The 1980s venue of cinema is gonna be remembered for its slue of slasher films outside of plenty of Oscar winning material. With the success of "Friday the 13th", it didn't take long for 'copycat' movies to pop up and "My Bloody Valentine" is considered one of them. However this Canadian horror is interesting and has more character development than many slashers of the time in America.
Quick plot synopsis: it's been 20 years since the psychotic Harry Warden went on a murderous rampage through the town of Valentine Bluffs and was committed to a mental facility and the local kids want to throw a Valentine's party for the first time since then. However a mysterious figure wearing mining gear is stalking the town and killing its inhabitants in a similar fashion to Harry Warden. Is Harry back for blood or is it a copycat psychopath inspired by the infamous killer?
The Canadian cast are quite entertaining as they actually bring personality to their characters such as Paul Kelman as the unhappy and touchy T.J. Hanniger, the son of the town's mayor who is also owner of the miner, Neil Affleck as the cocky and controlling Axel Palmer and Lori Hallier as the conflicted, but savvy and strong-willed Sarah. There's also Don Francks as the town sheriff, Chief Newby, who is actually one of horror's smartest policemen and proactively works to protect his town's residents despite having to conceal Harry Warden's legendary spree. The young actors do occasionally turn to hokey line delivery, but it is funny enough to make you chuckle especially due to the native Canadian accents (thankfully not like "South Park"'s spoofing, but close at times). The leads are also pretty smart despite making some of the horror tropes like breaking the rules or going alone to dark places and being picked off, but the three leads are able to take on the killer or make good decisions that don't get them murdered.
Another of the film's best elements is its cinematography, lighting and music. Smoky streets highlight the night scenes as the killer stalks the town of Valentine Bluffs with some street lights to provide limited lighting though the killer's costume blends into the night sky. Using the popular first-person POV assists during the murder scenes before the camera switches back to seeing the gruesome carnage (at least in the restored cut) or using the killer's POV when he stalks the streets before we see him in full gear again. The music is also fitting for the unsettling bloodshed as it goes more for subtlety than "Psycho"-like inspiration and also goes to silliness when we watch our mining team leave work for the first time; sounding like its from "Beverly Hillbillies" rather than a slasher. There's even an interesting little song for Harry Warden during the credits which is like a more tolerable country ballad.
The detriment to the theatrical cut of the film (which I've seen and is on iTunes) is that most of the gore that slasher fans would enjoy is cut out. This was because the MPAA slashed (no pun intended) nine minutes of footage due to the violent content, but when the 2009 remake was ready for release Lionsgate (who had the rights to the remake and original) released a more uncut version with a couple minutes restored (and it's pretty nasty gore for some of the kills). If you are able to get ahold of the unrated version, do your best but it's okay to see the theatrical version as the story is the same regardless.
Quick plot synopsis: it's been 20 years since the psychotic Harry Warden went on a murderous rampage through the town of Valentine Bluffs and was committed to a mental facility and the local kids want to throw a Valentine's party for the first time since then. However a mysterious figure wearing mining gear is stalking the town and killing its inhabitants in a similar fashion to Harry Warden. Is Harry back for blood or is it a copycat psychopath inspired by the infamous killer?
The Canadian cast are quite entertaining as they actually bring personality to their characters such as Paul Kelman as the unhappy and touchy T.J. Hanniger, the son of the town's mayor who is also owner of the miner, Neil Affleck as the cocky and controlling Axel Palmer and Lori Hallier as the conflicted, but savvy and strong-willed Sarah. There's also Don Francks as the town sheriff, Chief Newby, who is actually one of horror's smartest policemen and proactively works to protect his town's residents despite having to conceal Harry Warden's legendary spree. The young actors do occasionally turn to hokey line delivery, but it is funny enough to make you chuckle especially due to the native Canadian accents (thankfully not like "South Park"'s spoofing, but close at times). The leads are also pretty smart despite making some of the horror tropes like breaking the rules or going alone to dark places and being picked off, but the three leads are able to take on the killer or make good decisions that don't get them murdered.
Another of the film's best elements is its cinematography, lighting and music. Smoky streets highlight the night scenes as the killer stalks the town of Valentine Bluffs with some street lights to provide limited lighting though the killer's costume blends into the night sky. Using the popular first-person POV assists during the murder scenes before the camera switches back to seeing the gruesome carnage (at least in the restored cut) or using the killer's POV when he stalks the streets before we see him in full gear again. The music is also fitting for the unsettling bloodshed as it goes more for subtlety than "Psycho"-like inspiration and also goes to silliness when we watch our mining team leave work for the first time; sounding like its from "Beverly Hillbillies" rather than a slasher. There's even an interesting little song for Harry Warden during the credits which is like a more tolerable country ballad.
The detriment to the theatrical cut of the film (which I've seen and is on iTunes) is that most of the gore that slasher fans would enjoy is cut out. This was because the MPAA slashed (no pun intended) nine minutes of footage due to the violent content, but when the 2009 remake was ready for release Lionsgate (who had the rights to the remake and original) released a more uncut version with a couple minutes restored (and it's pretty nasty gore for some of the kills). If you are able to get ahold of the unrated version, do your best but it's okay to see the theatrical version as the story is the same regardless.
