With having recently picked up the 2009 remake of this film,I mentioned to a friend that I was hoping to watch it very soon.
To my surprise,he said that before I watch the new version,I should watch the original first (that has at last come out uncut on DVD)that he has.After watching it,I think that it is a very enjoyable slasher film,with fun special effects and a good story.
The plot:
After not holding a Valentines dance or party for the last twenty years ,(because when the last dance was held,two mining supervises decided to leave the group of miners early,to get to the dance as fast as they could.Sadly due to both of them not checking to see if everything is working OK,a gas leak caused a huge explosion,which led to six miners losing there lives,and the only surviving one (Harry Warden),going completely insane and going on a mini killing spree.
The people that run the town decide that since that much time has gone by,and that the killer has been locked up in a mental hospital for twenty years,everyone feels that the Valentines Day dance can now return to the school.
Years later:
With just a few days to go,the whole town seems to be bursting with excitement,with all the students and young miners spending lots of time to make sure that every thing goes perfectly.But when the Mayor receives a mystery Valentines box,that instead of containing chocolates,contains a human heart.
This leads to the Mayor and the police to start suspecting that Warden may have come back,which causes them to completely cancel the dance.Though neither of them know,that since cancelling the dance,some of the miners and students have set up a "secret" party that is being held at the mine where the explosion happened twenty years ago..
View on the film:
The first thing that I want to mention is the excellent new footage,which has thankfully been at last put back into the film.Whilst the extra footage is understandably a bit grainy (mostly due to it having been left on the side for thirty years)it is still able to massively improve many of the great killings in the film,with the fun practical special effects now being allowed to burst out into a full bloodbath.
Whilst watching the film,I have to admit that I was very surprised that director George Mihalka had not put any nudity in this slasher,luckily he does put in a lot of very good scary killings,as well as doing very well at building tension around the activities of the events that are happening around the mines.
Although John Beairos screenplay does have a few noticeable flaws (the hospital not being able to find any records about what had happened only five years ago,and an ending which is not that well explained)he is still able to delivery a very entertaining script,which really makes it feel that the killings are taking place in a very small town,that has little resources and is a place where everyone knows each other.
Final view on the film:
A great,fun slasher,with a good script and some fantastic killings.
To my surprise,he said that before I watch the new version,I should watch the original first (that has at last come out uncut on DVD)that he has.After watching it,I think that it is a very enjoyable slasher film,with fun special effects and a good story.
The plot:
After not holding a Valentines dance or party for the last twenty years ,(because when the last dance was held,two mining supervises decided to leave the group of miners early,to get to the dance as fast as they could.Sadly due to both of them not checking to see if everything is working OK,a gas leak caused a huge explosion,which led to six miners losing there lives,and the only surviving one (Harry Warden),going completely insane and going on a mini killing spree.
The people that run the town decide that since that much time has gone by,and that the killer has been locked up in a mental hospital for twenty years,everyone feels that the Valentines Day dance can now return to the school.
Years later:
With just a few days to go,the whole town seems to be bursting with excitement,with all the students and young miners spending lots of time to make sure that every thing goes perfectly.But when the Mayor receives a mystery Valentines box,that instead of containing chocolates,contains a human heart.
This leads to the Mayor and the police to start suspecting that Warden may have come back,which causes them to completely cancel the dance.Though neither of them know,that since cancelling the dance,some of the miners and students have set up a "secret" party that is being held at the mine where the explosion happened twenty years ago..
View on the film:
The first thing that I want to mention is the excellent new footage,which has thankfully been at last put back into the film.Whilst the extra footage is understandably a bit grainy (mostly due to it having been left on the side for thirty years)it is still able to massively improve many of the great killings in the film,with the fun practical special effects now being allowed to burst out into a full bloodbath.
Whilst watching the film,I have to admit that I was very surprised that director George Mihalka had not put any nudity in this slasher,luckily he does put in a lot of very good scary killings,as well as doing very well at building tension around the activities of the events that are happening around the mines.
Although John Beairos screenplay does have a few noticeable flaws (the hospital not being able to find any records about what had happened only five years ago,and an ending which is not that well explained)he is still able to delivery a very entertaining script,which really makes it feel that the killings are taking place in a very small town,that has little resources and is a place where everyone knows each other.
Final view on the film:
A great,fun slasher,with a good script and some fantastic killings.