My Bloody Valentine 3-D (2009)
Directed by: Patrick Lussier
Premise: A remake of the slasher film from 1981. Ten years after a small town was rocked by a massacre in a local mine, the murders start up again, being committed by a killer in a mining outfit.
What Works: My Bloody Valentine is a fun house of a picture and it is best enjoyed in its 3-D presentation. The 3-D effects look great and they contribute a lot to the overall enjoyment of the film. For gore hounds and fans of the subgenre, My Bloody Valentine wastes no time getting underway and it has both the highest body count and the most gore of any horror film in recent memory. For those looking for a bone crunching, eye gouging, blood spattering gore fest, My Bloody Valentine delivers.
What Doesn’t: As a slasher film, My Bloody Valentine relies on a few too many clichés. For instance, while running away from the killer the victims constantly trip over their own feet. Scenarios presented satirically in Scream are presented here without any sense of irony and My Bloody Valentine does not entertain any of the sociological depth of films like Hostel. Viewed in 2-D, the film will lose a lot of its fun. Although it has plenty of blood and guts, the film lacks the suspense of genre classics like Halloween and it is full of awkward performances. The 3-D effects are well done but at least one of the gags was done before in Friday the 13th Part III, which was also originally presented in 3-D.
Bottom Line: Like many recent 3-D films, My Bloody Valentine is a theme park ride for the local theater. The film hasn’t got much going for it in 2-D but the audience it is intending to reach ought to love it for what it is.
Episode: #225 (February 1, 2009)