My Bloody Valentine 3D

You can read the My Bloody Valentine 3D movie review here, or read on for my DVD review…

The 2-Disc Special Edition includes a couple forgettable special features, which basically consist of some behind-the-scenes documentaries and deleted scenes. The two documentaries are your standard behind-the-scenes fare, with a look at how the gore was executed, why the actors got involved (”I wanted to do something original”), blah blah blah. Pretty boring and unremarkable.

The deleted scenes are decent enough, but all the good stuff was included in the actual picture. There’s also an alternate ending and a gag reel; the gag reel, admittedly, is pretty good. On the first disc, there’s an audio commentary with the director and one of the writers.

More importantly, four pairs of 3-D glasses are included, though you can opt to watch the two-dimensional version if you so choose. I was most curious to see how Real3D formatting would play on a small screen (42-inch plasma, to be precise). The glasses look a lot like the old school glasses from yesteryear, but they do work a hell of a lot better; a fair amount of the three-dimensional backgrounds in the film pop quite well. At the same time, it takes a lot of effort to stare at the TV through those glasses for an hour and a half, and I could only imagine that had I watched the entire movie over again, I would have had a killer headache by the end. Unfortunately, the 3D through these glasses isn’t good enough to warrant that, so I would recommend watching My Bloody Valentine 3D in 2D, if at all.

In anticipation of the new 3D film, it’s no surprise that Paramount and Lionsgate have released a new Special Edition version of the original “classic.” Having never seen the film before, I didn’t know what to expect. After all, it looks and sounds like a rather cheesy and unoriginal slasher flick… and, guess what? It is!

Thankfully, My Bloody Valentine is also entertaining. There isn’t a clever moment in the entire picture, save for the ending; people get picked off one by one, the local sheriff runs around like an idiot and a bunch of young people sneak off to screw around only to get impaled in one way or another (or get their faces boiled out or their hearts ripped out). The movie isn’t suspenseful or scary, as it’s quite clear who will live and who will die. The direction bears the traits of typical B-grade 80’s horror films; not very crisp, not very gritty and not very deep.

Still, if you don’t expect much, you may be pleasantly surprised. There isn’t any nudity, which was a bit of a shocker, but there is a fair amount of gore – and the gore is pretty decent. Furthermore, I really liked one of the final scenes of the movie, where the killer lurks off into the depths of the mines, cackling away. It’s a creepy moment that resonated well.

Compared to the classic slasher films we all know and love, My Bloody Valentine doesn’t stand out in any way or form, but it’s fast-paced, entertaining and relatively gory.

The DVD allows you to watch either the regular theatrical version or the extended version. However, please take note: the DVD did not, for some reason, work in my Denon DVD player; I had to watch this on my computer.