With a box of unfinished Valentine’s Day chocolates I once
again embarked on my challenge to watch a holiday based horror movie on the
days they are set, this time round ... what else? But My Bloody Valentine from 1981!
Directed by George Mihalka and written by John Beaird the film was shot on
location in Sydney Mines, Nova Scotia and released theatrically in North
America on Valentine's Day.
The mining town of Valentine Bluffs has lifted its twenty
year suspension of their traditional Valentine's Day dance to the delight of the
town’s young folk, the reason for this 20 year hiatus? Two supervisors left
several miners in the mines in favour of attending the dance, neglecting to check
methane gas levels results in an explosion that traps the miners for six weeks,
only one of them survived one Harry Warden whom resorted to cannibalism in
order to survive. Now insane, in his mining attire Warden murdered the two supervisors
and vowed to return and kill the townsfolk if they held the Valentine's Day
Dance again... sure enough, the bodies start to pile up!
Yes, it shares certain parallels with Halloween but the film
holds its own and gained a cult following over the years, it was even remade in
2009. On its initial release the movie
was heavily censored and a total of nine minutes of violence and gore was cut
by the Motion Picture Association of America and it remained like that until an
uncut version was finally released in 2009 (I watched the extended cut tonight)
With its dingy, claustrophobic atmosphere and drinking/smoking randy young
adults with complete disregard for the advice of their elders it’s worth
checking out. Don’t forget to check back with me on Sunday the 31st
of March... Mother's Day!
Until then, Happy Valentines’ Day!
Until then, Happy Valentines’ Day!
© Arfon Jones 2019. All images are copyrighted throughout the world.
