[With the film going into wide release tomorrow, this seems an appropriate time to pull Rodney's early review of My Bloody Valentine 3D back to the top of the page.]
My Blood Valentine 3-D is an unusually gory slasher film that probably wouldn't warrant a lot of attention in ordinary circumstances. However, My Bloody Valentine 3-D has some special ingredients in its slasher recipe. These ingredients include brains, guts, jaws, blood and various pointy objects popping out of the screen via some very advanced 3-D technology. The 3-D in this otherwise middle of the road film is so well-done and applied in such an over the top fashion as to singularly elevate the film into a solid piece of event entertainment.
My Bloody Valentine 3-D sits somewhere between a reboot and remake. A massacre by the coal mine killer, who is decked out in black coal mining gear and breathing mask, takes place and the local police kill him. Do they really kill him, though? Yes, it is one of those types of stories. The writing is good enough to carry the film between the numerous killings but the resolution of various plot threads is goofy. The acting is component with Tom Atkins rounding out a relatively young cast (most films aimed at this market lack any serious adults). What really matters in a film of this type, however, is two things: 1) the quality of the killer and 2) morbus sive aliud genus mortis (cause of death). The killer is an iconic figure, which is probably why this film was made in the first place. With the killer in place, My Blood Valentine 3-D then delivers the viscera by laying down numerous 3-D set pieces that range between the gimmicky and jaw dropping. The killer's pick axe always seem to find its way to the front of the visual field, usually with a body part at the end of it. Most of the 3-D flows from the narrative (at least as far it relates to killing ) but even the gimmicky bits are a jolt.
A number of 3-D horror films are prepping up for theatrical release. Bohemians and naifs may disapprove of this trend but My Bloody Valentine 3-D indicates that adding a third-dimension to the slasher flatland may pay off for viewers ready for something different.
Event entertainment is indeed the key phrase here. I'd totally go watch this at the theater because the 3D gimmick is new for me (at this level of quality) and makes it worth the inflated price of admission. The downside is that I see no reason to ever watch a movie made in 3D in any other way. I liked BEOWULF well enough but I never rented let alone bought the 2D DVD. Maybe this technology will become home video compatible in the future, though I'm sure film studios and theater chains revel in the fact that they can currently offer something in theaters that you can't "wait for DVD" for or download a celphone cam recording of off the interweb.
I guess I'm alone in wanting the theater experience to die off. Wait, make that first run theaters.
trailer looked neat enough, it may be the first mainstream horror film i see in theaters in quite awhile
Tomorrow night it is so on!
Yes you are SonaBoy. Stay in the dark corner all by yourself.... This is a good weekend indeed. Got my copy of Tokyo Gore Police yesterday in the mail and officially had my mind blown last night. The local theater chain owned by a major Christian organization dedciated to showing family movies is actually showing My Bloody Valentine in 3d!!! Seeing it tonight, and out of the blue, a print of Let The Right One In just came to my bumblefuck town for the weekend!!!! Very happy right now.