I saw this film recently and I was not particularly impressed. Slasher films are by nature films that rarely turn out to be remarkable, even though they quickly conquer a small legion of fans who give them cult status. This film did not even prove to be a truly good slasher film, largely due to a rather weak script and total lack of environment.
Everything happens in the small town of Valentine, where the main celebration is, as it could not be otherwise, Valentine's Day. This city is a small mining community around an important mine. One day, there is an accident and Harry Warden, a miner, goes crazy and kills a number of colleagues and people, forcing the city to cease to celebrate their party. From then on, an urban legend was born that, now, will take on a new life with the initiative, led by local youth, to reactivate the festivities.
The film has a lot of problems. George Mihalka was an inept director who did not know how to use the best of the film to build a tense and sinister environment, where the dark and damp tunnels of the mine were more than an excellent place for couples to meet and occasionally drink. The film never really scares us, even with all the gore. It has a uninteresting script, where characters' romances are of no interest at all. Harry Warden's story, with little touches of madness and cannibalism, sounds too far-fetched and was not well used. The characters are quite weak and even the villain is forgettable, which makes us lose interest in the film quite quickly.
In addition to the bad characters, most of them merely thought to be there or to die, we have a very mediocre performance of the cast, made of actors from the most basic levels of drama, to the point that even the protagonist is unable to comply with his task with a minimum of presence. The film's obsession with romance or dating, in addition to the obvious gore, also did not help the cast to stand out, on the contrary.
Technically, its very bad: an uninteresting and dull cinematography with washed colors and an extremely low contrast, sets and costumes that are not interesting or remarkable and a virtually nonexistent soundtrack. The only thing working fine are the visual effects and gore scenes. The mutilations and deaths seem real enough and there are a number of good ideas, like the human heart cooking in the sausage pan or the body inside the washing machine. But this is not enough to make the film work.
Everything happens in the small town of Valentine, where the main celebration is, as it could not be otherwise, Valentine's Day. This city is a small mining community around an important mine. One day, there is an accident and Harry Warden, a miner, goes crazy and kills a number of colleagues and people, forcing the city to cease to celebrate their party. From then on, an urban legend was born that, now, will take on a new life with the initiative, led by local youth, to reactivate the festivities.
The film has a lot of problems. George Mihalka was an inept director who did not know how to use the best of the film to build a tense and sinister environment, where the dark and damp tunnels of the mine were more than an excellent place for couples to meet and occasionally drink. The film never really scares us, even with all the gore. It has a uninteresting script, where characters' romances are of no interest at all. Harry Warden's story, with little touches of madness and cannibalism, sounds too far-fetched and was not well used. The characters are quite weak and even the villain is forgettable, which makes us lose interest in the film quite quickly.
In addition to the bad characters, most of them merely thought to be there or to die, we have a very mediocre performance of the cast, made of actors from the most basic levels of drama, to the point that even the protagonist is unable to comply with his task with a minimum of presence. The film's obsession with romance or dating, in addition to the obvious gore, also did not help the cast to stand out, on the contrary.
Technically, its very bad: an uninteresting and dull cinematography with washed colors and an extremely low contrast, sets and costumes that are not interesting or remarkable and a virtually nonexistent soundtrack. The only thing working fine are the visual effects and gore scenes. The mutilations and deaths seem real enough and there are a number of good ideas, like the human heart cooking in the sausage pan or the body inside the washing machine. But this is not enough to make the film work.