Tuesday, January 27, 2009

DVD REVIEW- 'My Bloody Valentine' (1981)


The Film

my bloody valentine takes place in a quaint mining town called Valentine Bluffs and every year the town shuts down for its annual Valentine's day dance. The only problem is that in 1960 all of the supervisors left early for the dance which left Harry Warden and the other miners stuck in the mine shaft when it collapsed. Harry Warden Survives and the town cancels the annual dance for the next 20 years. 

Fast Forward to the present and by present i mean 1980 and the dance is on again only the town gets worried when human hearts end up in heart shaped boxes with notes warning of impending doom if the dance goes on as scheduled. This is the basic plot of My Bloody Valentine. For years the film has been regarded by fans as a cult classic and one of the better early 80's entries into the slasher genre. The film was made in Canada and is an example of one of their tax shelter films. One thing that is different about the film is that the main characters are quite a bit older than your typical horror film. the main characters look as though they are approaching thirty as opposed to being teenagers. For the first time with this dvd all of the unrated cut footage has been put back into the film. it is easy to tell the footage apart since it is noticeably worn and looks different from the original film.

The Image
My Bloody Valentine is presented in 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen and the film though grainy at times looks the best it has and probably ever will.

The Extras

the extras on this disc are a definite upgrade from the previous Paramount dvd that was released before. the deleted footage can be seen separate from the film and there is a featurette about the history of the slasher film which has interviews with cast and crew of the original and the remake

Fade To Black

fans of the genre will be pleased with this disc. the casual fan wold probably be better off renting this one since die hard fans are the target audience for this film.




Saturday, January 24, 2009

My Bloody Valentine Redux!


I grew up in the 80's and i had the pleasure of having HBO in my house as a kid. I saw a lot of films at an early age that i probably shouldn't have. one of them being 'My Bloody Valentine'. i remember the film being scary when i first watched it but at the time i was around 10 or 11. i watched the film again a few years back when Paramount released a bare bones version on dvd.

At second glance the film was still entertaining and it had something that alot of other early 80's slashers didn't and that was real characters albeit characters that were alot older looking than the typical slasher film. Even with all of this the film was missing something. For years fans have been waiting for an uncut version of the film. It had been reported that the original cut of the film contained extended gore that was cut out due to the MPAA.

Fast forward to 2009 and Lionsgate now has the rights to distribute the film from Paramount and that footage has been reinserted back into the film. You can watch the footage in the film or separate as a bonus feature. special features for the new special edition are as follows:

  • Bloodlust:My Bloody Valentine and the rise of the slasher film featurette
  • Bloodlines: An Interactive Horror film History
  • Deleted footage with director commentary
Fans of the film would like to see more but being able to see the film uncut is a nice upgrade from the original dvd

stay tuned for my Dvd review coming soon...

Welcome to the Moon!


This is the first post of many and i just want to start things off with a little introduction of myself and why i have decided to start a blog.

My Name is Ronn i have a degree in Film and i actually work for an insurance company. i live in the pacific northwest as you would guess film jobs here are kinda scarce. if you can find a job in the industry here it usually does not pay that well. In my spare time i make films i am currently finishing a documentary that i have been working on for the last few years. This Blog will be an outlet for me to rant on all things film and whatever else is on my mind. the name of the blog if you are wondering comes from the name of my production company Concrete Moon Productions. I will be posting a lot of blogs about horror films past and present since it is pretty much my favorite genre. i also am a big fan of Film Noir,Exploitation to name a few.

Welcome to the blog

Ronn