My Bloody Valentine (1981)

GEORGE MIHALKA

MY BLOODY VALENTINE

CANADA, 1981

7.5/10

"From the heart comes a warning, filled with bloody good cheer, remember what happened as the 14th draws near!"

The 1980s, what a time for horror the 1980s were. Following the huge success of HALLOWEEN (1978) and FRIDAY THE 13TH (1980), many slashers based on certain days were created. We got NEW YEAR'S EVIL (1980), PROM NIGHT (1980), SLIENT NIGHT, DEADLY NIGHT (1984), and many others. And probably one of the best of those films, and, in my opinion, one of the best non-franchise horror films of the '80s was MY BLOODY VALENTINE (1981).

The plot is pretty simple. Two security guards at the mine hurry away to get to a Valentine's day party in time, forgetting to check the methane levels. There's an explosion, and the miners are stuck in the cave, only one surviving: Harry Warden, who had to eat the flesh of the other miners to survive. After a year at a mental hospital, he breaks free and kills the two security guards responsible, and warns the town never to celebrate Valentine's Day again. 20 years later, the town decides to hold another Valentine's dance, and sure enough, the killing starts again.

This film is famous because the MPAA forced it to cut out a lot of its gore (and the gore in this is very impressive for a kinda low-budget flick), but nowadays it can be viewed in all of its gory glory on the uncut DVD. True, the added footage is a little grainy, but seeing as it has been on the side for 30-ish years, it's rather good. Many kills are interesting and creative, with many rather effective jump scares.

There are a lot of characters, some of them are not memorable and are paper-thin. There are a lot of cliches, like the jokester, and an older bartender who warns the young characters (not teenagers, just young) is very similar to Ralp from FRIDAY THE 13TH. The four or five more main characters are a bit more complex and interesting. They are still not great characters, but they are believable and real enough that I care what happens to them. Since there are a lot of characters, there are also a lot of actors, and a lot of the acting is nothing remarkable. However, a lot of the lead roles do very well, and we don't watch slashers to see Oscar-worthy acting, we watching slashers to see a bunch of people get cut up creatively.

The director does a very good job creating the atmosphere. The opening scene is very surreal and dreamlike, yet a horrific act still occurs, which perfectly sets the tone for the rest of the movie. In the beginning, we see Valentine Bluffs, a town covered in pink and red hearts and banners declaring the upcoming Valentine's dance, yet we still feel a sense of foreboding. Later in the movie, the scene involving the descending suits is very suspenseful. When some of the characters descend into the mine for the climax of the movie (filmed in an actual Nova Scotian mine), it is very claustrophobic and creepy. I think it compares best to the recent british horror, THE DESCENT (2005). The scene where four of the characters climb the ladder was very tense and created a very large sense of anxiety. The shot of the killer knocking out the lights in the mine with his pickaxe is very creepy.

Everything about the killer is scary, really. I mean, I find gas masks pretty fucking creepy, and they make the whole "heavy breathing" cliche even more distinct and creepy. The costume really hides the killer's identity, whether it's Harry Warden or any of the other characters killing people is pretty hard to tell. I don't really like the twist at the end just because it wasn't executed very well, but the last line of the film is still really, really creepy.

In conclusion, this is one of, in my opinion, the better 1980s slasher films. Though the plot is lackluster and the actors/characters leave much to be desired, it's still a very effective, atmospheric horror flick. Try to watch the gorier uncut version, but the original cut is still pretty effective.