My Bloody Valentine started out as a lesser-known Canadian slasher film from the 1980s (which I haven’t seen). Because name recognition is king, it was updated in 2009 with a bigger budget, a glossier cast, and what was at the time a technology that was way past its prime. Two years later, it’s strange to remember, but 3D was an archaic technology and a gamble of a release strategy. For better or worse, Avatar was undoubtedly the movie that changed that. But the My Bloody Valentine remake beat ‘em to it by several months.
This week, My Bloody Valentine 3D is of interest because we are about to see the next offering from its creative team, director/co-writer Patrick Lussier and actor/co-writer Todd Farmer. It’s called Drive Angry 3D and I can’t wait. As I’ve noted before, My Bloody Valentine 3D was knowingly trashy fun with some real technical acuity, and Drive Angry 3D, from all the trailers, looks like more of the same. As we roll into Oscar weekend, one of the most pretentious times of the year, this is just what the doctor ordered.
Here’s what I wrote about My Bloody Valentine 3D back in 2009. There are absolutely no spoilers, but my brief comments on the 3D format are somewhat telling.
It wasn’t as easy as I thought to get to see Notorious, the cinematic life story of Christopher Wallace, The Notorious B.I.G.. Somehow I thought that I could just slip into the theater, in New York, in Times Square, on opening day – what a maroon!
Instead I bought a ticket for My Bloody Valentine 3D! The ticket came with 3-D glasses. The movie was a blast. I knew that it was going to be, even before the opening sequence, because some of the other folks who couldn’t get a ticket for Notorious spilled into the theater with me. So when the disclaimer screen appeared, politely advising, “Please put on your 3-D glasses now,” some guy in the row behind me shouted out: “PUT ON YOUR GLASSES, NIGGA!”
(If Rowdy Roddy Piper had said that to Keith David in They Live, that interminable alleyway fist-fight would’ve lasted twice as long.)
Point is, My Bloody Valentine is an audience participation movie and my audience was more than willing to participate.
Look, there are many other horror fiends and gorehounds who can explain to you what’s so fun about this movie, and whether or not it beats other psycho-killer flicks. I will tell you that I am hardly a fan of the slasher film genre, and yet I loved watching My Bloody Valentine. It has a couple surprises, a couple inventive ideas, somewhat better acting and character development than you expect, not as many crappy bits as you expect, a bunch of pretty girls, and a little person with a shotgun (or did I hallucinate that scene?). No, it happened. There is an extended sequence where the menacing psycho-killer faces down a dwarf woman who will not go softly into that good night. That’s really not something you see every day.
The story has to do with old crimes in a small town. A mining accident a decade in the past led to a horrific situation where the one survivor, Harry Warden, could only escape a cave-in by killing his fellow miners (to preserve the oxygen). The mine owner’s son (Jensen Ackles from TV’s Supernatural) was partly to blame for the accident, and to compound his torment, a now-crazed Harry Warden awakens and goes on a Valentine’s Day murdering spree. Warden is forced back into the mine, and seems to disappear, and the mine heir leaves town. Of course, he returns a decade later with plans to sell the mine, and coincidentally, a series of murders resumes. Is it Harry Warden?
Who cares, really, but the movie actually does do a way-better-than-average job of keeping you guessing for a while. The main suspense is in the jump-scares, the main shocks are in the intensity and the speed of the gore-gags (Harry Warden wields a pick-axe, and you can imagine what kind of mischief a guy like that can get up to with an R-rating in 3D technology.) The cast does the most they can with their roles, especially the excellent character actor Kevin Tighe and the genre legend Tom Atkins.
Tom Atkins!
You’d also have to single out the intrepid Betsy Rue for her work in the movie’s most memorable scene, in which she is stalked by the killer and actually does an impressive job fending him off, especially because she is running around entirely naked. Even though my personal tastes tend to closer run to her costar Megan Boone, I have to salute this courageous young actress. It’s a genuinely heroic performance. That’s all I can (or should) say.
As for the technology, it’s well worth a look. I’m sure it tripled the fun I had with the movie. After seeing how this mid-budget horror picture looks and works in 3-D, I feel like this technology has a lot of potential. Once I got accustomed to the wearing of the glasses and all the self-consciousness that wearing them implies, I was fascinated by every frame. I can only imagine what Spielberg or Mann or Boyle or Nolan or Del Toro or Raimi – holy cow, Raimi! – could do with 3-D cameras. In the meantime, see this movie in the theaters while you can – and take a date. Or at least, your funniest friend.
Demon's Resume 