Dia dos Namorados Macabro

My Bloody Valentine is one of the best and most well-made slasher flicks of the 80's. It's also one of the better holiday themed horror movies around!

A crazed miner is determined to stop the celebration of Valentine's day in a small Nova Scotia town, with the help of a trusty pick ax that is.

* minor (or miner, I'm not funny.) spoilers *

While the film doesn't re-invent the wheel for slasher movies, it still manages to stand out well from the rest of it's kind. The climax in the mine creates some great suspense in an atmospheric and claustrophobic setting. The cast is quite likable and good, even though there's not a known name in sight. And the gore hounds should enjoy the happenings, cutting out hearts and pick ax murders, even a nasty death-by-dryer and a face scalded in a boiling pot. It's still gory despite cuts made by the MPAA. There's also the occasional touch of colorful dark humor.

The direction, while simple, is well done with some good shock cuts. The music score is a nicely moody one, even beautiful in a way. Over all, the film holds together well.

Seek it out slasher fans! This is one enjoyable cult film that is not to be missed!

*** out of ****

'My Bloody Valentine.' A slasher. There's not an awful lot more to say. If you've grown up over recent years and are generally interested in the genre, you'll find that this little offering from 1981 is pretty tame in comparison to what's released today. However, back when 'video nasties' were just taking off, this was pretty strong stuff! A small-time mining town in America has a legend (don't they all?) – this one tells of a miner who went berserk years ago on Valentine's day and killed a bunch of people. Now, several years later – guess what – it looks like he's back.

Normally, this is where I say that the cast is made up of oversexed, annoyingly attractive teenagers. But not this time. Here we have oversexed, annoying UGLY teenagers. Don't ask me why (and I promise you that I'm no oil painting!) but this must be the ugliest group of leading actors every assembled to be chopped up by a nut-job with a gas mask and pick axe. I guess we can blame it on the eighties. Or the lack of budget needed to bring bigger (and more physically attractive) stars on board.

Yes, one by one our facially-challenged heroes are chopped up in various hideous ways. Nothing too new there, apart from the fact that the death scenes seem a little more violent for the time than your average Friday 13th film. Notice I don't say 'gruesome' – only violent. I mentioned the budget earlier and it seems like they didn't really have enough money for expert make-up and prosthetics needed for the gore. I suppose it's the way it's filmed that makes it so violent. There seems like there's a real sense of nastiness in the deaths.

Not that you'll care much about those getting sliced and diced. They really are pretty irritating. If Jar-Jar Binks was a little less computer-generated and a little more eighties then those are the people getting murdered here.

Perhaps one thing that the film does have going for it is that you don't actually know who's under the gas mask. In that was it's more akin to the 'Scream' franchise in as much as like a who-done-it.

There's not much new here (especially nearly forty years later!), but if you're into the slasher genre in general and like to see where this type of film found its roots, then give this a try. The gore isn't really there and the violence – although strong for the time – has also diminished, the mystery element may make it worth an hour and a half of your time.

Twenty years ago, Harry Warden went nuts and slaughtered a bunch of people on Valentine's Day. The mining town he hailed from canceled subsequent V-Day dances, but when they try setting one up again, Warden seemingly returns with his pickax, ready to hack the local kids up and leave his mark. Things can only go bad from here.

Director George Mihalka brings us another holiday-themed slasher, riding the success of "Black Christmas", "Halloween" and "Friday the 13th"... and paving the way for "April Fools Day". But George is a nice guy and I don't want to say he's just one among the crowd. There were hundreds of 80s slashers, but only a few stand out today. "Bloody Valentine" is, of course, one of them.

Even in its original, neutered glory (anywhere from three to nine minutes were cut) the film stands as a good film. Without any really notable actors or actresses (okay, so Neil Affleck had a brief role in "Scanners"), and being Mihalka's one big mark, the film carries itself on story, acting and blood. The blood, while lacking a times, comes gushing through in others. And like any good slasher, the killer's identity is not revealed until the end... leaving us guessing until the last twist of the knife (or ax).

Slasher fans need to pick up the Lions Gate special edition. While the double-disc with "April Fools Day" is cheap and still worth watching, you don't really know this film until you've seen it uncut. The gore, oh my, the gore! It's actually a shame that it took so long for a company to come along and save this film because it was even better than we once assumed... Mihalka could have been one of the 80s greats (and, in my mind, he still is).

If you've been a horror fan and avoided this one, please see it. Sure, it's mostly mindless fun -- kids drinking and making out, getting hacked up -- but I can watch variations of this formula dozens, scores or hundreds of times. There's something fun about a simple stalking film that you can't always get from other films that try too hard to be clever. And I like thinking films, but a night with buddies and booze... you need a slasher. And this is the one you should pick.

This early 80's horror flick is one of the best of the slasher genre. It has a great setting in a small Canadian mining town - which has it's streets and buildings drenched with red and pink valentine decorations - which is a surreal contrast to the cold and sombre setting that foreshadows the real pumpers that eventually pop up in crimson heart shaped candy boxes.

The scenes filmed in an actual mine - where the protagonists are trapped with the killer lurking around with a sharpened pickaxe - are expertly filmed with plenty of style and a menacing atmosphere. The acting is decent and although some of the characters act like jerks they are likable and human enough for the viewer to care about them. They are all working class stiffs and just want a good time and relief from the reality of their everyday situation. You want them to have their valentine party that has been denied them for obvious reasons.

Notorious for being one of the most censored films by the MPAA at the time of release to avoid an 'X' rating, it is now available in an uncut form on Lionsgate DVD. The death scenes are much more detailed and graphic, but either version is worth watching for the flourish that the director and his cast and crew have imbued into this little horror gem.

Quentin Tarantino has called this his all-time favorite slasher film, and it's one I'd never seen, so I went into this with fairly high expectation. Unfortunately, this film still pales when compared to John Carpenters "Halloween" or William Lustig's "Maniac." Still, it's well made and does stand shoulder to shoulder with some of the better slasher films of the 70s and 80s; "The Town that Dreaded Sundown," "The Burning," "Sleepaway Camp," "Black Christmas," and such. The story involves a coal mining town where a maniac wearing mining gear kills hapless victim with a pickax, boiling water, shower head nozzles, and other implements that all prove deadly. The film does have a decent who-done-it mystery element to it and when the mystery is revealed at the end it's not a copout and is satisfyingly done, which is a rarity for most slasher films. Overall, I wouldn't say "My Bloody Valentine" is a classic, but it is a must see for slasher film fans.