Tenth Annual FMS Scarelicious October Movie Series: #9 My Bloody Valentine (1981)

After having tried for this in 2013, I've finally gotten around to watch the original My Bloody Valentine.  A classic 1980s slasher, starting right up with sex and death, the 1981 flick is vastly superior to the remake.

Twenty years ago (i.e., 1960), on the eve of the annual Valentine's Day dance in the little town Valentine Bluff, two supervisors left their posts and a bunch of miners were trapped in a cave-in.  When they finally dug them out six weeks later, only one was still alive: Harry Warden, stark raving mad after having eaten his compatriots to stay alive.  Harry eventually got checked into the local insane asylum after killing those two supervisors and a bunch of other people on subsequent Valentine's Days.  He swore that as long as the Valentine's Day dance was held, he would murder people.  The powers that be wisely shut down all Valentine-related festivities ... until now (1980), when they decide that it's been long enough and gosh darn it, they WILL have a Valentine's Day dance again. 

But the murders start up almost immediately so the mayor and sheriff cancel it all, since they lived through Harry Warden's terrorizing the first time around.  The town's young folks, however, don't remember those days and decide to have their own party out at the mining offices.  A few of them sneak off down into the mine and so when the murders start at the party, they are unaware.  And then the killer follows them down into the earth.

Look, this is a low budget slasher (I counted eleven kills btw, including one kid getting drowned in hot dog water lol) and follows the slasher conventions pretty faithfully; I even guessed the killer with about fifteen minutes to go.  I really liked this one, though.  The young people are not blank stereotypes: they have jobs, conflicts, names and distinguishable personalities.  The mine itself is a fantastic location - I believe they shot on location, in an actual mine, in Nova Scotia - very ominous, scary and confusing.  The killer fades in and out of the darkness, there are strange noises echoing through the  and it really feels as though one might get lost in there forever.  Well done, My Bloody Valentine, very well done.