My Bloody Valentine

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source: My Bloody Valentine

*** This comment may contain spoilers *** When My Bloody Valentine was released in 1981, the censor board cut it to pieces leaving us with a good horror film but not a great one. All of that has changed now that the producers have managed to get a hold of the 9 minutes of gore that was cut out of the film to retain an R rating. What started out as a very atmospheric yet pedestrian film, is now elevated to near perfection with the lost footage being added. My Bloody Valentine can be bought on DVD in Special Edition format and for the $15.00 you will pay, it is more than worth it. I am going to assume that most people have seen the film, so I'll refrain from giving you a synopses of the film, but instead I'll tell you about some of the missing pieces to the film and why it makes it so much better. The film opens with two people walking deep into a mine and then stopping to have sex. As the woman takes off her shirt, above her left breast is a tattoo of a heart. This drives the other miner mad and he pushes her up against the pick-axe stuck in the wall. The pick axe comes out of her chest and protrudes from the tattoo. The next addition to the film is one of the most infamous cuts to the film and it gained a reputation for one of the goriest scenes ever cut from a film. And no one had seen it. It involved Mabel, at the laundromat, getting killed and then her corpse shows up in the dryer the next day as the police chief finds her. Her body has all it's skin burned off it and the eyes are bulging and she is blood red. The corpse is very, very real looking and it is a celebration of make-up and special effects. Just the addition of this scene is worth buying the DVD. The next that I recall is when the bartender tries to set up some sort of booby trap to scare the kids. He has a miner's costume, complete with a pick axe, wired to one of the doors. As the door opens the costumer pops out to give a bit of a scare. As he opens the door one last time, the real Harry Warden pops out and rams his pick axe through his chin and out of his eyeball. This is another wondrous shot with amazing attention to detail. The scene looks authentic and for a film with such a parsimonious budget, they certainly got the most out of the special effects. I'll mention two more. One is when two of the party goers are in the mine and are about the make love and then of course the guy runs off to get beers. This leaves the girl all alone and then she is attacked and rammed into one of the pipes in the shower. She is left suspended by the pipe and water is shooting out of her mouth. It is truly a marvellous scene. We also get a very realistic nail gun to the head scene when the nails look they went into Hollis' head. The only caveat to this is that when the old footage is inserted (edited) into the film, because is is so old and has presumably been sitting in a tin can somewhere for almost 30 years, the film is faded, but this doesn't take away from how effective the scenes are. My Bloody Valentine, the theatrical cut is a creepy, stylish, claustrophobic feeling film with enough suspense and likable characters that it is a nice addition to the horror family. But there was always something missing. Well here we are 28 years later and that missing something has turned this film into one of the best horror films of the last 40 years. I highly recommend that if you like the film, get this edition on DVD. You won't be disappointed. Theatrical Cut: 7/10 Special Edition: 9/10

Just as the use of 3D lifted the status of the MBV remake from mediocre (6/10) to very entertaining (7.5/10), so the reinstatement of several very gruesome scenes of gore cut by the MPAA transform the original movie from what was just a reasonably fun effort into one of the most effective slashers of the 80s. Yes, the bloody effects really do make that much of a difference! The setting for the film is the sleepy mining town of Valentine's Bluff, where twenty years before, demented miner Harry Warden murdered those responsible for the Valentine's Day cave-in that buried him alive for six weeks, with only the bodies of his dead co-workers for food. With Harry safely locked away in an asylum for the past for two decades, the townsfolk have finally decided to ignore the killer's threat to return should they ever hold a Valentine's party, and begin to prepare for a lavish February 14th bash. But Harry appears to be a man who is true to his word, and soon the bodies start to pile up, their hearts removed and sent to the police inside boxes of candy (complete with bad poetry). Chief Jake Newby (Don Francks) immediately recognises the grisly gifts as Harry's handiwork and cancels the Valentine celebrations; but the young folk of Valentine's Bluff aren't afraid of what they believe to be just a local legend, and hold their own soirée at the pit-head. A good time is being had by all until the mask-wearing killer crashes the party. Despite this being only his second movie, director George Mihalka achieves impressive performances from his equally inexperienced cast, and displays remarkable flair with his visuals, making excellent use of his central mine setting, but it's his willingness to get nasty when it counts that make this one so much fun. He opens his film off in superb style with a credits sequence that sees a couple (clad head to foot in full mining gear) going underground for a spot of slap 'n' tickle; after walking through the gloomy tunnels, she strips off and suggestively caresses his breathing pipe, and he impales her on a sharp spike in return (the point emerging through the heart tattoo she has on her breast!). This impressively grisly scene sets the tone for what proves to be, in it's complete form, an extremely satisfying slasher. In his creepy miner's get-up, the killer is one of the most imposing maniacs of the genre, and the methods he employs to bump off his victims are both inventive and messy: an old lady is roasted inside a tumble dryer; an old guy gets a pick-axe under his chin, which emerges out an eye socket (with the eyeball stuck on the end of the pick—a particularly nice touch!); a girl has her head rammed onto a shower head, the bloody water spraying from her open mouth; a guy in a noose has his head torn off when dropped from a height; boiling hot-dog water is used to drown a bloke; and another poor wretch is nail-gunned in the head! In their uncut state, these revolting moments, made possible by make-up maestro Tom Burman and his team, make MBV a completely unmissable treat for slasher fans. Now if only they could somehow make this film 3D as well...

