My Bloody Valentine (Original) Uncut
Another product of the ever popular slasher boom of the early 80s, director George Mihalka gets great mileage out of his use of an old mine for much of the filmās action: Spooky and atmospheric, the doomed characters are filled with as much dread as the viewer before they meet their fate. Indeed, having the story take place in a sleepy blue-collar small town (filmed somewhere on the northeastern coast of Canada) adds greatly to the overall effect, as is making the main characters mostly be twenty-something working-class types instead of dumb teenagers. While none of the actors stand out, the unspectacular way they are presented adds greatly to the realism as the story develops, about how a mine explosion on Valentineās Day twenty years prior killed four miners and left the one survivor (Harry Warden) a crazed madman who killed various people and cut out their hearts for revenge, all the while warning the town to NEVER celebrate Valentineās Day again or he would return (a tough sell since the name of the small town is Valentineās Bluffs ah-ha). The filmās main problem is in trying to develop the main characters by portraying them in a love triangle involving two of the miners and whom presumably is the most beautiful girl in the town. Itās not so much that the subplot is badly written but more that the three lead actors (especially Paul Kelman as T.J.) are just not good enough to make the viewer care about their dilemma that occupies much of the filmās running time. The killer himself though, is rather fearsome, and the idea of having him run around in a minerās outfit (except for one shot during a killing when you can clearly see his face, an obvious mistake) adds greatly to the overall tone of the piece. Most importantly though, is the fact that over 25 years since the filmās release, it is finally presented here uncut, with the gory makeup FX (said to be groundbreaking at the time) edited back into the movie. This obviously raises the grade for a number of reasons (most notably itās nice to see how some of the victims actually DIED for once) and shows that a filmmakerās original vision can finally overcome being compromised by the MPAA and other censor boards after butchering it on its original release. All that, plus the very haunting ending and a cool creepy Irish ballad over the end credits shows why this was considered a cut above the rest in the slasher movie sweepstakes of the era it was madeā¦
8/10