Happy Valentine’s day everyone!
My Bloody Valentine has a good reputation within the horror community. This is another one I missed growing up, but recently bought the DVD, which I already need an upgrade to Blu Ray, the quality was rough. But I wonder if that lends to the atmosphere of the movie. The movie is based in a small mining town and the grit added to the old copy of the DVD brings it closer to seeing in the 1980s or even watching it on VHS. But myself, it was a rough movie to sit through. There were not recognizable faces in this one, so that also added to the terror of the movie. It made it play a little more like a documentary or one of those shows that is dramatized.
My Bloody Valentine is about a small mining town with a legend, 20 years ago a miner came back and killed a bunch of people, cutting their hearts out. This is a common trend in 80s slasher movies, a town with a legend or a camp with a legend. The Mayor Valentine Bluffs reinstates the traditional Valentine’s Day dance which has been suspended for twenty years. The film picks up at the end of a shift at the mine and it has been 20 years. Everyone from the mine is gearing up for the first dance in 20 years. Which I find strange, these people were all in their 20s and 30s and going to a town dance. I guess its a small town and a different time.
The killing does not begin with the dance, the dance is a smaller part of the film. The killings begin early on, mostly after the shift at the mine and deal with the people from 20 years prior. Hearts cut out and what not. Off screen kills and a mystery. The mystery of who the killer is, it is interesting. We know it has to do with the mine 20 years prior. But, for me, it was obvious who the killer was. Maybe I have seen too many of these type of movies.
The dance gets canceled and people start dying and there is a party in the mine…This movie seemed like a made for TV horror movie, based on real events. Out of all of the 1980s slashers I have seen, this is the most…realistic? It feels like some kind of true story to me, something that could be based on a legend in some small town.
Like the Burning, I should have seen My Bloody Valentine years ago. I am glad to have it in my collection, but it fell flat for me. Not terrible and I do think it is one others should see. My Bloody Valentine falls super flat for me. It is highly respected in the horror community. But for me, it gets tossed in to a big pile of forgettable slasher films from the early 1980s, like the Burning or the Prowler. With the success of Halloween there were so many of these movies popping up and at times they bleed together. Even Friday the 13th, it wasn’t until Jason and that damn hockey mask that the series began to stand out.
The killer wearing the mining costume and a couple of good death scenes save this movie. Otherwise, it is a long drawn out snooze fest…sorry everyone. I came into the game late.
There is a 2009 remake, I have never seen it, I own it…maybe I will watch it later today and review it tomorrow. Jensen Ackles from Supernatural fame is in the film. I have heard bad things.
IMDB.com has a rating of 6.2
I rate it exactly the same, I was not so impressed 6.2