This early 80's horror flick is one of the best of the slasher genre. It has a great setting in a small Canadian mining town - which has it's streets and buildings drenched with red and pink valentine decorations - which is a surreal contrast to the cold and sombre setting that foreshadows the real pumpers that eventually pop up in crimson heart shaped candy boxes. The scenes filmed in an actual mine - where the protagonists are trapped with the killer lurking around with a sharpened pickaxe - are expertly filmed with plenty of style and a menacing atmosphere. The acting is decent and although some of the characters act like jerks they are likable and human enough for the viewer to care about them. They are all working class stiffs and just want a good time and relief from the reality of their everyday situation. You want them to have their valentine party that has been denied them for obvious reasons. Notorious for being one of the most censored films by the MPAA at the time of release to avoid an 'X' rating, it is now available in an uncut form on Lionsgate DVD. The death scenes are much more detailed and graphic, but either version is worth watching for the flourish that the director and his cast and crew have imbued into this little horror gem.

This is one of the myriad early 80s slashers made in the wake of HALLOWEEN (1978) - but actually originating with BLACK Christmas (1974) - revolving around some holiday period. The film offers all the usual trappings: scares, gore, a little nudity, teenagers (comprising the romantic triangle and the inevitable obnoxious clown), state/law officials, a childhood trauma, an old-timer's warnings going unheeded by the kids, etc. As such, it's no worse (or better) than many of its ilk - at least among the few that I've watched myself - but the mining-town setting does provide novelty value and a little atmosphere (though the sight of the masked pickaxe-wielding murderer, whose identity isn't too hard to guess by the way, eventually grows tiresome!).

i had seen this film a couple of times back in the day and had always thought it was a alright 80's slasher but was disappointed by some acting and the gore value, well recently they had released a special edition extended cut of the movie so i picked it up just cause i collect old school horror and thought it would be an alright piece to my collection, well little did i know i was right, there is so much gore that was taken out of this film i was in shock and dumbfounded to know that for 30 years no one has actually really seen this movie. the gore in this is so well done for an 81 film you can definitely tell they were all thinking they had to one up the first Friday the 13th. its a shame the mpaa are such bastards it makes you wonder how many movies you've seen that they butchered like this one. and you leave that movie thinking it was crap when really it was a classic horror that was just heavily edited. well thank god for DVD so if you see the special edition at your store i suggest buying it if your a old school gore fan there is some sick ass special effects that im sure most of the budget of the film was spent on.

I saw "My Bloody Valentine" when it played theatrically and I was bored. It's up to scratch technically, but it's just another slasher about a dead miner who shows up on Valentine's Day to kill young lovers because they're busy doing what he never got to do. That's it. The film, prior to earning its "R" rating, was considerably gorier, and I've read much rubbish about how great the thing would be if the gore was reinstated. I can't agree. If it was bloodier, it would still be a boring slasher... but with bloody killings. There is no suspense, the characters are the usual clichés, and many scenes are so underlit we might be watching tar dry. I don't like night scenes you can't even see because real night isn't like that. Our eyes adjust to the darkness after a while and sometimes we use flashlights. A much better slasher than this is "Madman", a film with impressive night sequences we can actually see. The mine location is suitably creepy and probably had potential, but there's no point crying over wasted scenery when quite clearly nobody was up to making much of this thin premise that was probably an easy sell to a studio (Paramount) that was hot for special occasion-based/date-based horror after "Friday The 13th" poured millions into its coffers. The idea of "My Bloody Valentine" is much more interesting than the reality of slogging through its turgid scenery. Try it yourself if you don't believe me.

My Bloody Valentine (1981) takes place in a small mining town. Valentine's Day is coming and so is the reappearance of a local and nasty legend. Some deranged sweethearts' killer is back on the loose as the community cringes in horror or is it? Can these youngsters hold off this weirdo until day break or will they all become it's next victims? A decent slasher/stalker horror film. Sadly, like most of the films that came out during the early 80's, the studios took shears to the prints cutting out the best parts of the movie. If the studio didn't slice the graphic set pieces into ribbons, this would have been a true classic. Alas, it's not. Left alone this could have been a great one. But it's not. Recommended for fans of the genre.

In the wake of Halloween and Friday the 13th, many similar films were released, most of which had little or no distinguishing features. One of the most effective and atmospheric was My Bloody Valentine. Shot in Canada and very infamous for it's brutal battle with the MPAA, My Bloody Valentine is a surprising success, and a wonderful addition to the slasher genre. The acting is good, which comes as quite a shock for any slasher lover. The deaths, while obviously edited, are very effective and intense, especially the laundry room sequence. The image of the killer, dressed in a full miner's garb, smashing the lights along an already dark mine shaft, while a group of victims try to escape is terrifying. The setting is quite interesting. Most Canadian films try to disguise the fact that it's Canadian. Well, this movie doesn't, which makes it very neat. I'd say that it's lush photography, good acting, frightening set pieces and killer, and brutal deaths make this is one of the most impressive slashers of the 80's, maybe of all time.