Editor’s Note: This was originally published for FANGORIA on May 13, 2009, and we’re proud to share it as part of The Gingold Files.
Considering 3D’s importance to both the My Bloody Valentine remake (out in a two-DVD set from Lionsgate) and the movie’s box-office success this past winter, it’s surprising that the process isn’t the focal point of more of the supplemental material. What’s gratifying is that the film’s dimensional presentation on disc works quite a bit better than the one seen in, for most recent example, this year’s home edition of Friday the 13th Part III.
While there are moments of ghosting, and the image inevitably lacks the clarity and true depth of the theatrical version, this DVD 3D is overall pretty sharp, augmenting both the mood and the in-your-face jumps. The glasses, emblazoned not with Valentine’s logo but that of Lionsgate’s upcoming Saw VI (if only that movie was being produced using the process), utilize red and blue lenses—actually closer to purple and green—which means that the hues in the 1.85:1 transfer naturally get dulled down. A 2D version also included looks good and sharp, emphasizing earth tones from which assorted reds pop even without the 3D.
Putting aside the visual “wow” factor and judging Valentine on its merits as a movie, it falls squarely in the middle of this year’s psycho reduxes so far—not as effective as the surprisingly good revisiting of The Last House on the Left, but more satisfying than the new Friday the 13th. Todd Farmer and Zane Smith’s screenplay does a decent job of balancing fidelity to the 1981 original with the need to add a fresh wrinkle, turning the story into more of a whichofthetwodunit. No longer is deranged miner Harry Warden, the sole survivor of a tunnel collapse, set up as the principal suspect, though he does get to stage a minimassacre of his own in the new Valentine’s opening moments. His victims are a bunch of young residents of the small town of Harmony, but his principal target is Tom Hannigan (Jensen Ackles), who accidentally caused the cave-in in the first place. Tom survives Harry’s rampage and subsequently books town, leaving behind his sweetheart Sarah (Jaime King).
Cut to 10 years later: Tom decides you can go home again, where he discovers that Sarah is now married to local sheriff Axel (Kerr Smith), and that some of the local residents are still sore about that past tragedy. It isn’t long before someone in a miner’s outfit starts applying his pickax to assorted victims, and it isn’t long after that that it becomes clear either Tom or Axel (who has a dirty secret or two to protect) is likely the culprit. Farmer and Smith evenly distribute the red herrings and sustain intrigue for a while, but the climactic revelation is a cheat, reordering bits of business in a crucial scene in the course of showing us what “really” happened, and telling us that moments we thought we were seeing objectively were actually being viewed from one character’s addled point of view.
Like the ’81 film’s George Mihalka, director Patrick Lussier gets plenty of eerie mileage out of the real-life mine locations (shot outside of Pittsburgh), and he gleefully engages the possibilities of 3D gore, starting with a literally eye-popping gag that greatly improves on the one in Friday III. On this level, though, it can’t be denied that the movie peaks early, with an outrageously entertaining sequence involving a motel, its little-person manager (Selene Luna) and a terrorized girl played by Betsy Rue, who is probably naked longer than any victim has been in slasher history, yet the tone manages to avoid salaciousness. It’s a hard setpiece to top, and My Bloody Valentine never does.
For all the fun and atmosphere the movie milks from the dimensional process, and the many technical challenges it no doubt entailed, the DVD doesn’t include the featurette exploring it that one might expect, nor do Lussier and Farmer discuss it at much length on their audio commentary. Instead, a good deal of their track is concerned with the development of the script, which was tweaked right up to and during production. The contributions of others in the crew and the actors are duly noted; it’s nice to know genre great Tom Atkins’ role was significantly expanded after he was cast, which occurred after the filmmakers discovered he’s a Pittsburgh native. There’s little mention of the first Valentine, beyond noting which scenes are direct homages (including the highlight bit with the falling miners’ suits), but a good helping of anecdotes; listen and find out which bit made Thomas Jane “scream like a little girl.”
Deep Inside “My Bloody Valentine”, one of a pair of featurettes on disc two, doesn’t go that deep—not at just a little over seven minutes. Instead, it’s your basic surface-level segment in which the cast and creators wax super-positive about the underground locations, the movie’s emphasis on character and each other. More engaging is Sex, Blood, and Screams, though the title is again something of a misnomer, as there’s nothing too sexy about the assortment of makeup FX props and dummies that creator Gary J. Tunnicliffe shows off therein. It’s impressive work, though, particularly the amazing removable jaw on one actor’s prosthetic head. There’s also a brief but amusing gag reel, an alternate ending that’s not really all that alternate and a lengthy collection of deleted and extended scenes. Most of these simply add grace notes to what’s seen in the feature, though one is particularly egregious and was wisely removed: An exposition-heavy conversation between a couple of goofball dudes straight out of Slasher Flick Central Casting, whose names (coincidentally, Lussier and Farmer insist on the commentary) are Michael and Jason.
