Stream It Or Skip It: ‘New Year, New You’ on Hulu, Where Influencer Culture Literally Turns Cutthroat

Just months after Blumhouse’s “no female horror directors” controversy, the horror masters present a terrifying new woman-helmed project, Sophia Takal’s New Year, New You. The latest installment of the Blumhouse/Hulu anthology series Into The Dark, this chilling take on the toxicity of influencer culture and the past’s habit of haunting us features an all-female cast and enough twists and turns to give you whiplash.

NEW YEAR, NEW YOU: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

The Gist: Suki Waterhouse stars as Lex, a 20-something with a mysterious facial scar who decides to organize one last New Year’s Eve bash at her soon-to-be-sold childhood home for her high school BFFs. Seems innocent enough, right? Well, three of the gals have stayed close – Lex, Kayla (The Good Place‘s Kirby Howell-Baptiste), and Chloe (Melissa Bergland) – but the fourth, Danielle (Carly Chaikin) has left her friends behind in favor of her rising social media influencer fame. Much to the trio’s surprise, Danielle does turn up to the party. Lex has some serious beef with Danielle, but mostly spends her time shooting glares or spouting passive aggressive one-liners. As the clock gets ever closer to striking 12 and the gang rehashes their so-called glory days, the unsettling tension in the house becomes undeniable. A game of “Never Have I Ever” brings long-buried horrors and hatred to a head, and their once-promising evening soon turns into a bloody exorcising of grudges, secrets, and quests for revenge, topped off with a healthy dash of satire.

What Movies Will It Remind You Of?: New Year, New You quite obviously riffs on some of the great American horror flicks of the ’70s when it comes to visuals and some editing styles, and this is evident starting with the title sequence. Overall, however, the flick has its own distinct style. For those who are familiar with Takal’s other work, the resentful relationship between Lex and Danielle may call to mind Anna and Beth’s toxic codependency and jealousy in Always Shine. Despite these slight similarities, however, New Year, New You goes way deeper into the destructive nature of social media and just how insane the quest for self-love and internet validation can make people, much like Ingrid Goes West.

New Year, New You is overall a pretty unique flick, especially given its all-female cast and the way they progressively chip away at one another until there’s nothing left. It’s a glorious, layered exploration of female identity and obsession in the social media age, a story unafraid to look the ugliest side of self-care culture in the face. It’s certainly not something you see every day.

Performance Worth Watching: All four women deliver some seriously scary performances, but no one is quite as loathsome and believable as Carly Chaikin’s sinister social media influencer, Danielle. She’s introduced to us just as sugary-sweet and full of self-love as all the bloggers we see on Instagram every day, and yeah, she nails it. Her star-fucker stories at the party are grating as hell, but she really does seem to simply be a superficial, image-obsessed influencer who wants to spread her “good vibes” to her old gal pals. We buy her tears, we buy her apologies – until we don’t. When shit hits the fan and she flips, it’s like night and day. She becomes every bit the high school bully we discover she used to be. We won’t spoil too much of Danielle’s disturbing doings here, but know this – she’ll definitely make you think twice about the #content you’re consuming on a daily basis.

Memorable Dialogue: There are some long-winded monologues in New Year, New You, but they’re not without some scathing one-liners. The true fury in Lex’s voice as she torments Danielle and screams “I’m tired of feeling like shit because you won’t stop telling me to love myself!” is just too good. A total slap in the face to all of the perfectly-packaged self-love stuff we’re sold across platforms.

Single Best Shot: There are great visuals throughout, but few images as chilling as when Lex finally loses it after quietly listening to Danielle’s bullshit for hours. There’s a wild intensity in her eyes, as if she’s totally lost control and this act of champagne-boarding her high school best friend is now purely animal. Woof.

Sex and Skin: If you’re watching New Year, New You for sexy stuff, you better look elsewhere. You may see some skin, sure, but it’ll be the kind that gives you nightmares. Not the steamy stuff you pause and rewind to watch again. (Though there is definitely a lot of steam in this movie. Like, literal steam.)

Our Take: Takal deftly integrates themes of toxic self-care culture and the often-volatile nature of female friendships, and tosses in some biting satire and terrifying twists and turns for good measure. She knows what she’s good at and uses it to her advantage, creating something equally special and unsettling with her central foursome and their gradual unhinging. It may take a while to pick up steam, but when it does, there is NO stopping. Every performance isn’t a total home run, but when these women are together, it’s electrifying. The unpredictable gruesome series of deaths, shifts in alliances, eclectic score, and its surreal #sponsored influencer video opening and closing all come together to make New Year, New You close to a one-of-a-kind horror experience. It’s a weird one. The kind of weird that’s TOTALLY worth it. Whether you’re a horror junkie, a fan of Takal, or simply looking for something crazy, creepy, and totally creative, New Year, New You might be just the ticket.

Our Call: STREAM IT. Get your friends together over the holidays, grab some champagne, and cuddle up on the couch for some seriously disturbing stuff.

Jade Budowski is a freelance writer with a knack for ruining punchlines and harboring dad-aged celebrity crushes. She is also a member of the Television Critics Association. Follow her on Twitter: @jadebudowski.

Stream New Year, New You on Hulu