7 Horror Movies Set On New Year’s Eve (& Where To Watch Them)

For a while there, horror was known for doing whatever it could to structure a narrative around a holiday. After Black Christmas, Halloween and Friday the 13th we got stuff like My Bloody Valentine, Silent Night, Deadly Night, April Fool’s Day, Slaughter High (also focused on April Fools), and the like. There was even a Graduation Day. And, as one might expect, New Year’s Eve is no exception. It’s not the first holiday that comes to mind when one thinks of prime days for horror narratives, but indeed quite a few horror movies have had their stories take place on the day when folks prepare to start a new 365-day stretch of their lives, and the best of the bunch follow below.

The caveat was that most of the narrative had to take place on New Year’s Eve so, while The Shining does have its characters at the Overlook come the turn of the year, it’s not really a touched upon or special date in the narrative. These next films, however, need New Year’s Eve to be what they are, for better or worse.

7) Iced

The plot for Iced is a fairly simplistic one. A few friends are reunited to go on a ski trip, but they don’t know which of them sent the invite. That’s because the sender is the killer, and the mysterious individual has gathered them to exact revenge for a bit of negligence that occurred long ago. It’s basically a slasher movie with dialogue that is extremely soap opera-esque and possesses a spirit not entirely unlike I Know What You Did Last Summer (which released about a decade later).

Iced does deserve some credit for two things. First, it has a few through-the-killer’s-eyes POV shots through a ski masked with a cracked lens. And second, the killer uses an icicle, which was always a somewhat underutilized natural weapon in the slasher subgenre.

Stream Iced for free with ads on Tubi.

6) End of Days

It’s a bit of a slog at times, but it’s hard to argue that End of Days didn’t have a killer concept. Gabriel Byrne plays the Devil (perfect casting), who has made his way up to Earth to mate with a very specific young woman. If he does so prior to midnight, 12/31/1999, the Antichrist will be born.

The issue with End of Days is that it doesn’t focus on that side of the coin so much as it focuses on the NYPD detective (hilariously named Jericho Cane) tasked with protecting said young woman. It makes sense that they wanted to sell it as a Schwarzenegger vehicle, but it comes at the expense of what could have been a pretty unique film. Even still, End of Days has a memorably foreboding tone and, again, Byrne knows exactly how to play his role up.

5) End of the Line

End of the Line is basically Clive Barker’s short story “The Midnight Meat Train” with even more of a religious slant. It tells the tale of a group of doomsday cultists who take it upon themselves to stab non-believers to death.

Most of the narrative takes place in a subway, which is nice and claustrophobic. And much to its credit, the film’s limited budget actually helps buoy its grim atmosphere.

Stream End of the Line on Screambox.

4) New Year’s Evil

Many slasher movies came out in the wake of Halloween and Friday the 13th‘s success, and New Year’s Evil was one of the earliest. And, like Graduation Day the next year, it’s fun for ’80s slasher aficionados, but for no one else.

The plot follows DJ Diane Sullivan, who receives a Black Christmas-style phone call telling her that a young woman will be killed when each of the four time zones ring in the new year. She is set to be his final victim, and as it turns out she’s going to recognize his face.

Stream New Year’s Evil on MGM+.

3) Terror Train

It’s not the best of Jamie Lee Curtis’ early days horror films, but Terror Train is stylish and tightly helmed by future Tomorrow Never Dies director Roger Spottiswoode. Not to mention, the concept of having the killer change masks for each death sequence was a nice touch.

The entire plot takes place on a, you guessed it, train. This particular train currently plays host to a bunch of pre-med students partying to celebrate the incoming new year. However, someone from their past has begun picking them off one by one. Terror Train is more of a pop culture curiosity than a top-tier slasher film, given the presence of Curtis, Spottiswoode, Die Hard‘s Hart Bochner, magician David Copperfield (playing a magician), and Vanity, a pop star who also succeeded on the big screen in cult classic The Last Dragon, Action Jackson, and Elmore Leonard adaptation 52 Pick-Up.

Stream Terror Train for free with ads on The Roku Channel.

2) Ghostkeeper

Ghostkeeper follows Jenny, Marty, and Chrissy, who are enjoying their New Year’s Eve on a snowmobiling excursion in the Rocky Mountains. Unfortunately, a blizzard comes their way and their only hope for shelter is a Bates Motel-style inn. Though, while the inn seems abandoned, the trio stumbles upon another resident, an elderly woman who claims to live there with her two sons.

This cult classic is basically Psycho if that iconic Hitchcock film also included a Wendigo and some sprinklings of The Shining and Burnt Offerings. It’s a tightly structured little chiller that isn’t perfect but is much better than one might expect.

Stream Ghostkeeper on Prime Video.

1) Dead of Winter

In Dead of Winter, Step Brothers‘ Mary Steenburgen plays not one but three roles. The first is Julie Rose, an actress who is murdered in the first scene. The second is Katie McGovern, the protagonist, a struggling actress who is cast because of her uncanny resemblance to the late Rose.

As for the third, we learn that later. But before that reveal comes, we (alongside Katie) release that there is no movie, but rather a more elaborate ruse. Dead of Winter comes with a series of plot twists that actually work, but what allows the movie to soar is Steenburgen’s lead performance as well as a successful against-type performance by the usually lovable Roddy McDowall (Planet of the Apes, Fright Night).

Stream Dead of Winter on MGM+.

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