When I began watching the Nick Leisure (Last the Night) directed and Damion Stephens written New Year's Absolution, I assumed it was going to be a slasher. It didn't take too long to realise this falls into the smaller sub-genre of horror, I've clumsily named 'friends do an annual meet-up and end up tearing each other apart over one night of madness'. Indeed a smaller sub-genre, but one I have enjoyed in the past with movies such as The Invitation, and other such ones that annoyingly I cannot recall the names of.
Ever since they were young, a group of friends have been meeting annually to celebrate the new year. Each year, ever since they have known each other, each of the friends have written an anonymous new year's resolution that is then picked at random out of a hat. These resolutions are treated super seriously, with the friends carrying them out even if it's to their own detriment. The meet-up is hosted at neurotic Damon's (Joel Brady - Men in Black 3) new modern house where he lives alongside wife, Claire (Shala White). His guests are surgeon Roy (Michael Copon - Night of the Demons) and his new girlfriend, Kira (Siddalle Diaz), work-out obsessed cop - Jacob (Josh Glimer) and wife Misty (Victorya Brandart - Birdemic 3: Sea Eagle), as well as stylishly gay Stuart (Rafael Siegel - Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles; uncredited) and his boyfriend Travis (Lamondo Hill II).
The evening begins well for the friends, with them all happy to catch-up, but things turn sour when it comes time to pick their resolutions and one of the friends picks a resolution that simply says 'kill someone'. In anger at receiving this twisted resolution, the man storms out, and during an attempt to get him to stay, a gun is accidentally discharged and someone is shot. Rather than alert the authorities, the group decide to deal with this matter themselves, setting off a chain of events that see misery and ruin come to the majority of them, with past tensions combining with current problems to disastrous effect.
The evening begins well for the friends, with them all happy to catch-up, but things turn sour when it comes time to pick their resolutions and one of the friends picks a resolution that simply says 'kill someone'. In anger at receiving this twisted resolution, the man storms out, and during an attempt to get him to stay, a gun is accidentally discharged and someone is shot. Rather than alert the authorities, the group decide to deal with this matter themselves, setting off a chain of events that see misery and ruin come to the majority of them, with past tensions combining with current problems to disastrous effect.
It was a good half an hour into this 85 minute film before the thrills and horror set in. I admit I was getting a bit impatient for anything of note to happen, but this first act did do a good job of introducing the cast of characters and their various personalities. I have seen films where it takes much longer before anything happens, so it wasn't the worst opening. With the next two acts being so darn hypnotic, I can stomach the slow start. There is effort made to make the constant escalation seem natural, and for the most part this works. I would say there was at least one incident that seemed out of character, just there to keep the story moving forwards.
I loved the foreshadowing on display here. One of these moments was a bit overplayed with constant references to it, but I did enjoy that each of the friend's resolutions do indeed come to pass, albeit, in the most darkly twisted ways possible. It gave the feeling that each of these resolutions came to be a fortune destined to happen in a monkey's paw type fashion. The interactions between the cast of eight were fluid and fun, giving the feeling of a puzzle slowly being pieced together. There was reliance on not just dialogue, but subtle physical moments to give an idea of the groups loyalties with each other.
With these eight characters, many of them I assumed would not survive the film. This was the case, and it became entertaining to see the various ways they are removed from the story. Each death scene is different, and range from the accidental to purposeful. Blood effects were great, with the blood looking really gloopy. The vibe initially had some dark humour to it, such as Damon being more concerned with blood getting on his new flooring than the fact people have died. As the story progresses, things get darker and more sinister, leading to an interesting conclusion.
This had a good soundtrack as well, including a montage sequence set to the classic New Year's Eve tune that everyone knows.
This had a good soundtrack as well, including a montage sequence set to the classic New Year's Eve tune that everyone knows.
I like these types of film, and New Year's Absolution was a good example. Some parts became far-fetched, but almost like a Rube Goldberg machine, once the separate parts started to move, it was fascinating to see the plot play out. Scatena & Rosner Films' New Year's Absolution releases on July 14th on VOD and digital, including Amazon Prime Video, Fandango At Home, DISH Network, and DirecTV.
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