Movie Review- My Bloody Valentine (1981)

My Bloody Valentine is nothing more than a Friday the 13th ripoff. Yet in some ways, it manages to outdo the film it was trying to cash in on the success of. But for the most part it falls short, making for an uneven, but mostly enjoyable slasher flick.

Characters and character development have never been the strong suit of the horror genre. This is particularly noticeable in My Bloody Valentine. I honestly had trouble keeping track of who was who throughout the film, because every single one of the main characters are the "I like parties and beer" stereotype. There's nothing memorable about them, and this makes it very difficult to even remotely care for the characters, let alone remember which one they are. The only noteworthy character is Hollis, the comic relief fat guy. But even then, he still lacks any defining traits other than being the comic relief.

The plot, while hokey, is still pretty well-executed. The dialog is a bit exposition-riddled at times, and plays up a few cliches, but overall manages to have some genuinely creepy moments. The setting of a Midwest mining town is pretty eerie, particularly the scenes within the mine itself. And on the subject of creepiness- the killer,a guy in a miner's suit, is one of the creepiest movie villains I've seen in a horror movie. Just his appearance alone is enough to send shivers up one's spine. The killer's identity didn't make much sense, though, playing back to the lack of memorable character traits.

The main attraction of this film, however, are the deaths. This has a pretty high body count for a slasher movie; most of the main characters die before the end of the movie. It's hard to keep track of who died, though, because the characters are all alike. There's also a rather pointless and nonsensical opening kill (which is preceded by a far creepier miner/miner-lady love scene); it's never explained who the characters are, or even if the murderer in the opening is the same murderer from the rest of the film. The deaths themselves, however, are all really inventive. (Mostly via pickax)

Apparently the original version of the film was cut for its theatrical release, and it was my misfortune to only see the theatrical cut. I did some searching around and found the unedited death scenes, however, and the makeup effects are really top-notch. There's also a "Director's Cut" release of the film on DVD, but the unedited scenes are purportedly put back together poorly and seem to be lacking in a digital transfer. If you're going to watch the movie, it's probably best to watch the director's cut, and just ignore the poor reassembly of the footage.

Overall, this is a decent movie that had a lot of promise; and it hit the mark on several occasions. But the general camp-factor (the town is strangely obsessed with Valentine's Day, etc.) and poorly-written characters really bring down the overall quality of the movie. This movie would have done well with a remake, one that improved on the characters and fixed the campy moments. In fact, there was a remake recently; but from what I've heard, it failed to improve on anything. All that aside, this is still a fun movie, and worth a watch if you're in to the slasher genre.

Enjoyment: 3/5
Quality: 3/5

IMDB Page- http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0082782/