If you like your horror loud, messy, and just a little bit dumb, “New Fears Eve” is a solid midnight snack.
I love how directors Eric Huskisson and P.J. Starks don’t waste time easing you in, but almost immediately kick the door down and start spraying blood everywhere. Within minutes, people are getting absolutely wrecked in ways that would make Freddy Krueger blush. The kills are the main event here. They’re super graphic, lovingly practical, and sometimes so over-the-top they loop back around to being hilarious. It’s the kind of gore that makes you wince and laugh at the same time, and it’s glorious.
The setup is delightfully mean-spirited. Leslie (Lily-Claire Harvey), Brian (Turner Vaughn), and Moses (Matthew Tichenor) are stuck working for a garbage boss at Hooper Industries, and the entire office is being dragged into yet another forced fun New Year’s Eve party (right after layoffs, of course). But hey, nothing says team morale like cheap champagne and corporate dread. But when midnight hits, they get a masked maniac nicknamed “The Doctor” turning the office into a slaughterhouse.
And what a slaughterhouse it is. The movie leans hard into its low budget charm and instead of hiding limitations, it weaponizes them. The effects are gooey, chunky, totally gross, and clearly handmade in the best way possible. It’s a horror feast for the eyes for fans of practical effects.
The tone is a weird hybrid of workplace comedy and slasher flick. One minute you’ve got immature sex jokes and coworkers sniping at each other, and the next minute someone’s getting turned into a bloody display of modern art. The humor is crude, cheeky, and packed with little nods horror fans will catch, just like the movie knows exactly who it’s made for.
The acting is rough and it’s wholly campy. The story is ridiculous, too. But that’s also why it works so well. “New Fears Eve” feels like a horror fan B-movie made by people who genuinely love the genre and just wanted to go wild with it. What a ridiculously fun and gleefully gross way to spend 90 minutes.
By: Louisa Moore
Screen Zealots 