25 - My Bloody Valentine (2009)

Not many people look at a holiday like Valentine's Day and think "I want to make a horror movie around this."  Funny thing is, this is not the first movie about a Valentine's Day killer.  I know there was one about a mine back in the 80's, and I think tonight's movie is probably a remake of that one, since it was all about a killer in some coal mine or something, and I am pretty sure it was called the same thing.

My Bloody Valentine (2009) begins with the accidental death of 5 miners, probably due to some mistake made by the son of the mine's owner, a young man by the name of Tom Hanniger.  There's a single survivor, a Harry Warden, who is in a coma.  As it turns out, the other 5 miners didn't die from the cave-in, but were killed by Harry to preserve his air supply.  Exactly one year later, on Valentine's Day, Harry wakes from his coma and goes on a killing spree.  The Sheriff shoots him, but the mine collapses, and they lose track of Harry Warden.  Then, ten years later, the killings begin again.  It seems as though Harry Warden is still alive, after all.

Jensen Ackles (yep that guy from Supernatural) plays Tom Hanniger, the son who returns to town ten years after the killings.  Tom Atkins (From Night of the Creeps, which I reviewed at the beginning of the month!) plays Sheriff Burke, now retired after dealing with the Bloody Valentine's Day killer ten years past.  Jaime King (most recently from Black Summer) plays Sarah Palmer, wife of the current sheriff.  Betsy Rue (from Halloween 2) plays Irene, who has an amazingly long nude scene.  I didn't recognize any of the rest of the cast, but the acting was decent.  Effects were minimal, as this was pretty much a slasher movie, but they did the job.  Much like the palm trees in haddonfield during the filming of Halloween, none of the exterior scenes in this movie look anything like early February.  All the trees and leaves are covered in green, I can't see any frosty breath from people breathing outside at night, and there's not a patch of snow anywhere to be found.  They don't say exactly where this mine is or what kind of mine it's supposed to be, so I guess it could be somewhere sub-tropical, maybe Texas or Southern California.  Pretty sure it's not Florida.  Ruins the immersion factor slightly, but whatever.  The rest of the movie was okay, kept me guessing who the killer might be right up to the very end.  I caught this on Showtime next, I imagine it'll probably be in their on-demand section if you want to catch it before Halloween.  Worth at least one watch, though I don't know if seeing it a second time would be worth it.

In other news, we're in the final stretch!  A few more days of horror movies, and then it's another OHMRAT gone!  I hope I've been able to give my half-a-dozen subscribers some comfort in these trying times.  At this point, anything resembling consistency is probably very comforting.  Hugs to anyone out there who needs one!  Back with another review tomorrow night.  Until then, have fun.  :-)