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Studio
executives, give your heads a shake!
First, one has to question the geniuses at 20th Century Fox for
releasing the romantic comedy Bride Wars one month before Valentine’s
Day. Maple Pictures, I’m not letting
you off the hook either. Why on earth
would you release My Bloody Valentine 3-D one month before that most
cherished of all dates for young lovers?
Granted, love may not exactly be the order of the day for this bloodletting
but guess what – fans of horror will definitely take a shining to this
illicit treat, now scaring up quite the storm at the Granville Seven,
Esplanade 6, Empire Studio 12, Colossus and various Famous Players
Silver City
cites around B.C.
A
bit better than your traditional horror / gore spectacle, My Bloody Valentine
3-D has some great special effects, though I confess I saw the print in
2-D. By all means take in this graphic
head-turner in three dimensions if you can to get those rather impressive
pick axe lacerations up close and personal.
Trouble
in this film sure runs deep. From the
opening we learn that a one-town industry has scores of citizens cut down
mercilessly by a mystery assailant.
All the killings took place at a mine 10 years earlier and apparently
the assaults are starting up again with a flourish.
Mine
owner Tom Hanniger is the man of the hour and was
at one time quite the ladies man.
Feelings of love apparently bear some blame for the trouble brewing as
one Sarah Palmer can’t quite shake those past yearnings. Now married to Sheriff Axel Palmer the law
is doing its best to determine who’s responsible for the current slayings and
put a stop to the assaults. Whether anyone is left in the town to see the
next sunrise is debatable as the bodies continue to mount skyward in this
tale of death and destruction courtesy of a maniac who wears a miner’s
outfit. Come to think of it, the
goriness of the whole proceedings reminds one of the fisherman costume that the killer wore in the I Know What You Did
Last Summer movies. Freddie Krueger and Jason would definitely be proud of
this murderer’s technique.
Low
budget films can be a blast if done well.
Competent acting and a fairly decent script for this kind of genre
helps make My Bloody Valentine 3-D a cut above your average slasher pic. Director Patrick Lussier
(Dracula 2000) succeeds in creating here a good small town feel and the shots
inside the mines look fairly authentic and are quite gritty. Naturally, why
teens flock to these kind of slayer films are due to
the violent elements and the confrontations here, though controlled, are
bound to get some onlookers unexpectedly jumping from their seats.
Male
pride is on the line in this film with both Jensen Ackles
and Kerr Smith (Final Destination) effective as two men trying to solve a
murder (or 10) with Jaime King (Sin City) suitably frightened as a grocer’s
daughter desperate to live another day.
Maple
Films has made quite a mark in reviving the horror genre with the exceedingly
clever Saw movies and the new Jason Statham action adventures like
Crank. Chalk up another low budget
success for this Canadian based distributor who’s looking to make a killing
with this early Feb. 14 present and a potential new hit Valentine’s Day
serial killer series.
My
Bloody Valentine 3-D (PG) * * *
Read
more reviews by Robert at www.moviereviewssite.com
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