Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		3.0
Audio		3.5
Extras		3.0
Overall		2.5

Bloody New Year Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman April 29, 2020

Note: This version of this film is available as part of Bloody Terror: The Shocking Cinema of Norman J Warren, 1976-1987.

It might be an interesting bi-continental quiz to ask film fans in the United Kingdom if they recognize the name Herschell Gordon Lewis, while at the same time asking film fans in the United States if they recognize the name Norman John Warren. My hunch (and it’s only a hunch) is that Lewis might fare a bit better than Warren (meaning at least in part that British cineastes might be more globally aware than Americans), but that said, the two men are at least passingly comparable in that each offered exploitation outings that tended to feature both scantily clad (and sometimes naked) women and horror elements in about equal measure. Arrow released the massive The Herschell Gordon Lewis Feast* a few years ago which aggregated a bunch of Lewis’ films (there are other compilations available, including The Lost Films of Herschell Gordon Lewis* and Shock and Gore: The Films of Herschell Gordon Lewis*), and now Powerhouse Films’ Indicator imprint has aggregated a quintet of Warren films to whet fans’ appetites. As with some of Lewis’ efforts, the Warren films are often low budget affairs, but they arguably tend to be a cut above (no gore pun intended) some of Lewis’ films in terms of general production values and even performance acumen. All five films in this set have either already received Blu-ray releases in the United States, or are about to as this review goes live (in the case of Inseminoid), but Powerhouse's website lists this set as offering debuts of the films on Blu-ray for the United Kingdom market.

* Note: The links points to United States releases since there are reviews for some of those which some readers might be interested in perusing, though there are UK releases of both The Herschell Gordon Lewis Feast and Shock and Gore: The Films of Herschell Gordon Lewis.

For those wondering if Bloody New Year falls into the pattern already detailed in the Satan's Slave Blu-ray review, Prey Blu-ray review, Terror Blu-ray review and Inseminoid Blu-ray review, in terms of the films of Norman J. Warren either unintentionally or in some cases as overtly mentioned by Warren himself intentionally aping some other movie or movies, the answer is: yeah, kinda. The basic plotline here involves a haunted hotel of sorts which is probably automatically going to remind some viewers of at least some elements at play in The Shining, but as has also been the case with some other Warren efforts, other, seemingly unrelated, films or at least subgenres might seem like referents at times, including horror films featuring teens trapped in an isolated wooded environment and (just for good measure) zombie flicks (aiming for, but probably missing, the same kind of combo platter of goofiness and chills that was displayed in The Evil Dead).

The first section of the film actually could be seen as referencing a whole separate subgenre of horror, namely kids at an amusement park being stalked by some nefarious type or types, but soon enough Bloody New Year gets its focal teens to the supposed safe haven of a nearby island where the abandoned Grand Island Hotel seems to be doing the time warp again, so to speak. And in fact, after a series of vignettes that offers both death and a kind of possession, the almost insanely expository climax does in fact feature a kind of time travel element. Warren is on record as stating even he felt the film missed the mark in at least some respects, but it does have a certain silly charm that may recommend it to B- (or lesser) movie aficionados.

As mentioned above, Bloody New Year is one of the films in this set which has already had a release in the North American market. Those interested can peruse my colleague Brian Orndorf's Bloody New Year Blu-ray review for another opinion on the film (Brian liked it quite a bit more than I did), as well as to compare screenshots, other technical data and each release's slate of supplemental material.

Bloody New Year Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Bloody New Year is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Powerhouse Films' Indicator imprint with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.85:1. Powerhouse Films provided only check discs for the purposes of this review, with no supporting documentation, so I'm not privy to any verbiage that might be included in an insert booklet, but their website has the same generic "2K restoration, newly supervised and approved by director Norman J Warren" listed under its breakdown for every film in this set. This release comes with a prefatory "warning" text card that I've uploaded as screenshot 19 so that those interested can read about the provenance of the element utilized for this transfer. I'm assuming this is the same element utilized for the United States release, since Brian also mentions damage and "the only surviving film element" in his review, but I'm considerably less generous in my score than Brian was. When this transfer looks good, it looks quite good, with a nicely suffused palette and generally very agreeable detail levels. However, as is overtly mentioned in the warning text card, this is a very badly damaged element at times, as can be seen in screenshots 17 and 18, which are actually not the worst moments in the film. Some of this transfer has the same kind of weird peach-gray look that often attends CRI transfers, though this was evidently done from a print. Both color temperature and densities vary pretty widely throughout the presentation, as does grain resolution (contrast the look of the grain in screenshot 15 with any number of other screenshots accompanying this review to get some idea of the differences). The opening black and white sequence looks fairly gritty and features somewhat anemic contrast. My "official" score is 3.0, but I'd bump this up to a 3.25 if I were able to.

Bloody New Year Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Bloody New Year features an LPCM Mono track which makes it through the vagaries of age related wear and tear (and improper curation) probably better than the video element. There are still occasional cutoffs, notably right as the film begins, where it sounds like we join the track just slightly already in progress, and then later during an early attack scene. That said, some of the worst looking material in terms of the video side of things sounds at least reasonably good, with no really apparent damage. The entire track does sound a bit boxy, but dialogue, effects and the enjoyable score (which has some fun old style rock 'n' roll tunes courtesy of its callback to 1959) escape without any major damage.

Bloody New Year Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Audio Commentary by Norman J. Warren and Jo Botting


• Norman's Wisdom (1080p; 28:01) is more of the more contemporary interviews scattered throughout some of the discs in this set, with Warren offering more biographical information and talking about what it takes to make it as a director.


• New Blood (1080p; 15:06) is an interview with Catherine Roman.


• The Art of Blood (1080p; 14:28) is an interview with screenwriter and set dresser (!) Frazer Pearce.


• Fights, Camera, Action! (1080p; 10:22) is an interview with stuntman and actor Steve Emerson.


• Working with Warren (1080p; 10:09) is an interview with filmmaker Yuxi Sun, who discusses her collaborations with Warren.


• Original Trailer (1080p; 2:08)


• Image Gallery (1080p)


• Turn Off Your Bloody Phone (1080p; 00:48) features Warren and Sun in a comic "PSA". This features the option to either play it by itself or have it move on automatically to the feature after it plays.

Powerhouse provided only check discs for purposes of this review, but from their listing on their website this looks like another typically very handsomely packaged release which includes a slipbox and insert booklets.

Bloody New Year Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Bloody New Year may satisfy those who like a certain kind of horror "comfort food", but this is another kind of odd combo platter from Mr. Warren and his creative team. Video has some pretty significant issues, as can be seen in some of the screenshots accompanying this review as well as the "warning" text card I've uploaded as screenshot 19, but audio is generally okay, and the supplements very interesting, for those who are considering a purchase.