My Bloody Valentine (1981)
Someone’s bound to lose their heart.
It’s the season of lovin, and I’m looking to fall back on old ways. Sure, we’ve done some horror stuff lately with the Scream franchise, but we need to go further down the dark hole of less refinement. It’s a dirty job, full of often goofy things regardless of intent. Tonight, cupid’s calling for a homicide, and you can be My Bloody Valentine.
As much as I wish i could claim coming up with the catchy cupid line,I shamelessly stole it from a rocking song based on the same movie we are watching. Our story takes place in a mining town - full of miners of course. They are some pretty cheerful folks, excited to finally be celebrating a good old Valentines celebration in twenty years after a horrible incident cast a dark cloud over the town. Of course all the “younger folk” really want their fun times filled with alcohol and naughty times, but it isn’t before long that dark cloud comes ripping back over the town with a cryptic warning and a box full of heart. It won’t be long before they all remember, everyone is in danger when the 14th draws near. A murderer is on the loose, and and he’s got quite the bone to pick with anyone out to party on the night of the old mine disaster. Harry isn’t happy with the Henniger mine, and if you want to party it’s your heart on the line.
It’s simple in the same way most slasher flicks are. You have an event to set up a killer, and then you get to watch people slowly getting picked off You have some red herrings to keep you guessing who the killer may or may not be, and a wide cast of folks who are on the wrong side of the draft pick. The mine makes for a decent backdrop, and the miner of death costume makes for a killer whose pretty stand out despite feeling appropriate for his setting. There is an bit of drama between a few of the characters - specifically the main love triangle, with the “boy who left for big things but whose back again when things didn’t work out” still pining rather obviously for the girl whose now another man’s. The funny part is at times it really feels a bit like any one of the three could be trying to romance one of the others.
The biggest problem some might have is the age of the movie - given it’s an older movie you get a lot of those moments where you would expect people to act a little smarter than they are. I mean, yes, it never makes it out like any of the characters is a genius or anything, but expect some bad calls and a few “power of boners” moments anyways. Also of note is that some of the movie has been edited down unless you get those fancy extended scene versions - toned down for violence of course. Regardless of some things being a bit thin, characters actually do have quite a few moments that are played out well. Chemistry works good as well between many of the characters. Now, that being said, I can’t say there’s an absolute ton of character building in here - there’s more than you’d expect, but there isn’t a ton of character revelations as far as progressions being passed around compared to the amount of corpses being stacked up.
Long day’s work getting dirty.
The actors do a good job here. I know you wouldn’t expect it given my opening comment of schlock - but the movie isn’t really bad for any intentional purpose and really only feels any degree of subpar due to it’s age and the comparison to all the things that have come from it since. Some parts are a bit rougher around the edges - the three way romance itself can feel a bit “danger whistle” at times, and is probably the one part where you’ll feel like there’s the largest space for improvement. They try, and often times the chemistry does work well, but it’s not winning any of the characters involved any brownie points for sure. That said, a few of the characters - particularly side ones - are actually quite likeable.
Most the attire is pretty realistic - so there isn’t particularly stand out despite being done well. The chief with his bomber jacket, the pack of miners with their flannels and common-folk attire. The mining gear is the main part that stands out - and works great for both disguising who the killer is whilst giving him a spooky faceless appearance. The movie even plays with this a few times, having a setup that makes the watcher thin the killer is about, but then panning up to let you know that “surprise, it’s just some old dude!” The kill effects work is pretty good when we get to actually see it - but like I said, the main batches of the movie are pretty edited down which unfortunately cuts a large portion of the more elaborate effects - and the last I remember (which I do suppose may have been fixed with more recent release I didn’t keep up on) when you did find them their visual quality was never up-mastered so it looks like it’s a totally different movie.
Audio works well and is good and balanced. Line deliveries are generally pretty good, with only a few coming out as pretty stiff. Like I said before, some of the inter-character actions work way nicer than others, but it’s all pretty good. Music is there doing it’s role of support, and the sound picks up for the scares when it wants you to know it’s coming. The spooks do have some effective moments - it’s not all just jump scares. The music helps with longer moments, adding the heart beat and some discordant strings to add to the tension and stress in preparation for the inevitable going in for the kill. Some of the edge is taken off by the fact that most the kills are off screen, which can leave you a little bit without a punch line for the tension release, but I could make the argument that it makes the movie hold up a little stronger because you don’t get to see those same kills look worse for wear.
Digging deep for true love.
It’s an interesting movie to come back and visit again. I enjoy it for what it is, although don’t entirely enjoy the romance triangle parts. Although it’s rated R, it’s hard to really feel the rating given how much of is it edited down - which puts it in a really strange position of being a decent horror flick for those that aren’t a big fan of the violence (really only having one or two really decent looks at a dead body), but also making it feel a bit tame for a slasher movie even if it does have a body count.