The 1980’s was the era of the slasher film. They didn’t originate there, but the stars aligned in favour of the horror sub genre in that decade. First of all special effects were finally able to provide impressive looking gore and blood. Secondly, as the decade went on the VHS market gave a massive boost to low budget movies. Finally, there was a big push for censorship and outrage over these films and that of course made teenagers determined to watch them! But before everything became somewhat cliched, there were a handful of movies that truly defined the genre. One such movie was “My Bloody Valentine” from 1981. A cult hit in it’s day that inspired the band with the same name and influenced many slashers that followed.
My Bloody Valentine is directed by George Mihalka and written by Stephen Miller and John Beaird. The movie stars Paul Kelman and “T.J.” a young man returning to the town of Valentine Bluffs after a period away. He is determined to win back his old girlfriend “Sarah” (Lori Hallier) from his former friend “Axel” (Neil Affleck). All the young men in this town work in the local mine (Owned by T.J’s father. Despite the name, the town hasn’t celebrated Valentines day since a massacre occurred on that day many years ago. Local legend is that should they do so the killer will return. Despite that plans are afoot to hold the first Valentines dance for 20 years. However, it seems “The Miner” isn’t going to let that happen. Police Chief Newby (Don Francks) is tasked with finding the killer before it is too late.
Heart of Coal
Slasher films from the 80’s are two-for-a-penny. That makes it all the more harder to stand out. So the first thing to note here is that the makers of this film found two unique elements for the setting. The first is Valentines Day and the second is the use of a mine. The former provides the killer with his calling cards (Hearts in chocolate boxes) and the later with the killers look (A miner outfit complete with mask). Someone would have made a valentines horror eventually, but they got there first and that is what matters. It’s not just the concept that makes an 80’s slasher stand out from the crowd though. You need some creative gore and My Bloody Valentine provides plenty. Scenes include such things as a body found in the tumble dryer of a laundromat.
The plot isn’t the smartest horror story you’ll ever come across, but it does provide at least one swerve. The rest is essentially the standard slasher affair. Early on we are given the old legend of a killer out for revenge due to some mis-deed. The killer is supposedly out of the picture, but then the killing starts. In some ways the movie reminds me of proto-slasher “The Town That Dreaded Sundown” (1976), which was primarily based around the night of the school prom. The big difference is this movie can take full advantage of the advancements in gore effects that came with the the turn of the 1980’s. Following quickly on the heels of Friday The 13th. The truth is you probably couldn’t have made this movie two years earlier.
End Of The Line
Acting quality isn’t the most important thing in a slasher, but most of the cast here do a reasonable job. The cast is a little more mature than most slashers, young adults instead of straight teens. However, that only contrasts it with later slashers, in 1981 the sub-genre was still forming. I wonder if in reality this film isn’t that original, it’s just it was following an older set of tropes than later slashers. When the movie first came out, a solid 9 minutes of gore was removed to avoid the dreaded “X” rating. Three minutes of those nine were later restored, but we can only speculate on the rest.
Overall, this is a solid slasher that has managed to maintain comparative originality in a saturated genre. The plot is fairly generic, but the gimmicks work well and the movie is well executed and memorable. This is just about worthy of a 6.5/10. A pretty high score for a slasher and well worth checking out if you are a fan of the genre.
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