DVD Review: My Bloody Valentine 3D: Jensen Ackles, Jaime King: Movies & TV
DVD Review: My Bloody Valentine 3D: Jensen Ackles, Jaime King: Movies & TV
Amazon.com
Though never a landmark in the slasher subgenre, the Canadian-made My Bloody Valentine (1981) was a favorite among gorehounds for its plentiful scenes of bloodshed; the 2009 remake sticks closely to the original in this respect, and ups the gross factor by rendering many of them in impressive 3-D. The core plot, penned by Todd Farmer and Zane Smith, remains essentially the same–a series of gruesome murders appears to be linked to a terrible mine accident from two decades ago–but just as with the original, it’s largely just a framework on which to string the carnage set pieces, which are splattery enough to please even the most jaded Saw or Hostel fanatic. The Real-D effects deliver the required degree of heart-stopping jumps without the usual eye strain, and if one can snicker away old standbys like a tree branch crashing through a windshield, one has to admire the chutzpah of presenting actress Betsey Rue’s pursuit of a wayward bed partner while fully naked and toting a shotgun in full and vibrant 3-D, moments before the pickaxe-wielding killer descends upon her. Rue’s scenery-chewing performance is the best of the twenty-something cast, which is led by Supernatural’s Jensen Ackles and Jaime King; character actors Kevin Tighe and Tom Atkins deliver their moments like the old pros they are. Though by no means a new horror classic, My Bloody Valentine 3-D sets the gross-out bar for all future slasher remakes to surpass. — Paul Gaita
Product Description
Ten years ago in the town of Harmony, an inexperienced coal miner caused an accident that trapped and killed five men and sent the only survivor, Harry Warden, into a coma. When Harry awoke, exactly one year later on Valentine’s Day, he wanted revenge and brutally murdered 22 people with a pickax before being killed himself. Now, after years of peace, something from Harmony’s dark past has returned. Wearing a miner’s mask and armed with a pickax, an unstoppable killer is on the loose. As his footsteps come ever closer, the townspeople realize in terror that it just might be Harry Warden who has found his way back.
Forget the machete or razor glove, the pickaxe will f**k you up,
By Monkdude (Hampton, Virginia) -
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)
This review is from: My Bloody Valentine 3D [Blu-ray] (Blu-ray)
This horror fan had a blast with the remake of 1981’s My Bloody Valentine. Go check out the new uncut version of the original. Talk about added “lost” footage making a decent slasher flick really, really good. Back to the 2009 MBV. The cast is pretty good (lots of people you might recognize, but no big names), the dialogue is a little better than your average slasher and most of all the kills are very creative, with the gore taken to the extreme at times. The miner is an intimidating killer and looks scary, but sadly the movie really isn’t (just some minor suspense moments). Oh, I almost forgot to mention that there are a few hot chicks and one of them runs around buck naked for nearly 5 minutes in 3-D. This flick is just sounding better and better right?
The digital 3-D presentation is a must for horror fans. The picture is crystal clear and it gives the film so much depth you really feel like you are part of the story. If buckets of blood, body parts and one mean pickaxe flying at you sounds like a good time, then go see this one before it leaves theaters. Now the regular 2-D version might be a different story.
Just to let some of you know, the DVD and Blu-ray version won’t be digital 3-D like in theaters (can’t wait until they perfect that), so you will get four multi-colored glasses for regular 3-D. You will also have the option of just watching it in 2-D.
3D fun even in 2D, but it is the trick and not the gimmick that hobbles this horror film,
By Lawrance M. Bernabo (The Zenith City, Duluth, Minnesota) -
(TOP 10 REVIEWER)
(COMMUNITY FORUM 04)
This review is from: My Bloody Valentine 3D [Theatrical Release] (Theatrical Release)
I certainly have fond memories of the original “My Bloody Valentine,” because among that first generation of splatter flicks that Canadian import was a decent effort, which made it stand head and shoulders above most of the dreck released in the wake of the original “Halloween” and “Friday the 13th.” That alone made me inclined to go check out this remake in the theater, but then I found out that the movie was in 3-D and I also have fond memories of getting hit in the arm repeatedly by my date because I was laughing so much when Jason popped that eye out of the kid’s head in “Friday the 13th, Part 3 3-D” way back when. So that was two good reasons to go see this movie, even though I knew there was a good chance that we would be getting the 2-D version and not the 3-D version here in the Zenith City.
That indeed was the case, but even in 2-D I think you can certainly pick up most of the 3-D effects, and director Patrick Lussier has the requistie sick fun when it comes to using the gimmick. Yes, there is a lot having to do with the pick axe and various gun barrels, but the opening credits with the newspaper headlines looked like it would work well in 3-D and I have to admit the bit with the shovel was a certainly sick and twisted (but in a good way). So I have to say that a strength of this movie in that even one dimension short of a full three they milk the gimmick for what it is worthy (certainly more than “Friday the 13th Part 3 3-D”).
