The end of 2020 is finally here! Here’s to hoping the new year brings a return to normalcy, at least in some capacity, and a lot of great new horror. There’s a handful of titles themed around New Year’s Eve when it comes to holiday horror. Movies like New Year’s Evil, Terror Train, and End of Days up the threat level and body count as the clock approaches midnight. Instead of highlighting the perennial New Year’s horror movies, though, this week’s streaming picks to capture the New Year’s spirit of clean slates and fresh starts.
For many, New Year’s Eve coincides with affirmations and resolutions for metamorphic change on January 1st. These five horror movies embrace the transformative feeling that a new year brings. For the central characters, their life-changing, often hellish journeys leave them in a very different place than where they began.
As always, here’s where you can stream them this week.
Blue My Mind – Prime Video, Shudder, Tubi, Vudu
This coming-of-age tale uses body horror to capture the terrifying experiences of puberty, hormonal shifts, and navigating the high school hierarchy. Mia (Luna Wedler) finds herself drawn to the mean girls and popular boys at her new school, which entails assimilating with the cool crowd. It leads to acts of rebellion and substance abuse. Then Mia discovers strange markings on her body. New bits of abnormal flesh that weren’t there before. She dreams of the ocean and chows down on pet fish for a snack. Mia’s transformation into adulthood isn’t standard. While Blue My Mind puts its teen angst and drama at the forefront, the body horror elements are fantastic and lend a gruesome take on a familiar fantasy archetype.
Nightbreed – Prime Video, Peacock, Pluto TV, Tubi
In this Clive Barker film based on his novella Cabal, Aaron Boone (Craig Sheffer) dreams of a mystical city where monsters dwell. After being framed for murder, Boone travels to find the city, Midian. He gets transformed into a monster once there. Nightbreed isn’t just a story about Boone’s new beginning as a citizen of Midian; his arrival changes everything for both the monsters and those that seek to destroy them. For many in Nightbreed, death is only the beginning.
Patchwork – Shudder, Tubi
Before Tragedy Girls, Tyler MacIntyre gave a darkly comedic new spin on Frankenstein’s monster. Jennifer, Ellie, and Madeleine have nothing in common; they don’t even know each other. They just happened to wake up stitched together after a night out. With three distinct personalities sharing one body, working together to find out what happened and seek revenge will prove extra complicated. This horror-comedy gives each woman plenty of room to relay their perspective in their forced new beginning, leading up to a bloody, fun, and unexpected finale.
Spring – Hulu, Shudder, Tubi
The title says it all; nothing says fresh starts or new beginnings like Spring. Evan Russell (Lou Taylor Pucci) is on a significant tailspin after losing his mother to cancer. His friend recommends he travel to clear his head, so he flees to Italy. There he meets the enigmatic Louise (Nadia Hilker), a guarded woman who eventually gives in to Evan’s feelings. Louise harbors a dark, monstrous secret that will irrevocably change both of their lives. Filmmakers Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead use sci-fi and horror to deliver a romantic, Lovecraftian reminder that change might be scary, but it can also be beautiful.
Starry Eyes – Prime Video, Tubi
Sarah Walker (Alexandra Essoe) is desperate for a life change. Or rather, she’s desperate to leave her fast-food job behind to become a full-time actress, and she’s willing to do whatever it takes to achieve her goal. A tumultuous audition process from Astraeus Pictures gives her a chance, sparking a grotesque transformation after an ominous bargain is struck. Writer/Directors Kevin Kölsch and Dennis Widmyer give a brutal depiction of the cost of fame, and it builds to a grisly finale. Sarah Walker is a focused woman who sticks to her resolutions, and she serves as proof of why it’s perfectly fine if you break them.