Aw yes, it’s that special time of year. Romantic fuzzy feelings flit about the air, heart to heart. Cupid is quite the busy little rascal right now as he sabotages daily lives with giddy giggles and heart shaped wonderment. This is the rose-tinted season of passion and romance, or at least that’s what they con us into believing in order to trick us out of our hard-earned money; money to be spent on (can you fucking believe it?) even more presents because Heaven knows Christmas shopping just wasn’t nearly enough. Chocolates are a must, dinner reservations have to be made and we’ll find ourselves wading through crowds to sit in dimly lit restaurants and drinking a little too much wine. Soft kisses and teddy bears holding sewn hearts in their fluffy hands. Yeah, that’s what Valentine’s Day is about. Hallmark cards and pop songs.

Well fuck that shit! If that scene isn’t your thing then come join the mayhem over here. Your buddy Manic Exorcism has your Bloody Valentine fix.  We want blood and guts mixed with lots of fun. We may celebrate the romantic holiday a little differently, but there’s no reason why we can’t enjoy this international day of love and beauty. So plan date night for that special maniac in your life. Snuggle up and prepare for a dripping heart-shaped treat. Lucky for us there is a quid essential horror movie to commemorate the holiday. It took me a long time to finally sit down and watch the movie, but at long last I finally watched My Bloody Valentine.

 

 

Right away let me get this out of the way. Do I recommend this movie? Absolutely. I’m talking about the original movie – still not seen the remake yet.

The movie opens up right away with a lovely little murder. We see two miners down in the tunnels. They stop and one starts to undress. We see a beautiful lady is behind that oxygen mask. The man she’s with refuses to remove his own mask and the romance is either brought to an end or reaches it aria (depending on what you’re into really) when he unexpectedly lifts her up and shoves her into the business end of a pickaxe. You get a sense for what kind of movie you’re in for right away.

 

 

So the movie starts strong and doesn’t lose steam. Apparently there’s a legend here in this happy mining town. Not so long ago a few workers got caught down in those mines due to the carelessness of their supervisors. While the poor souls were left in the dark the rest of the town celebrated the Valentine’s Day Dance. Days later a rescue team pushed through the rubble and only one survivor was left alive. By now he’d lost his mind and was devastated by the trauma. A year later he got his revenge on those responsible for the accident and shoved their hearts in a heart-shaped boxes of chocolate. He then vanished but left a warning to the town before going. He warned them to never, ever have another Valentine’s Day Dance or he’d come back to slaughter once more.

 

 

 

Well it wouldn’t be a movie without a plot. So there has to be a dance and that rings in the carnage all over again!

This movie has the good fortune of having a very likeable cast of characters. They are a bunch of down to earth likable types that you could easily see yourself being friends with. They are innocent too. They had nothing to do with the tragedy. They break their backs down in the dirty mines. They get together and have a few beers and they love their ladies. All they want is to have a nice dance and celebrate the holiday. They’re just not that lucky I guess.

The other thing is the deaths are pretty creative. This movie came out in 1981 and the special effects are still fun to behold. There are a few nasty moments here.

There’s also this gritty dark atmosphere all across the film. Over top all the fun and party planning we see the characters engaged in there is this menacing tone oppressing each shot which makes the movie feel that much more uncomfortable. It works well.

 

 

So yeah, give this one a try or a rewatch. If you want a good horror movie for a Valentine date night this is one you can’t go wrong with. Very good slasher film that does everything right. I can’t believe it’s taken me this long to finally see it, but for a first time viewing I can say it still holds up.

So this has been Manic Exorcism wishing each of you a very Bloody Valentine’s Day!