As the year is ending and it’s starting to become a bad habit, the mark it leaves behind is troubling: war, economic crisis or environmental disasters in Ukraine, without the pandemic and its alarming outbreak in China. So wait for it Let 2023 be a little kinder and brighterthere is no better way Say goodbye to this 2022 in the worst way possible: in this case, with 12 films celebrating his transition New Year’s Eve new year psychopaths, evil ghosts, ghosts, shipwrecks on the high seas, social unrest or simply chaos and apocalypse.
“Ghost Car” (Victor Sjöström, 1921)
On January 1, 1921, this silent film classic was released in Sweden, not for nothing one of Ingmar Bergman’s favorite films. In the middle of New Year’s Eve, three drunks have a drink in a cemetery, and one of them recalls an old legend played up by Sjöström himself: If a sinner is the last person to die before the end of the year, he must ride the Ghost. For a year, the wagon collects the souls of the dead. An iconic horror drama, pure film history, packed with enchanting spooky atmospheres and incredible superimposition special effects. Appropriate filming.
“The Adventure of Poseidon” (Ronald Neame, 1972)
A lavish production by Irwin Allen, the master of 1970s disaster cinema, chronicles the sinking of a luxury ocean liner during a New Year’s Eve party after crashing into a huge 30-metre wave caused by an underwater earthquake, and then dramatically turning it upside down. A necessary star cast (Ernest Borgnine, Red Buttons, Leslie Nielsen, Shelley Winters…) for a classic of the subgenre, a predictable ‘remake’ (‘Poseidon’) in 2006 by Wolfgang Petersen, who died last August. for rent Primary Video and Google Play. ‘Remake’ can be rented at: AppleTV+Google Play, Microsoft Store, Prime Video and Rakuten TV.
“Cursed New Year’s Eve” (Emmett Alston, 1980)
The pretty obvious title already says it all. An invaluable Cannon production, the action takes place at a live-streamed New Year’s Eve party where various punk and new wave bands perform. The host will receive a disturbing phone call from a man who assures himself that he will commit a murder every time New Year comes in a different time zone from the United States, including himself. A balance “slasher”, but also irresistible, perhaps because of his involuntary humor, wide catalog of deaths, or masked psychopath. Present in the Movie.
“Train of Terror” (Roger Spottiswoode, 1980)
A giant ‘slasher’ played by Jamie Lee Curtis, the queen of the genre in the 70s-80s, and the very veteran Ben Johnson (actor in the films of John Ford, Peter Bogdanovich and Sam Peckinpah). Action: a typical graduation party for medical students rivers of alcohol will flow and there will be sex. Setting: a train at full speed. But instead of fun and sex, on a tragic New Year’s Eve, there’s a psychopath with a knife to avenge a past wound. It was directed by Roger Spottiswoode, a brilliant man who trained as an editor at Peckinpah and later directed ‘Under Fire’. Available on Plex.
“Ghostbusters II” (Ivan Reitman, 1989)
The second installment of the comic-fantasy incursions against the ectoplasm of Bill Murray, Ernie Hudson, Dan Aykroyd, and Harold Ramis. These two are signing the script, Ivan Reitman is directing, and Sigourney Weaver is restoring the artwork and taking care of her baby. Five years after the first movie and with no ghosts to hunt, they live anonymously by hosting seedy television shows about paranormal events or performing at children’s parties. However, a wizard from the past is looking for a newborn baby who will reincarnate like him on the last night of the year. Available to rent on Apple TV+, Google Play, Prime Video, Rakuten TV.
“Four Rooms” (Various directors, 1994)
An ‘indie’ manifesto, four episodes Director Quentin Tarantino, Alexandre Rockwell, Robert Rodriguez and Allison Anders. The action takes place at a hotel in Los Angeles on New Year’s Eve. Tim Roth is the busboy who chains each story in a different room where he finds himself Antonio Banderas, Jennifer Beals, Madonna, Bruce Willis or Tarantino as the client. There’s an evil game inspired by witches, gangsters and an episode of ‘Alfred Hitchcock Presents’: either light your lighter 10 times in a row or they’ll cut off your little finger. Available to rent on Apple TV+, Google Play, Prime Video, Rakuten TV.
“Strange Days” (Kathryn Bigelow, 1995)
Set in Los Angeles on the paranoid, dystopian night of December 31, 1999, when the end of the millennium seemed to precipitate the Apocalypse, “Strange Days” is a fascinating and visionary work; so it looks like it was taken today. From the figure of a former agent who trades footage recorded from other people’s memories and the police murder of a rapper, racism, police brutality, social struggle, urban chaos and virtual reality in an America in flames. As exciting and hot as the end of time. available on Blu-ray.
“End of days” (Peter Hyams, 1999)
Unjustly battered by the critics of the period, Peter Hyams’ film was able to articulate the horrors that gripped the frenzied traffic from 1999 to 2000 from the heights of demonic delirium. The family (Arnold Schwarzenneger) must confront Satan (Gabriel Byrne) himself, who has returned to Earth after spending a thousand years in hell to impregnate a young woman at midnight on New Year’s Eve and make her the mother of the Antichrist. Blood, fire and endless madness to celebrate the New Year. Appropriate Disney+.
“Attack on the 13th district” (Jean-François Richet, 2005)
French director Jean-François Richet dared a “remake” of John Carpenter’s cult work “Attack on the 13th precinct police station”, a remodeling of the western “Río Bravo”. The script was signed by James DeMonaco, creator of the ‘The Purge’ saga, which highlights the thriller of the original, which is the siege of a police station that changed Detroit instead of Los Angeles and is about to be shut down by criminal gangs. New Year’s Eve is set. Ethan Hawke is the cop trying to prevent the rescue of gangster Laurence Fishburne. Available to rent on Apple TV+, Google Play, Prime Video and Rakuten TV.
“My wonderful night” (Álex de la Iglesia, 2015)
Raphael. Rehearsals for a special New Year’s Eve premiere. At the moment, nothing strange. It’s as real as Christmas life itself. But it won’t be Álex de la Iglesia, aka Raphael, who directs the movie, or the traditional television party to celebrate the coming of the new year. A veteran star was confronted by the ‘hit’ singer of Latin music and harassed by her fans. Tired and hungry extras who are about to rebel while pretending to be happy in front of the camera. Servers are disgusting. Choral comedy, anarchic, parodic, very black. Disney+ is available on FlixOlé, Movistar+ Y RTVE.
“Kill God” (Caye Casas and Albert Pintó, 2017)
Deserving of an award from the public in Sitges-2017, Casas & Pintó’s feature film debut is, of course, a great black comedy set on New Year’s Eve. In it, as four members of a family prepare to celebrate the party in an isolated house in the woods, a homeless dwarf who claims to be God enters the house. And that’s not all, because when the sun rises in the new year, he announces that he will destroy the human race, but first he will give them the opportunity to choose the two survivors. Frozen laughter for a grim portrait of human misery. Present in the Movie.
“All my friends are dead” (Jan Belcl, 2020)
Polish cinema has not only produced internationally prestigious directors such as Andrzej Wajda, Roman Polanski, Krzysztof Kieslowski, Agnieszka Holland or Pawel Pawlikowski. At times he puts aside cold and serious matters and gets caught up in youthful tensions like this one. horror and dark comedy elements distributed by a group of friends during the many events that took place during the New Year’s Eve celebration. There’s ‘Slasher’, blood, eroticism, violent backlash, and secrets coming to light. It has a very detailed bill, despite the American patina. Appropriate Netflix.