MY BLOODY VALENTINE

As the 3D remake splatters across UK cinema screens, what better time than now to check out the new US Special Edition disc of the 1981 original …

The film opens with two miners making their way deep down into the local methane mine in full overalls and gasmasks. When they reach a secluded spot, one takes of their mask and reveals herself to be an attractive blonde. Her male partner refuses to remove his mask, instead allowing her to caress him a little before shoving her back into a pickaxe hanging from the wall. Its blade pierces the girl's back, exiting through a 'heart' tattoo on her right breast.

This is just the beginning for the unwitting inhabitants of the appropriately named small town of Valentine's Bluff. We first meet a group of them on Thursday 12th February, preparing the local town hall for Saturday's Valentine dance.

As bartender Happy (Jack Van Evera) tells the young local miners and their girlfriends one evening, this will be the first Valentine dance that the town has held in 20 years. The reason being (cue flashback), 21 years ago two mine supervisors left their shift early to attend the dance, leaving several workers in the mine. An explosion killed all but one of the miners - Harry Warden. Harry was hospitalised afterwards but returned to the town a year later to murder the supervisors and leave their disembodied hearts at the local dance, as a warning never to hold the event again.

The kids laugh off Happy's story, unaware that the Mayor (Larry Reynolds) has already received a human heart in a box, accompanied by a warning poem, and that the local sheriff has recently discovered his friend Mabel (Patricia Hamilton) murdered in her own launderette.

Instead, the Mayor and the sheriff decide to investigate the possibility of Harry's return without panicking the kids. They simply write off Mabel's death as a heart attack, and cancel the dance without good reason.

The kids, predictably, decide to hold the dance anyway - and start plotting to meet with lots of booze and music for a night of sex and buffoonery … while a killer stalks outside in a gasmask and miner's overalls …

Very 80s in it's fashion and music, as well as in it's acting styles (the oldies ham it up; the younger cast members ape John Belushi), VALENTINE nevertheless is frequently visually arresting and makes good use of the creepy mine setting in it's final act.

The love-triangle sub-plot between the Mayor's returning son TJ (Paul Kelman), his ex Sarah (Lori Hallier) and her new beau Axel (Neil Affleck, is an interesting diversion that threatens at times to eclipse the horror elements of the film.

But thankfully director George Mihalka keeps a fine balance of drama and horror, paring down Stephen A Miller's intelligent screenplay to ensure a zippy pace punctuated by inventive, fleetingly gory murders.

VALENTINE's style and storyline make it instantly resemble THE PROWLER. But that only highlights how much better VALENTINE is. It may not be as gruesome, but it's a lot more involving and plausible than THE PROWLER, and a lot less boring than THE BURNING.

While VALENTINE is filled with 80s clichés (the false ending; the revenge plot; the stock teen characters - joker, nerd, slut, virgin, moody rebel etc; red herrings), it transcends these and rises as one of the best slasher movies, thanks to its competent, confident style and unswerving commitment to straight-faced scares.

Always heavily cut in the past, this release is significant in that it offers two versions of the film. First there's the R-rated cut of the film, which runs at 90 minutes and 21 seconds. Then we have the all-important unrated version, restoring censored material from Paramount's vaults. This runs for 92 minutes and 55 seconds - and makes all the difference.

While youngsters raised on modern gorefests like HOSTEL and SWITCHBLADE ROMANCE will no doubt shrug at the uncut material and wonder what all the fuss is about, anyone else will jump for joy when they witness the film uncut.

A static menu page allows the option of choosing which cut to watch, offering a "seamless" branching option to view the uncut version. And, for once, it really is seamless - no jumps or pauses in playback. The only possible negative (though not a personal concern) is that the restored footage is not as good in quality as the remainder of the film.

Speaking of which, the film is presented in a very nice 1.78:1 anamorphic transfer with sharp images and bright, accurately coloured detail. Having suffered the film on VHS many moons ago with some scenes so dark that I literally couldn't make out what was going on, this was a superb experience. Although minor grain is evident, I can't complain: it's a great presentation of a film that's waited far too long to have its day.

The English audio is available in mono and 5.1 mixes, the former being the better of the two (although both sound fine). Optional subtitles are available in English and Spanish.

Beyond the animated main menu page are static sub-menus, including a scene-selection menu allowing access to the main feature via 20 chapters.

The disc opens with trailers for A HAUNTING IN CONNECTICUT, MY BLOODY VALENTINE 3D, SAW 5, REPO: A GENETIC OPERA and DISASTER MOVIE.

Extras include the deleted scenes as standalone extras, each with optional intros from various cast and crewmembers. In total, there are 10 scenes and - with the intros included - the total running time is 29 minutes. Intros come from Mihalka, FX designers Ken Diaz and Thomas Burman, author Adam Rockoff, the producers, and actors Affleck, Helene Udy (Sylvia - who, in the film, looks like Jessica Harper at times) and Carl Marotte (Dave). One thing though: did my eyes deceive me, or did the deleted scenes look slightly less worn here than when reintegrated into the main feature?!

Next up is "Bloodlust: MY BLOODY VALENTINE and The Rise of the Slasher Film", a 20-minute featurette with more contributions from the above. After a brief summary of the 1970s US horror boom, it quickly becomes an enjoyable if light retrospective on the making of VALENTINE. Presented in English 2.0, in anamorphic 1.78:1.

"Bloodlines" is an interactive history of horror films. You click on the various headings - 'Torture Porn', 'Psycho', 'New Wave Slashers' etc - and you get several pages of straightforward text on each sub-genre.

An excellent release of a film that, maybe now, will be appreciated for the superior slasher it truly is.

Review by Stu Willis