[Article] 5 Absolutely Chilling Horror Movies to Watch New Year’s Eve

Another year has come to an end. The COVID pandemic is still going strong as we find ourselves possibly entering another lockdown. With case numbers rising, many people are opting to stay in on New Year’s Eve instead of partying it up with friends and strangers. If you’ve already watched the New Year’s horror movie classics such as Terror Train, New Year’s Evil, and Rosemary’s Baby, and are looking for underappreciated gems to help ring in the new year, then you’re in luck. Here are 5 horror films to watch as you count down the remainder of 2021.

CRONOS (1993)

[Article] 5 Absolutely Chilling Horror Movies to Watch New Year's Eve
Federico Luppi in CRONOS | Image courtesy of IMDB.
Though technically not a New Year’s Eve film, Guillermo del Toro’s CRONOS, starring Federico Luppi, Ron Perlman, Claudio Brook, and Margarita Isabel, centers around a mysterious device that has the ability to give eternal life to anyone who owns it. The film features a disturbing scene during New Year’s Eve where a partygoer gets hurt and starts bleeding profusely. Upon going into the bathroom to clean up, another partygoer follows him in and begins licking up his blood from the floor. Sounds suspiciously like something a vampire would do. A unique take on the vampire genre, this movie will have you singing Auld Lang Syne.

CRONOS is available to stream on HBO Max.

THE CHILDREN (2008)

[Article] 5 Absolutely Chilling Horror Movies to Watch New Year's Eve
Rachel Shelley in THE CHILDREN | Image courtesy of IMDB
Children are terrifying. Whenever they show up in a horror film, I’m immediately on guard. In Tom Shankland’s THE CHILDREN, starring Eva Birthistle, Stephen Campbell Moore, Jeremy Sheffield, and Rachel Shelley, we get a reminder of just how frightening kids can be. Preparing for the New Year, a family holiday vacation turns into a fight for survival after their children are infected with a mysterious sickness and turn on their parents in increasingly deadly ways. Forget Happy New Year, these parents are experiencing a Happy New Fear.

THE CHILDREN is available to stream on Tubi. For more on the film, check out my Rue Morgue article here.

MIDNIGHTERS (2017)

[Article] 5 Absolutely Chilling Horror Movies to Watch New Year's Eve
Alex Essoe in MIDNIGHTERS | Image courtesy of IMDB
The start of the new year typically signals a clean slate, but in the case of Julius Ramsay’s MIDNIGHTERS, starring Alex Essoe, Perla Haney-Jardine, Dylan McTee, and Ward Horton, a married couple’s strained relationship finds itself forcibly ripped open on New Year’s Eve after covering up a terrible crime. Their relationship quickly spirals as deceit and madness rear their ugly heads. Needless to say, this couple won’t be celebrating with a champagne toast, instead, they’ll be making some “pour” decisions on New Year’s Eve.

MIDNIGHTERS is available to stream on AMC+ Prime Video. For more on the film, check out my review here.

INTO THE DARK: NEW YEAR, NEW YOU (2018)
Carly Chaikin and Suki Waterhouse in INTO THE DARK: NEW YEAR, NEW YOU | Image courtesy of IMDB

The phrase “New Year, New Me” is a cliche saying that has found itself overdone. But in Sophia Takal’s holiday slasher, NEW YEAR, NEW YOU, Starring Suki Waterhouse, Carly Chaikin, Kirby Howell-Baptiste, and Melissa Bergland, she tackles that concept and what it means through the tenuous relationship between a group of high school friends who reunite to reminiscence and catch up before the new year. What is supposed to be a girl’s night out quickly turns into something much more insidious as jealousy and secrets rise to the surface. Grab that champagne, cause sips about to go down!

INTO THE DARK: NEW YEAR, NEW YOU is available to stream on Hulu. For more on the film, check out Sarah’s review here.

INTO THE DARK: MIDNIGHT KISS (2019)

Augustus Prew, Scott Evans, Chester Lockhart, Ayden Mayeri, and Lukas Gage in MIDNIGHT KISS | Image courtesy of IMDB

In Carter Smith’s MIDNIGHT KISS, starring Scott Evans, Adam Faison, Lukas Gage, and Ayden Mayeri, the film explores the expectations of New Year’s Eve and how questionable decisions can lead to deadly consequences. We see this unravel when a group of friends begrudgingly get together on New Year’s Eve to play Midnight Kiss in the hopes of finding someone special to ring in the New Year.  But there’s a killer among them, someone close and personal who is exposing their deepest secrets and murdering them each one by one. New Year’s wishes and midnight kisses are about to become deadly.

INTO THE DARK: MIDNIGHT KISS is available to stream on Hulu. For more on the film, check out Sarah’s review here.

From everyone here at Nightmarish Conjurings, we wish you a happy and safe New Year!

Shannon McGrew
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