The basic plot is that once upon a time there was a mine accident and Harry Warden (Richard John Walters), well, he went a bit crazy and started killing people (the body count by the end of the title credits of this movie might be a record for one guy with using something other than a gun as a weapon). Then we jump ahead ten years where we meet up with the kids who got away. We have Tom Hanniger (Jensen Ackles), the son of the owner of the mine, who was responsible for the original cave in of the mine. His old flame Sarah (Jaime King) has married Axel Palmer (Kerr Smith), who is now the sheriff of the town. While Irene (Betsy Rue), Axel’s date on the fateful night way back when, has become the local party girl. Also in the mix is the former Sheriff Burke (Tom Atkins), his deputy (Edi Gathegi), and Ben Foley (Kevin Tighe), who manages the mine. Then there is Megan (Megan Boone), one of those sweet young things who is just begging to be one of the victims in this movie.
There is, of course, the requisite stupidity on the part of the characters, so if there are two people with guns, they should separate as soon as possible, and if you are protecting yourself with a shotgun make sure you keep it unloaded. Furthermore, if you go looking for a homicidal maniac with a pick axe, make sure you go check out the mine at night and in addition to a flashlight bring a crowbar, because that will help you get into the locked up mine. It will not do anything against a homicidal maniac with a pick axe, but, hey, you have that flashlight, right? However, it is one thing for the characters to have their stupid moments, and another to hope the audience sinks to their level.
This is one of those movies where early on in the “ten years later” part there is an obvious suspect who has a motive totally unrelated to what happened at the mine. They are so obvious that you think, hey, it cannot be that obvious. You then start thinking about how likely it is the most unlikely character could be the suspect, but then there is evidence to say that cannot be the case. You also remember that unless you see the corpse a dead person is not dead. Clearly there are only a limited number of people who can be actual suspects, so I was open to other possibilities. More importantly, I did not remember who the killer in the original was; I just remembered the killer’s last words (and was disappointed that the line was not used in the endgame of the remake). However, when we get to the big reveal it turns out that it is based on what I consider to be a cheat, because it requires you to extrapolate on a telling detail that is focused on a couple of times and to ignore a key piece of evidence. Actually, I am surprised I was not more ticked off at the turn of events, because it is one thing to be fooled by a well crafted script and another to be tricked in a manner like this.
Consequently, while “My Bloody Valentine 3D” was heading for at least a solid four star rating, there has to be a deduction for the way the movie plays with us in its end game. I was almost tempted to put the movie in a position to round up, but there was a bit of adding insult to injury when one of the suspects says something surprising; it would have made for a nice moment if it were not totally inconsistent with his character. Toss in the aforementioned fact that we do not get the original film’s signature last line, and we end up not rounding up on this one. Final note: Horror film buffs probably know that 9 minutes of the original version of “My Bloody Valentine” were cut because they were deemed too gory. When Lionsgate got the rights to the original to make the remake, they got the rights to that missing footage and the un-cut version of “My Bloody Valentine” was released last week on DVD as the remake opened in theaters.
Shameless but Extremely Entertaining,
By Kasey Driscoll -
This review is from: My Bloody Valentine 3D [Theatrical Release] (Theatrical Release)
I’m rating this four stars as a theatrical experience alone. 3-D technology looks great here and although at times used shamelessly, it is also used to control atmosphere and build suspense. My Bloody Valentine is a remake of a mediocre 1981 slasher film. This one probably deserves a two or three star rating without the 3-D, so the impact of the visuals alone was pretty substantial in my view. I get the impression we will see much more from 3-D in the near future.
For those who don’t know, this is a slasher film so we get all kinds of body parts flying at us throughout the film. I literally felt like I may have got some blood sprayed on me while watching, so take that for it is. I laughed and was thoroughly entertained from beginning to end. There was even plenty of nudity in an attempt to harken back to slasher movies of yesteryear. The nudity was so gratuitous I had to believe they were joking. The actress was literally full body naked for five or so minutes onscreen. I’m oddly pleased to see the film not earn an NC-17 rating for that but I’m not sure what else there is to say. It is what it is I suppose. Two years ago the film would not have made it through with an R. Three cheers for Kirby Dick!
My Bloody Valentine follows a group of friends living in a small mining town that experiences several violent tragedies; including a cave-in followed by the loan survivor being accused of killing everyone else, a massive killing spree after that, and then another killing spree ten years later. The latter of those events making up most of the film we see here. There is very little attempt to make the story or events believable but this is exploitation horror we are talking about here. Not to say that makes it somehow forgiveable, just that those are typically the expectations. To actually credit some of the actors and perhaps even the writers, I actually cared about the scooby-doo-esque kind of ending by the time we got there.
Anyway, amazing effects here, and a whole new level of 3-D visuals. If that sounds good to you see it in the theater before it’s gone. If you miss it, let’s all keep our fingers crossed that we get some good 3-D technology for our home cinemas.
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