AROUND THE WORLD UNDER THE SEA (1966)

In order to help protect future generations from earthquakes, a crew of scientists have been given the task to circumnavigate the Earth underwater and plant 50 sensors at predetermined locations.  Interesting idea for a film, but what ended up on screen wasn't very good.  The rescue scene at the beginning was interesting, but after that things just got lamer and lamer.  I wasn't expecting the story to be realistic, but ATWUTS is completely bonkers.  At one point, they're talking about how the water outside near these hydrothermal vents is 390 degrees.  There's some trouble planting the sensor, so what does Lloyd Bridges do?  He throws on his normal scuba gear (remember we're at the bottom of the ocean) and plants the damn thing himself!!!  Afterwards, he simply says "That was the hottest I've ever been in my life!"  No shit.  There are many moments like this.

I'm sure ATWUTS was geared towards kids, but I was at least hoping for some exciting adventure.  No.  All of the underwater locations all over the world looked exactly the same, there was absolutely no feeling of being in a new location, the submarine set was dark and boring, the underwater miniatures looked fake as hell, pointless side story about some underwater treasure, bad dialogue, plot holes galore, topless Lloyd Bridges.

I'm sure people who saw this as an impressionable child still have fond memories of ATWUTS, but as a handsome adult and a first time viewer I was bored senseless.  Skip it was a vengeance.

NEW YEAR'S EVIL (1980)

Middle-of-the-road early 80's slasher that has a slow start, interesting middle and then lame ending.  The story is about a TV show personality who's hosting a New Year's Eve celebration program.  She gets a phone call on-air by some guy who calls himself "Evil" saying he's going to kill somebody each hour up until midnight and although he doesn't expressly say it, it's implied that he is going to kill her a midnight.  Being a professional, she plows ahead with the show as the useless cops try to track down the killer.

Low body count, lame off screen murders, piss poor nudity, amusing 80's fashions, interesting detour with a story about a biker gang, horrible music, non-threatening killer, the line: "Sally got rid of her nervous diarrhea.", anti-climatic ending, no unique or memorable characters, nice Los Angeles exterior locations.

Although I didn't dislike it, I can't see anybody other than slasher completist and/or lovers of bad movies getting much of a kick out of NEW YEAR'S EVIL.  And with so many better slashers from the same time period out there, I wouldn't go out of my way to watch it.