Holiday horror is often centered around Halloween or Christmas with holidays such as Thanksgiving and New Year's taking a backseat. Still, there are a few movies set on or featuring a scene taking place on New Year's and all of them are worth a watch.
Looking for a fun holiday-themed horror movie to enjoy on New Year's Eve? Try these 5 horror movies perfect for the holiday!
1. New Year's Evil (1980)
Taking place as the title suggests, on New Year's Eve, this slasher follows a punk rock icon who hosts a countdown to New Year on TV and begins to be receive a string of menacing phone calls from a killer, who, during each call tells him where he will strike next in his spree.
The movie is fast-paced and fun, and there are some funny moments too. The killer reveal is memorable and the final moments boast a twist that some viewers did not see coming at all.
2. Bloody New Year (1980)
This one also takes place as the title states, during New Year's and focuses on a group of friends who must take shelter in a seemingly vacant hotel when they are stranded on an island. Things take a turn for the unexpected however when the group realizes that they are not as alone as they believed and that the hotel is extremely haunted.
This movie is a lesser-known one from the 80s and while it definitely has some issues with pacing, Bloody New Year is a fun way to spend 93 minutes and has a great atmospheric setting that at times does feel truly haunting.
3. Terror Train (1980)
Taking place aboard a moving train on New Year's Eve, it tells the story of a group of pre-med college students on the train who are having a costume party for the holiday. Things soon go south though because there is a murderer on board with them who keeps changing into their costumes and picking them off one by one.
This Canadian slasher is yet another movie that cements Jamie Lee Curtis's legacy as a scream queen. It is a fun movie with a lot of memorable kills and a variety of costumes which makes it entertaining. The setting is original for a slasher too and raises the stakes with them having nowhere else to run to given that the train is in motion.
4. Ghostkeeper (1981)
Similar to Bloody New Year, Ghostkeeper involves three people finding what appears to be an abandoned hotel. They need to take shelter thanks to the incoming snow, so they camp down in there for the night of New Year's Eve, despite the total lack of staff or guests. What follows is a night of horror for all three of them as they are terrorized by someone or something.
Ghostkeeper is a cult classic for a reason. It can be a little slow at times in terms of pacing but those who love slow-burn horror like myself shouldn't have a problem with it. The plot is a cool twist on a classic type of story, especially with the ending being what it is, which whether you see it coming or not, is a very original way to end a movie of its type. Definitely worth checking out if you enjoy mysterious settings, a sense of creeping dread, and a slow burn.
5. Christine (1983)
John Carpenter's iconic adaptation of Stephen King's classic, Christine is not set on New Year's primarily but does feature an iconic scene that takes place on New Year's Eve. Christine is the story of 17-year-old Arnie Cunningham, who becomes obsessed with the red 1958 Plymouth Fury he purchases secondhand for practically nothing. What a bargain, right? Wrong. The car, named Christine, is seemingly alive and no one is safe. Not even Arnie himself.
In one particular scene, taking place as Arnie and his friend Dennis go on a drive for New Year, it becomes terrifyingly clear just how much Arnie is changing. This is an 80s classic and, while there are some differences between the movie version and the book version, the movie does not suffer for it, quite the contrary. The pacing is tight, the lead performances are great and John Carpenter's masterful direction makes this one of the best King movie adaptations there is.