REVIEW: My Bloody Valentines (old and new)

To 3-D or not 3-D. That was the question Saturday night as we took a quest out to the local cinema to see the new horror opus, My Bloody Valentine 3-D. But let's back up a bit and look at the original film produced in in 1981 and directed by George Mihalka. I think I saw this in a TV edit, a long time ago. I quickly dismissed it then, and never really though of it as a slasher classic by any means, so I was a bit taken a back that they wanted to remake this sucker. In the original a little mining town is cursed after some minors are left to die in a collapsed mine on Valentine's Day. One miner escapes named Harry Warden. Ticked off at any attempt to celebrate Valentine's Day again old Mr. Warden seems to return to town ten years later to wreak havoc amongst the kiddies again. Or does he? Halloween anyone? Basically this is a typical 80's slasher clone revolving around a teenage love triangle. The one thing that sets this movie apart was for me the appearance of the killer. The mining suit is quite scary and used very effectively in both this version and even more so in the updated 3-D version, which we will get to later. Now I rented the new director's cut of the original because the old R-rated version had 9 minutes of gore cut out. That's a lot MPAA! So this new version on dvd from Lions Gate gives you the option of playing both the original and uncut versions. I can't say the old version is anything of a buried treasure. The mine getup is very scary here, and this version spends a lot more time in the mining tunnels which is something the remake could have learned from.



My Bloody Valentine 3-D is the remake out in theaters now. I really wanted to see this to experience the new Real D technology I had heard about. It sounded like it could be fun. The plot is pretty much the same, they just updated things and re-arranged the characters to throw off fans of the original. There is a lot of nudity and lot of gore, and tons of Harry Warden. And really the Warden character and the creepy tunnels are the main reason to see this movie other than the 3-D. This movie is more a return in tone to the Scream and I Know What you (and your cleavage) Did Last Summer flicks from the 90's. But at the same time it does have some good old fashioned 80's style gore effects. Director Patrick Lussier who is Wes Craven's editor in his free time, does a nice job with the director's duties making a much slicker film than the original. Jaimie King and Jensen Ackles play the main leads and do a serviceable job here.



Now on to the 3-D. I loved it. I wish it was on a bigger screen, so you can get more immersed in it, but I thought it was fun as hell. The depth was really amazing, and as far as the things flying out at you, it was so-so. The light on Harry Warden's mining hat was very spooky. And the 3-D in the tunnel system was outstanding. Stay through the end credits and you'll see even more of what I'm talking about. The movie though, is pretty forgettable. And please no more CG body parts being thrown at me. I didn't buy the effects there. Overall I had a good time, and although its still early in the game for 3-D, you can see it's coming, and it will only be a matter of time before we are all walking around the house in giant grandma glasses waiting to see Star Wars 55 in 3-D. If you like 3-D and bad 80's remakes then you can't go wrong with this one.