My Bloody Valentine [DVD]

Probably one of my all time favorite slasher films from the 80’s & it’s so under appreciated. The directors cut is a lot gorier than the theatrical which I deeply appreciate & the special feature content is just as fun!

Awesome packaging...the movies look incredible completely worth it...a MUST for horror fans

To paraphrase the quote from its director George Mihalka that introduces this release, it is a testament to the work of the producers, the cinematographers, and cast and crew of "My Bloody Valentine" that this film has stood the test of time and has been adored by horror movie fans ever since its release in 1981.To me, one of the key draws of a good slasher film is the use of attractive females in peril, and in that regard "My Bloody Valentine" is a visual delight for the senses. The opening scene is classic, where a gorgeous blond girl with a really hot body and wearing a silky bra suggestively fondles an unknown miner's gas mask tube as he breathes heavily, as if he was making an obscene phone call to her or something. This girl is one of three really beautiful blondes in this movie that always keep my eyes transfixed on the screen every time I watch it. The others are Gretchen (Gina Dick) and of course principle player Sara (Lori Hallier).And the thing is, all these women are 100% Canadian. To me, this movie did for Canada what "Slaughter High" did for Great Britain -- it proved that other parts of the world could produce slasher movies (and hot girls) every bit as choice as their American counterparts. "My Bloody Valentine" is probably the most proudly Canadian slasher flick of all time; all the characters speak with a heavy Canuck drawl (no surprise; it was filmed in parts of Quebec and Nova Scotia) and their favorite brew to down at the local bar is Moosehead Canadian beer (what else?). And the music is provided by Paul Zaza, also a native Canadian, who contributed the excellent score to 1980's "Prom Night" (another Canuck slasher classic).This 2009 Lionsgate version is the definitive release of this film to have, as it features the long shelved footage of explicit gore that the censors snipped out in 1981 for who knows what reason. Seeing the movie with the deleted footage reinserted is like rediscovering it all over again. Yes, the picture quality for the deleted scenes is raw and unpolished, but you have to realize that the film reels had probably sat in some drawer for the last 28 years and may have been periodically taken out to view by its owners during the interim (and who could blame them -- it rules) and thus it has decayed with the inevitable passage of time. I think this actually gives a raw grittiness to the proceedings, something like seeing "Silent Night, Deadly Night" (1984) (another classic) on DVD with its own cut footage added back in.Yet even before the deleted scenes were made available again, this film has always had a level of class to it that is rarely seen in the slasher genre (hence the reason that even the more tame theatrical cut had long had a sizable cult following) -- it is beautifully photographed, with rich, vibrant color (especially the traditional decor of the small, old fashioned town of Valentine Bluffs, where the story is set). As well, the acting is way above what you would usually find in a slasher movie and even includes a heart-wrenching (no pun intended) scene of bittersweet love, filmed at a lakefront, between leads Lori Hallier and Paul Kelman (as T.J.). Lori lets her hair down in this scene and looks absolutely gorgeous when the breeze by the ocean makes it shimmer.All in all, there will always be a special place in the hearts of slasher movie buffs (and I consider myself one of them) for "My Bloody Valentine." Highly recommended.

I was a child during the slasher era of horror movies, so I missed the initial debut of "My Bloody Valentine." For some reason, this is not one of the more famous slashers, so it escaped my attention until I read "Going to Pieces: the Rise and Fall of the Slasher Film" by Adam Rockoff. It was his praising of the film that made me buy it on amazon.com. And I am so glad I did!"My Bloody Valentine" is an excellent work in every respect, and one of the best horror films of this genre or any other. I am referring, of course, to the director's cut -- NOT the slashed-down version that was released to theatres. (Even the slashers themselves wouldn't have slashed so much of the essential action.) The film excels especially in creating the atmosphere of a small mining town that has experienced a horror centered around Valentine's Day. The characters are likeable and believable, not the typical batch of morons that are featured in most horror films of this genre. The screenplay cares enough about its characters to develop an interesting love triangle that never veers into melodrama; one or two scenes depicting the history of the main character is all that we need to get a sense of who he is and where he is coming from. Paul Kellman plays his role naturally, without any annoying histrionics or "Method-inspired" character constructions that the new generation of actors do constantly. I was utterly engrossed from the very beginning.The scenes in the mine are among the best and most suspenseful in any horror film, lit and filmed beautifully. Here is where the atmosphere of the film reaches its peak; I could not take my eyes off the screen. Similarly, the pace is sustained throughout the entire film, so that by the time we are taken into the mine we are absorbed enough in the story to feel as if we are there ourselves.All of that being said, this film features some of the most creative, and most hauntingly beautiful murder/death scenes ever captured on film. In one scene, a young woman is impaled on some type of shower stall in the mine, and her boyfriend discovers her with water pouring out of her mouth -- as if she has become some sort of fountain in death. This is a stunning image -- and the fact that it was one of the scenes to be deleted from the theatrical cut is truly mind-boggling, especially since there are far more gruesome death scenes in other films which were not cut. Perhaps it was the idea that death can be oddly beautiful that the censors were subconsciously reacting against???All who participated in this work should be proud of their contribution to the horror genre. I hear that there was a remake done in the early 2o00's, but I doubt it can beat this one. This is truly a gem of modern cinema.