spent close to a decade playing in metal bands, but my earliest experiences with the genre were thanks to 80s horror movies. It was a golden age for both heavy metal and over-the-top horror cheese; I credit much of my personal growth to those countless nights watching people with questionable morals bleed out as some Aquanetted guy in pleather pants screeched on about how rock and roll will never die. If you're like me, horror and heavy metal are two sides of the same coin, so before you scream "Satanic Panic," let's burn through a definitive list of the very best heavy metal songs to slay to.

12) Shadow – New Years Evil theme (New Years Evil)[57]..."

liberaldead.com by Jimmy Terror It Came From 1980x New Year's Evil on New Year's Eve!!! 31 December 2012: "W. Michael Lewis and Laurin Rinder created the original music for the picture. It's not punk. It's new wave...Still I love the soundtrack. I love it so much that I had the little collective known as Hacktivision of which I am a member create an 8 Bit version of the theme music to be used in a future 8 Bit faux video game (next year). The song itself will be available shortly on DOCTERROR.COM. Here's a track listing:

  • "New Year's Evil"- Written by Roxanne Seeman & Eduardo del Barrio
  • "When I Wake Up"- Written by John Pakalenka
  • "Simon Bar Sinister"- Written by Clifford White & Ray Leonard
  • "Temper Tantrum"- Written by Ray Leonard
  • "Headwind"- Written by Clifford White
  • "Cold Hearted Lover"- Written by Clifford White
  • "Auld Lang Syne"
  • "Dumb Blondes"
  • "The Cooler"
  • "Suicide Ways"
Podcasts
  • Stitcher.com - So That Happened!!! Episode 60 - New Year's Evil[58]
  • The Movie Review Podcast - New Year's Evil[59]
  • cultfilminreview.com - New Year's Evil[60]
  • Just Another Horror Podcast - New Year's Evil[61]
  • JumpScare! The Horror Podcast, Orlando Horror Society - New Year's Evil[62]
  • thatshelf.com - Loose Cannons Episode #52 – New Year's Evil[63]
  • Ghost Party Podcast - Episode 37 - New Year's Evil[64]
  • Bad Movie Night Podcast - New Year's Evil[65]

