Dir. Patrick Lussier, US, 2009, 101 mins
Cast: Jensen Ackles, Kerr Smith, Jamie King, Tom Atkins
Review by Michelle Moore
Whenever a remake is released it automatically gets compared to its predecessor, so much so that it is then very difficult for it to stand alone in comparison to the original. Since I never saw the 1981 release of My Bloody Valentine , this review will in no way compare the two. Taken in its raw, horrific and gruesome state, My Bloody Valentine 3D is a totally shocking experience to sit through and just what you would expect from a horror flick.
The film starts by recapping on the back history of this deranged “psycho killer” tale, then pulling the viewer in with some shocking events one year later, and then a decade after that. This type of opening is incredibly effective, opening as it does the viewers' minds to events in the past as well as supplying them with the knowledge needed to fully comprehend the events that are to follow.
Smith is probably best known for playing Jack Phee in Dawson's Creek and Ackles as Dean Winchester in Supernatural . Both have managed to move on from roles in television series to the big screen with highly successful film careers predicted for their future. With this feature they play their lead roles with such confidence and charisma that the viewer is catapulted into their world of crazed killings, something which is enhanced by the film being in 3D. The direction is both amazing and startling. The viewer is kept at a safe distance, yet involved enough so that they are on the edge of the seat and very anxious about what is to come. Events that you would be shocked by on a flat screen seem to escape from the 3D screen in ways I have never seen more engaging. Torches literally beam into the viewer's eyes, guns appear as if aimed at the audience and pickaxes are wielded too close for comfort. An explosion that causes blood and rubble to fly at the audience, and a bullet that soars past your very eyes provide some of the outstanding moments.
There are some very graphic scenes to My Bloody Valentine 3D . The methods the killers use to despatch their victims may not be original, but there is something uniquely challenging about them, the challenge being whether you can watch the film without squirming in your seat and hiding your eyes. If you are not one that can bear to look on as an eye gets hauled out of its socket, bodies are diced like carrots or a heart is removed leaving just an open chest cavity, then your stomach couldn't possibly handle the gore this film has in store and the anticipation that goes along with it.
My Bloody Valentine may be a remake, but if you give it half a chance, you will be mesmerised by the acting, the photography, the sound, the horror, the 3D effects and the wealth of gory detail. A must see for horror fanatics!
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