Director:

Patrick Lussier

Jensen Ackles as Tom Hanniger

Jaime King as Sarah Palmer

Kerr Smith as Axel Palmer

Betsy Rue as Irene

Edi Gathegi as Deputy Martin

Megan Boone as Megan

 

 

To my disappointment, My Bloody Valentine was not in 3D in cinemas in Liverpool, but I was still determined to watch it...

I expected a gruesome, gory horror movie without a plot, but to my surprise, there was a great storyline from the off. 

Of course, there are all of the fundamentals of the slasher film: young, pretty women being disembowelled, most of the characters having their hearts removed, young people being chased through spooky dark places they have stupidly ran into and slowly running away from the murderer, falling as they go. There's also a mystery to be solved, unusual in a genre where the only question is usually who's going to get it next.

Ten years on and the teenagers have grown up and now run the place. Tom (Jensen Ackles), whose father owned the mine but had passes away, has left town but has returned, on the anniversary of the Valentine's Day massacre. He finds that his old girlfriend Sarah (Jamie King) has now married his old enemy Axel (Kerr Smith) who has become the town sheriff. The town is in uproar as Tom wants to sell the mine leaving the community and current workers furious with him and his ex girlfriend majorly confused.

A love triangle is forming - Tom and Sarah are still attracted to each other and Axel, a strayed husband, was obviously her second choice - but there's no time for that because suddenly the Harry Warden murders are happening again. The first takes place outside a motel where young Irene (Betsy Rue), having had an unsatisfying liaison with her trucker boyfriend, ends up running stark naked from some guy in a miner's mask carrying a pickaxe, a pretty funny scene if you ask me. I presume this would be creepier in 3D but still has an awesome effect to Harry Warden's ability and merciless killing. This is a film that has tension, loud noises and splatters of blood, everything you want from a horror movie down to the peeping of behind hands.

The murders keep happening and yet I had no clue to who the killer could be. The story takes place in one of those towns where a guy in a miner's suit and carrying a pickaxe can move around without attracting any attention but it still had me asking, "is Harry Warden Back?" Could it be Tom or Axel?" and this confusion carried on until the dying minutes of the film. Personally, I like the active viewing where you have to think adn are slightly confused so it was a pleasant surprise to find that this film did just that rather that passive viewing and knowing who the killer is all along.

It was a shame about the glasses but I give the My Bloody Valentine 4 out of 5!

(I think the film may be in the L1 Odeon in 3D now)

Review By Rebecca Gill

 

 

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