References
  1. "New Year's Evil". AFI Catalog of Feature Films. American Film Institute. Archived from the original on January 2, 2019. Retrieved January 2, 2019.
  2. Roe, Mike. "New Beverly Reopens With Promises Of Film Over Digital, Plus Great And 'Pretty Mediocre' Movies". LAist. Archived from the original on 2019-08-31. Retrieved 2019-09-21.
  3. Influence, Urban. "December 29: New Year's Evil (midnight show) | New Beverly Cinema". New Beverly Cinema - The premier revival theater in Los Angeles. Retrieved 2019-09-17.
  4. "New Year's Evil DVD". Amazon. Archived from the original on January 2, 2019. Retrieved January 2, 2019.
  5. Tyner, Adam (February 22, 2015). "New Year's Evil (Blu-ray)". DVD Talk. Archived from the original on January 2, 2019. Retrieved January 2, 2019.
  6. "New Year's Evil (1981)". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved April 4, 2020.
  7. "New Year's Evil (1980) reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved April 4, 2020.
  8. Ebert, Roger (December 31, 1980). "New Year's Evil". Chicago Sun-Times. Archived from the original on July 15, 2014. Retrieved November 10, 2019.
  9. Siskel, Gene (December 24, 1980). "No matter whose fault, 'Formula' doesn't work". Chicago Tribune. Section 2, p. 4.
  10. "Film Reviews: New Year's Evil". Variety. January 21, 1981. p. 27.
  11. Vespe, Eric (10 October 2010). "A Movie A Day: New Year's Evil (1980)". Ain't It Cool. Ain't It Cool News. Retrieved December 30, 2018.
  12. Serafini, Matt (December 26, 2009). "Saturday Nightmares: New Year's Evil (1980)". Dread Central. Dread Central. Archived from the original on July 15, 2014. Retrieved November 15, 2019.
  13. "New Year's Evil". TV Guide. Archived from the original on July 15, 2014.
  14. New Year's Evil (1980) - IMDb, retrieved 2019-10-24
  15. "New Year's Evil (1980)". BFI. Retrieved 2019-10-24.
  16. "Cinema Fearité presents New Year's Evil (Dir. Emmett Alston 1980) | | FilmFracture". Retrieved 2019-10-24.
  17. "The 12 Best Heavy Metal Songs From Horror Movies". Geekscape. 2015-06-24. Retrieved 2019-10-24.
  18. "Top 35 Horror Movie Songs And Themes". Horror Freak News - The Best Horror Movies Website. 2017-02-09. Retrieved 2019-10-24.
  19. "Roxanne Seeman - Contact Info, Agent, Manager | IMDbPro". pro.imdb.com. Retrieved 2019-10-08.
  20. "Eddie del Barrio - Contact Info, Agent, Manager | IMDbPro". pro.imdb.com. Retrieved 2019-10-08.
  21. New Year's Evil (1980) - IMDb, retrieved 2019-10-08
  22. "Rex Deveraux - Contact Info, Agent, Manager | IMDbPro". pro.imdb.com. Retrieved 2019-10-08.
  23. "Roxanne Seeman | Credits". AllMusic. Retrieved 2019-10-08.
  24. "ROXANNE SEEMAN". Retrieved 2019-10-08.
  25. "Gary Falcone | Credits". AllMusic. Retrieved 2019-10-08.
  26. "Shadow - Kennewick, WA (1973-1982)". pnwbands.com. Retrieved 2019-10-08.
  27. "Ray Leonard | Credits". AllMusic. Retrieved 2019-10-08.
  28. "Shadow". www.facebook.com. Retrieved 2019-10-08.
  29. "New Year's Evil (1980)". BFI. Retrieved 2019-10-08.
  30. "W. Michael Lewis | Credits". AllMusic. Retrieved 2019-10-08.
  31. "Laurin Rinder | Credits". AllMusic. Retrieved 2019-10-08.
  32. "Rinder & Lewis", Wikipedia (in German), 2010-08-17, retrieved 2019-10-08
  33. "page1". Shadow. Retrieved 2019-10-08.
  34. "New Year's Evil (1980)". BFI. Retrieved 2019-10-08.
  35. "Clifford R. White". BFI. Retrieved 2019-10-08.
  36. "Ray Leonard | BFI". www.bfi.org.uk. Retrieved 2019-10-08.
  37. "AFI|Catalog". catalog.afi.com. Retrieved 2019-10-08.
  38. "AFI|Catalog". catalog.afi.com. Retrieved 2019-10-24.
  39. "Rock Band Shadow - Contact Info, Agent, Manager | IMDbPro". pro.imdb.com. Retrieved 2019-10-08.
  40. "Shadow - New Year's Evil - Encyclopaedia Metallum: The Metal Archives". www.metal-archives.com. Retrieved 2019-10-08.
  41. "Shadow (75) - New Year's Evil / Simon Bar Sinister". Discogs. Retrieved 2019-10-08.
  42. New Year's Evil, retrieved 2020-03-25
  43. "New Year's Evil - Production & Contact Info | IMDbPro". pro.imdb.com. Retrieved 2019-10-08.
  44. "New Year's Evil - Production & Contact Info | IMDbPro". pro.imdb.com. Retrieved 2019-10-08.
  45. "New Year's Evil (1980) Kill Count - Production & Contact Info | IMDbPro". pro.imdb.com. Retrieved 2019-10-08.
  46. "Steven Darrow". Discogs. Retrieved 2019-10-08.
  47. "All Around the World". Little Richard. 2009. doi:10.5040/9781501330612.ch-005. ISBN 9781501330612.
  48. "Horror Party Vol. 1 — The Angelas". Last.fm. Retrieved 2019-10-08.
  49. "The Angelas, by The Angelas". The Angelas. Retrieved 2019-10-08.
  50. The Angelas - New Year's Evil Instrumental Version (New Year's Evil), retrieved 2019-10-08
  51. Ebert, Roger. "New Year's Evil movie review & film summary (1980) | Roger Ebert". www.rogerebert.com. Retrieved 2019-10-08.
  52. "Cult Films". www.filmsite.org. Retrieved 2019-10-08.
  53. Foywonder (2013-01-13). "B-Sides: Rockin' in 2013 with Some New Year's Evil". Dread Central. Retrieved 2019-10-08.
  54. "New Year's Eve", Quotations for All Occasions, Columbia University Press, 2000-01-31, doi:10.7312/fran11290-026, ISBN 9780231504836
  55. "Cinema Fearité presents New Year's Evil (Dir. Emmett Alston 1980) | | FilmFracture". Retrieved 2019-10-08.
  56. Allen, Tracy (2015-12-28). "This Week in Horror Movie History – New Year's Evil (1980)". Cryptic Rock. Retrieved 2019-10-08.
  57. "The 12 Best Heavy Metal Songs From Horror Movies". Geekscape. 2015-06-24. Retrieved 2019-10-08.
  58. "New Year's celebration". doi:10.1163/1574-9347_bnp_e821170. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  59. "Google Podcasts". podcasts.google.com. Retrieved 2019-10-08.
  60. "Cult Film in Review Podcast Episode 84: New Year's Evil". Cult Film in Review. 2016-12-29. Retrieved 2019-10-08.
  61. "Google Podcasts". podcasts.google.com. Retrieved 2019-10-08.
  62. "Google Podcasts". podcasts.google.com. Retrieved 2019-10-08.
  63. August 5, Loose Cannons |; 2016; Pm, 2:50 (2016-08-05). "Loose Cannons Episode #52 - New Year's Evil". That Shelf. Retrieved 2019-10-08.CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  64. "Ghost Party Podcast: Episode 37 - New Year's Evil on Apple Podcasts". Apple Podcasts. Retrieved 2019-10-08.
  65. "Bad Movie Night Podcast - New Year's Evil". Bad Movie Night - For the lovers of b movies and Bad Movie lovers out there. 2016-12-30. Retrieved 2019-10-08.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.