Spring Break
REVIEW: 'My Bloody Valentine 3D' offers new horror
5 out of 5 stars
Stephen Ortiz
Issue date: 1/20/09 Section: Focus
Let's face it - horror films today have nothing on the classics. Long gone are the elements that made films like "Friday the 13th" and "Halloween" cinematic history, with brands like the aforementioned watered down with too many sequels or replaced by poor remakes of foreign movies (all of which seem to borrow the same muddled plot from each other) that think a blue-skinned half-naked child is scary. It's rare to find a horror film worth watching - let alone rated R -but amid all the trash lies a gem now and then like "My Bloody Valentine 3D."
The film (which is loosely based on the 1981 original) takes place in a quiet mining town of Harmony where a group of miners are trapped in a tunnel collapse due to the faults of the inexperienced Tom Hanniger (Jensen Ackles). When help finally reaches them, only the comatose Harry Warden has survived, the other miners murdered to conserve air. Exactly a year later, on Valentine's Day, Warden awakens and goes on a murderous rampage before disappearing. Ten years later, Harmony is struck by the murders again in what has to be one of the coolest, most gruesome slasher flicks of recent memory.
"My Bloody Valentine 3D" mines what made classic slasher films great: cheesy dialogue, graphic blood and gore and a villain so frightening that chills go down your spine as you watch. Some may complain that he's nothing more than a Jason Voorhees or Michael Myers clone, but isn't imitation the highest form of flattery? There's enough there to make him feel fresh and different though; the character seems a bit more real than other horror villains - when others put up a fight, he falters and stumbles and takes shots. Oh, and his trademark? Certainly one of the awesome and goriest you can imagine.
The cast is made up of no-name actors who still get the job done, but they topped off by Ackles and Kerr Smith. Smith does a fine job as Sheriff Axel Palmer, a resident of Harmony who came face to face as a teenager with the miner on his rampage 10 years earlier. He battles not only the loss of control in his town, but also his mistrust of Hanniger, who happens to be a former love interest of his wife's.
The 3D aspects of the film are surprisingly well done. They don't feel in the least bit gimmicky, and they're loads of fun. The effect is used in situations one would think - pickaxe flying towards the scream, blood squirts and a tree branch through a windshield just to name a few.
If you're a fan of horror films, gore or looking for a fresh slasher film with a cool 3D twist, you owe it to yourself to check out "My Bloody Valentine;" it's pretty much flawless.
The film (which is loosely based on the 1981 original) takes place in a quiet mining town of Harmony where a group of miners are trapped in a tunnel collapse due to the faults of the inexperienced Tom Hanniger (Jensen Ackles). When help finally reaches them, only the comatose Harry Warden has survived, the other miners murdered to conserve air. Exactly a year later, on Valentine's Day, Warden awakens and goes on a murderous rampage before disappearing. Ten years later, Harmony is struck by the murders again in what has to be one of the coolest, most gruesome slasher flicks of recent memory.
"My Bloody Valentine 3D" mines what made classic slasher films great: cheesy dialogue, graphic blood and gore and a villain so frightening that chills go down your spine as you watch. Some may complain that he's nothing more than a Jason Voorhees or Michael Myers clone, but isn't imitation the highest form of flattery? There's enough there to make him feel fresh and different though; the character seems a bit more real than other horror villains - when others put up a fight, he falters and stumbles and takes shots. Oh, and his trademark? Certainly one of the awesome and goriest you can imagine.
The cast is made up of no-name actors who still get the job done, but they topped off by Ackles and Kerr Smith. Smith does a fine job as Sheriff Axel Palmer, a resident of Harmony who came face to face as a teenager with the miner on his rampage 10 years earlier. He battles not only the loss of control in his town, but also his mistrust of Hanniger, who happens to be a former love interest of his wife's.
The 3D aspects of the film are surprisingly well done. They don't feel in the least bit gimmicky, and they're loads of fun. The effect is used in situations one would think - pickaxe flying towards the scream, blood squirts and a tree branch through a windshield just to name a few.
If you're a fan of horror films, gore or looking for a fresh slasher film with a cool 3D twist, you owe it to yourself to check out "My Bloody Valentine;" it's pretty much flawless.
Be the first to comment on this story