Año nuevo satánico

Punks lead us to the biggest New Year's bash going on to bring in 1981. Roz Kelly plays Diane Sullivan or Blaze who is going to be the host for the New Year's Eve party in Los Angeles. Three other time zones are linked in to the party from New York City, Chicago and Aspen, Colorado. A dark and mysterious stranger (Kip Niven) calls the show and tells Blaze that he will kill at the stroke of midnight, then leading to the cops trying to catch the madman before he kills in each time zone.

I enjoyed the movie even though there was no question as to who the killer is, but there are a couple twists later in the movie, that yeah I could see coming, but I still enjoyed it. I thought Niven did very well as the homicidal maniac and makes me perhaps want to watch it again sometime. The acting in general was I thought above what you see in average slashers. In addition I thought the music was very good by bands like Shadow and Made in Japan. Catchy title song with same name as movie as well.

Must say the ending was sort of setting up for a sequel and it never came. Not sure if the writers set it up for a sequel and the movie did not perform well enough at the box office to have a sequel made. Anyways, you may find it passable entertainment if you give it a chance.

My, this has always been one of my faves of the genre. It is really quite ridiculous, but fairly 'twisty' for a run-of-the mill slasher. Kip Niven is in my opinion, very good as the killer who switches personas to fit in different environments in order to kill on his timetable. Grant Cramer, who was destined for nothing more than soap fame, has a handsome yet creepy face, especially after he forces that red hose over it. Roz Kelly does look truly unattractive - but then look at her audience! Those 'LA punkers' bobbing and weaving in the audience are unintentionally reminiscent of George Romero's creations...check out their 'dancing'!

Yet I have always found the best part of the film to occur in the beginning, the first time the killer calls into the radio show. He announces that his name is "Evil" in a very odd voice courtesy of a voice manipulation machine. He is dead serious, and Roz on the other end is slightly chilled, but tries to play along: "Yeah, you're bad, you're real bad." At which point he cuts her off, still deadly serious: "NOOOO! Just EVIL!!!" It's truly hilarious if you appreciate that sort of thing.

Enjoyable for the genre.

Yet another entry in the "psychotic killer on the loose" genre. The premise of this one is somewhat original, but apart from that it has nothing else to distinguish it from dozens of similar films, so you're just sitting there waiting to see how it will tie everything up in the end. It does come up with an unexpected, out-of-left-field plot twist, but the "motivation" part is fumbled. Still, if you're tolerant of low-budget early-80s thrillers, you'll probably have an OK time. (**)

This film is one of my favorite slasher flicks.It,s not really gory but it has some great murders,especially Louisa Moritz,s death.It was hysterically funny.I have to say that what made this slasher flick better than most was the excellent performance of Kip Niven as Evil.He played the psycho part very low key, until midnight, and then he was frightening and threatening.The look in his eyes actually gave me an eerie feeling.He was a good looking guy on the outside but totally sick and evil on the inside.In a way Roz Kelly had it coming with her selfish,self centered attitude where she even neglects her own son.I thought a few of the murders were inventive and I would definitely recommend this movie for a late night when you just want to relax and be entertained.

A rock show host dubbed Blaze gets threatening phone calls during her New Year's Eve gig. The caller informs her that he'll murder a different person each time the clock strikes midnight in one of the four continental U.S. timezones, and odds are that she'll be his final victim.

One of the few slashers to have eluded me over the years, it was nice to finally scratch this off the list. It's far from a top-tier effort in the sub-genre, however. The killer, played by Kip Niven, isn't the least bit threatening. He only dons a mask towards the end of the film, so he doesn't have that to fall back on either. Also, too many scenes of dancing punk rockers and filth masquerading as music for my taste. Now, there are some quality stalk and slash sequences. Most notable is one victim's unpleasant surprise in a garbage dumpster. We also get a hefty helping of cheese, mainly from the killer himself and Blaze's dopey son. The bit with the former dealing with angry bikers at a drive-in is gold.

Overall, I was entertained, but it's not exactly good. Not even close.