MovieChat Forums > My Bloody Valentine (1981) Discussion > Just saw it for the first time; better t...

Just saw it for the first time; better than I thought it would be

posted 9 years ago by Kenneth-8
2 replies | jump to latest

I watched this for the first time last night on a whim, expecting a typical stupid slasher film in the ripoff mold of Friday the 13th. I thought I would either just end up falling asleep watching it or maybe skip ahead to the creative "kills" before turning it off, but surprisingly became engrossed in the story pretty quickly. While it has some cliches and the typical red herrings, I thought it was a lot better than most of it's type. It was very suspenseful, well-shot, well paced and the acting was pretty good coming from an early 80's slasher movie. Plus the adults seemed like real people instead of being typical clueless baffoons or stereotypes. While the gore wasn't over the top (apparently the unrated version is), the murders are grisly enough. And the exposition story of Harry Warren is genuinely creepy and has the kind of narrative build-up that is rare nowadays. The denouement in the mine is great as well. Most slasher movies are disposable filler but this one makes you want to go back and watch it a few more times, particularly once you know who the killer is. Not a bad horror film and much better than the others that it was lumped in with in the early 80's.

[–] daverindone 9 years ago

I had to drag my sister and her b.f to this as I was 14 in '81. You are right about the gore, the DVD has the uncut version and it's big gore for the time, maybe Saw level. I think the idea was that there soooo many slashers during that area (with more to come) so it was hard to differentiate what was decent what was trash. I enjoyed it because of the setting, history, miner's outfit and atmosphere. The quirky love triangle (with the Lifetime scene of "I'm so dam surry), the angry bartender and Canadian product placement just adds to the fun.

[–] sommert-507-32566 9 years ago

I have a soft spot for it. Watched it when I was a kid on HBO (before there were VCRs, there was late night HBO for more obscure films). It was atmospheric and the miner mask motif were worked for me. And now I have learned that it really felt like an old mine and a mining town because it was shot in an old mine and mining town.