My Bloody Valentine (1981)

 

**This post contains spoilers**

The Story- In the 1960s, miner Harry Warden (Peter Cowper) starts a brutal killing spree one year after a cave-in. As the sole survivor, an insane Warden murders the residents of Valentine Bluffs on Valentine’s Day during the town’s annual dance, leaving a permanent scar on the quiet town.

Years later, T.J. Hanniger (Paul Kelman) returns to Valentine Bluffs to work at the Hanniger Mining Company. T.J. still has feelings for his ex girlfriend, Sarah Mercer (Lori Hallier), but Sarah’s relationship with T.J.’s fellow miner, Axel Palmer (Neil Affleck) complicates things.

T.J. and the others have a bigger problem, when dead bodies start popping up. The possibility of Harry Warden returning to Valentines Bluff concerns T.J.’s father, Mayor Hanniger (Larry Reynolds) and Chief Newby (Don Francks).

The Valentine’s Day dance is cancelled, but T.J., Axel, Sarah, Patty (Cynthia Dale), Hollis (Keith Night), and others decide to secretly have a Valentine’s Day celebration for fun. But things take a dark turn, when a miner kills them off one by one. Has Harry Warden returned to Valentines Bluff to pursue his revenge on the town?

My Thoughts- Harry Warden/The Miner ranks high up on my list of memorable slasher movie villains. The Miner is undeniably vicious and genuinely intimidating. He’s a madman wielding a pickaxe, with a relentless thirst for violence. There’s just something genuinely disturbing about The Miner and Warden. The flashback showing Warden eating body parts to survive after the cave-in really shows how Harry completely lost it.

The miner suit and mask adds to his strong presence, and I can’t forget about the fine details for his character. The quick movements, and when you hear the heavy breathing, you know serious trouble is coming. Warden/The Miner only appears in two films, if we’re counting the remake, but the character does more than enough to leave a lasting impression.

You almost can’t have an 80’s slasher without a grizzly old kook warning the youngsters about a dangerous killer, and Happy (Jack Van Evera) fills that spot. Van Evera does his job as the harbinger of doom. He’s there to let you know that Harry Warden is a serious threat, it’s not a joke, and anyone in town could be his next victim. Using the old timer telling a ghost story approach, Happy narrates the flashback for Harry’s story to play up his dark legend. It’s a good spooky flashback. Happy hooks you into believing Harry might actually return one day, if the town holds another Valentine’s Day dance. 

It’s a Valentine’s Day horror film, so of course you’ll get the expected grisly tie-ins for the usual traditions. Bloody hearts in the candy boxes, grim Valentine’s Day cards with ominous warnings, and The Miner turning the heart decorations upside down at the laundromat was a nice touch. My Bloody Valentine does a wonderful job of setting a dark and eerie mood throughout the movie, by taking a festive day that’s supposed to be about love and happiness and completely turning it upside down. 

The gore and kills in My Bloody Valentine are truly brutal. Poor Mabel (Patricia Hamilton) suffering the fate of being cooked alive in a dryer at the laundromat showed how cruel The Miner could be, and the sight of her dried out and burnt corpse is horrifying to look at. Sylvia’s (Helene Udy) death is a nasty moment to remember. The Miner takes her head and shoves it through a faucet. To make things more wicked, he turns on the faucet after she’s dead.

The tense love triangle between Axel, T.J., and Sarah fits perfectly within the story. T.J. left, and Axel was there to be with Sarah. You can tell T.J. is bitter, and although T.J. gets too pushy and persistent, you can see Sarah still has feelings for him.

Revealing Axel as The Miner was a good surprise. Throughout the movie, they played a good guessing game for the possibility of Harry Warden returning for his revenge. But it turns out Warden’s been dead for five years, and Axel actually does have a direct connection to him. Axel’s father was one of the supervisors who was responsible for the cave-in. Innocent men died because of his carelessness, and Harry turned into a monster. As a child, Axel witnessed Harry murder his father.

Axel clearly never got over the trauma, but I’ve always wondered what made him finally snap so many years later. Was it the fear of losing Sarah to T.J.? Or was it the return of the Valentine’s Day dance after twenty years, an event that’s connected to the worst night of his life? A combination of both? It’s clear Axel is not well, and you really see it during the ending. 

After he cuts off part of his own arm to escape, Axel starts rambling on about how he’s going to return with Harry. The maniacal laughter, and Axel professing his love for Sarah, as he runs off into the darkness is a perfect ending. It’s a chilling final series of events. Axel is either going to bleed out, or he’s going to pick up the pickaxe again. He’s clearly crazy enough to try another killing spree.

My Bloody Valentine is a gruesome and brutal slasher film, that definitely deserves its cult classic status. The opening scene featuring a masked miner (presumably Harry) killing the blonde woman immediately lets you know you’re about to see a movie that’s not going to hold anything back. Horror films featuring a premise about a small and quiet town with a dark past are some of my absolute favorites. Mayor Hanniger and Chief Newby are struggling to keep everything secret about Harry’s possible return, because his shadow disrupts the peace in Valentine Bluffs.

My Bloody Valentine is truly a memorable holiday horror film, and it’s a must-see pick, if you’re a fan of 80’s slashers. The uncut version is far more graphic, and it’s worth checking out, if My Bloody Valentine is one of your favorites.

Rating- 8/10