My Bloody Valentine (2009)

 

**This post contains spoilers**

The Story- A tragic mining accident disrupts the quiet town of Harmony, when Tom Hanniger (Jensen Ackles) forgets to bleed the lines, causing a deadly cave-in. Tom escapes, but Harry Warden (Richard John Walters) murders the other miners.

A year passes, and Warden suddenly awakes from a coma to continue his killing spree. Tom, his girlfriend, Sarah (Jaime King), and Axel (Kerr Smith), and his girlfriend, Irene ( Betsy Rue) have plans to enjoy Harmony’s mining party. But Harry shows up to butcher anyone who crosses his path. Axel, Irene, and Sarah escape. Tom survives Harry’s attack, with help from Sheriff Burke (Tom Atkins), who wounds Harry with a series of gunshots. An injured Harry disappears, and Tom decides to leave Harmony.

Ten years later, Tom returns to Harmony to sell the Hanniger Mining Company. Tom is prepared to cash out. His decision upsets Sarah and the mine’s supervisor, Ben Foley (Kevin Tighe), because the Hanniger Mining Company is Harmony’s lifeline. Axel is Harmony’s new sheriff. To make matters worse for Tom, Axel is now married to Sarah, and they have a son named Noah. 

Tom struggles to navigate his emotional roller coaster, because he still has feelings for Sarah, but a bigger problem causes more trouble. Harmony’s dark past resurfaces, as Tom, Sarah, Axel, Deputy Martin (Edi Gathegi), Ben, and a retired Sheriff Burke are forced to deal with the possibility of Harry Warden returning to finish what he started.

My Thoughts- There’s a good amount of noticeable differences between the remake and the original. In the original, T.J. was a young man who left home. He went out into the world to try and find himself and make it on his own, but things didn’t work out, so he returned home to work in the mines. T.J. put a lot of effort into humbling himself. Tom? Well, early on you get the impression he really is the selfish and whiny spoiled brat that everyone else makes him out to be. He’s the pariah of Harmony, and unlike T.J., Tom actually has a direct connection to Harry Warden.

As the story progresses, Tom changes his mind. He doesn’t want to sell the mine, but are his intentions truly genuine? It’s blatantly obvious Tom hoping he still has a chance to steal Sarah away from Axel is one of the main reasons why he wants to stay in Harmony. The love triangle is far more tense and serious in the remake. Ackles and Smith did a great job of making the rivalry between Tom and Axel feel real. You can tell both men hate each other, while Sarah is stuck in the middle.

Kerr Smith is the true spark in the cast. Smith absolutely nails the different faces of Axel. Axel is hot-headed, a jerk, and a cocky tough guy, with a smart mouth. He’s also having an affair with Sarah’s employee, Megan (Megan Boone), and to throw in another disastrous twist, Megan is pregnant with Axel’s child. Axel is a mess, but you can also see he doesn’t want to lose his family. And he cares about protecting the peace in Harmony.

If you’re a fan of 80’s horror, there’s a good chance you know about Tom Atkins. Atkins’ presence in a horror slasher provides some good nostalgia. The grizzled old sheriff is a perfect fit for him. Atkins shows he’s still got some fire left in him during the bar fight scene, when shouts out “EVERYBODY STAND DOWN GOD D****!!” to diffuse the tension. Truly a classic Tom Atkins moment.

Harry Warden/The Miner is still a dangerous and menacing villain in the remake. The remake features a handful of creative and brutal death scenes. Selene’s (Selene Luna) death is a good example of just how callous The Miner is, when he jams the pickaxe through her head and slams her body into the ceiling lights. There’s also a callback to Mabel’s death scene in the original with Axel and Sarah’s maid. The Miner stuffs Rosa (Joy de la Paz) in the dryer, and the shot is set up to mirror what happened in the original, when you see Rosa’s charred corpse. That’s exactly what happened to Mabel.

Revealing Tom as The Miner wasn’t a big shocker. In the 1981 film, they hold off revealing the fact that Harry is dead until the final moments. In the remake, Axel reveals Burke and Ben killed Harry in act of “vigilante justice” ten years ago, and they buried his body in the woods. The possibility of Harry returning for revenge is squashed a lot sooner this time around. Honestly, it’s for the best, because unless they planned on going the supernatural route, there’s no point in teasing Harry still being alive. A coma? A cave-in? Gunshot wounds? A mortal man can only survive so much.

They tried to throw a curveball with the possibility of Axel as the killer. Megan’s death could’ve easily raised a red flag. He wanted to kill Megan, because he didn’t want Sarah to know about the affair and his illegitimate child. Tom was hoping that would be enough to pin the murders on Axel.

Tom? If you pay close attention, too many sensible clues killed any chances for his innocence. It’s revealed Tom hallucinated Harry’s appearances throughout the movie. IF Harry was actually alive, then the scene where Tom is “trapped” inside the cage in the mines doesn’t make any sense. Harry locks Tom in a cage, while he murders another miner named Red. Harry kills him, runs off, and he leaves Tom in a safe place unharmed? Harry Warden is a cold blooded killer. During, the opening of the movie, you can tell Harry clearly hated Tom, so why would he spare his life?

I’ve always had mixed feelings for the explanation and the reasons behind Tom’s transformation into The Miner, because it could go both ways. So we learn Tom was in a mental institution for seven years, and they show him taking medication at the motel. We’re lead to believe Tom has a personality disorder, but the flashbacks tell a different story. When they show the flashbacks with Tom carrying out the murders, it’s possible to believe he was possessed by Harry Warden. 

To take it a step further, Tom starts talking in Harry’s voice during the big standoff with Axel and Sarah towards the end. When Axel is revealed as the killer in the 1981 film, it’s undeniably clear he completely lost his mind. The idea of Harry’s evil spirit controlling Tom works, but there’s also the possibility that Tom just finally snapped. His mental health deteriorated, his father is dead, the whole town hates him, and Sarah, the one person he truly loves, moved on with her life. Tom had a lot of heavy burdens to carry, and holding on to all that rage finally got the best of him. 

My Bloody Valentine 2009 is a 3D film, but it wasn’t necessary. The 3D side is just way too gimmicky. The lingering scenes with The Miner pointing the pickaxe at the screen loses the wow factor quickly. The remake could’ve stood on its own without 3D. The 3D disrupts the flow of the movie, because if you’re not wearing a pair of 3D glasses, there’s almost no point in watching certain scenes. 

The remake tries to be a raunchier film at times. No nudity or sex scenes in the original. The 1981 film is more modest, but the 2009 version has one over the top sex scene. Irene is completely naked, when she confronts Frank (Todd Farmer), and well, she’s still nude when she’s trying to hide from and fight off The Miner. There’s a sleazy motel in Harmony, and let’s not forget Axel is supposed to set the standard for morals, but he’s having an affair.

My Bloody Valentine 2009 is a solid remake, that manages to pay homage to the original, while maintaining its own identity. The remake works as a more modernized version of the original, and as a throwback to 80’s slashers. There’s more comedy and tongue in cheek scenes, including the kills, but the original had a more consistent serious tone.They don’t hold back on all the brutal violence and bloody gore. Keeping the bloody hearts in heart shaped candy boxes and the dark humor Valentine’s Day cards helps push the idea of a sinister side to the holiday.

There’s a cliffhanger with Tom secretly escaping, and a planned sequel was cancelled, but I’m glad it never happened. Sure, you can go the route of Tom returning to go after Axel and Sarah, but there’s no point. They exhausted almost every avenue for Tom, Axel, and Sarah here. Anything else would’ve been overkill, so the remake was better off as a one and done deal.

Rating- 6/10

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