PopHorror Let's Get Scared
Other than the awesome My Bloody Valentine from 1981 there weren’t a lot of Valentine’s Day-themed horror films back in the day, so I was psyched when I heard that there was a new one coming out called Valentine. I thought it sounded promising, and the teaser trailer was nothing short of amazing. My only concern was that it was going to reek of Scream or any of the countless other mainstream “slasher” flicks that was flooding the market at the time, but I went to see it at our local theater regardless and hoped for the best.
So, after everything was said and done was Valentine like biting into a piece of Valentine’s candy that had that awesome truffle-like chocolate stuff inside of it, or was it like one of those nasty coconut-filled ones that nobody likes and leaves in the box after they took a bite out of it?
Keep reading to find out…
Synopsis
Years after humiliating an awkward young man named Jeremy at a middle school Valentine dance a group of women are stalked by a masked killer who starts knocking them off one-by-one. Has Jeremy returned to seek revenge on them for what they did, or is it someone else behind the mask?
Written by Donna Powers (Deep Blue Sea, Skeletons in the Closet), Wayne Powers (Strange Voices, The Italian Job), Gretchen J. Berg (The Deerings, Pushing Daisies), and Aaron Harberts (Revenge, Reign), and based on the novel of the same name by Tom Savage, this movie rocks on many levels and is always a much watch every year on Valentine’s Day along with the original My Bloody Valentine and its much better than I ever could have imagined remake that was released in 2009. It has a fun, interesting premise, some great death scenes, and quite an impressive body count. Jamie Blanks (Storm Warning, Urban Legend) does a great job directing the film.
I have to say, I really dig Valentine and liked it a lot more than I thought that I would. It has a nice 80s slasher vibe to it, a likeable cast of characters, some fun death scenes, and a cool ending that leaves the door open for a sequel. I have always liked slasher flicks where you must figure out who the killer is before the big reveal, and I think that this movie handles this element well. While it may not be the hardest mystery in the world to solve and at times it is quite obvious who the killer is, it’s still a fun little movie that is criminally underrated and overlooked in my humble opinion. I have to say that I was totally impressed with how everything turned out.
I love the opening scene that takes place in the past at the middle school Valentine’s Day dance. It has an awesome 80s feel to it and helps set things up nicely. It is a nice nod to the great slasher films of the 80s and it just works in a lot of ways. You can’t help but feel sorry for poor old Jeremy as he is just a lonely kid who wants to be loved. Sure, he’s a bit odd, but I don’t think that he is necessarily a bad kid and he definitely doesn’t deserve what happens to him. There are a ton of slasher flicks from the 80s that start in a similar way, so I thought that opening the movie like this was a great touch and it made me feel nostalgic for golden age of the slasher flick.
Did I mention that it has a ton of death scenes? I was honestly surprised by the amount of people who get killed, and I totally approve. We get a variety of cool death scenes including slit throats, death via bow and arrow, an electrocution, a brutal scene where someone is beaten to death with an iron, and my favorite that involves someone having their head shoved down onto a piece of broken glass that stabs them under the chin. The killer isn’t messing around here and I loved every minute of it.
The cast is also good. Marley Shelton (Planet Terror, Bubble Boy) rocks as the main character Kate, and she is just a sweet and likeable person who is excellent as the final girl. I usually don’t care for Denise Richards (Wild Things, Starship Troopers), but she does a decent job this time around as Paige. The star of the movie for me though, was David Boreanaz (Angel, These Girls) in the role of Adam, Kate’s love interest. I like the fact that he isn’t perfect and is struggling with addiction, and I think that he just owns every scene that he is in and his character is just a likeable guy that you can’t care but root for. Overall, I think that everyone did a fine job here and I can’t complain about anyone’s performance.
As you can tell, I am a fan of Valentine and think that it is just an overall awesome movie. I had a blast trying to figure out who the killer was, and I don’t understand why some viewers didn’t get who was behind the mask as I thought that it was quite obvious if you pay attention at the last scene. Speaking of the mask, I didn’t care for it at first and thought that it was a little cheesy, but I have to admit that it has grown on me over the years. If you’re looking for a good holiday-related movie that harkens back to the slasher flicks of the 80s then you are going to enjoy this movie as much as I do. I just watched it again a couple of weeks ago on Valentine’s Day and it still holds up nicely.
Check it out as I highly recommend it.
