Review of My Bloody Valentine (2009) by John K — 08 Aug 2011

This remake of the 1981 classic tries very hard to engage it's audience, unfortunately in all the wrong ways. Instead of a "tragic accident" at the mine where Harry Warden was left for dead 10 years ago, in the remake Harry is a notorious killer, shot and killed, and now killing again a decade later.

Originally presented in 3D, My Bloody Valentine 2009 features your typical scenes with things flying at the camera. There's even an almost direct quote of Fulci's famous eye gouge scene in Zombi 2.

It gets ridiculous towards the end of the film and it simply feels like a dated gimmick that should've been left alone. The gore is definitely cranked up a notch as Harry assumes quite a "Jason-style" of stalking and killing victim after victim.

MBV09 fails in that it forgets to build and maintain tension. It also takes liberty with the characters from the original film, spending a great deal of time with pointless drama and over-acting that will make you feel like you're watching a soap opera.

In slasher film terms, MBV09 is competent and the body count is impressive. Tom Atkins also gives the film an instant old school appeal. There is also a plethora of pickaxe kills that was lacking in the original, and fans will certainly appreciate the amped up gore and kills.

In end, however this is another modern remake that cannot compete with the charm of the original. The result is MBV09 is must more a substandard slasher than the original film and it leads one to wonder why anyone felt it was necessary to do a remake.