My Bloody Valentine 3D

Bloodthirsty fans of the classic slashers of yesteryear should be sated by MY BLOODY VALENTINE (2009), a gory trip that's not just a remake but a retro-amalgam of the greatest hits from the 1970s, '80s, and '90s. The HALLOWEEN-influenced, eerily Canadian 1981 original holds a modest place in many horror hearts despite its notoriously trimmed violence. But even those who havent seen it will get the feeling that this VALENTINE sports an amplified blood-and-guts factor, one that brings with it the distinctly outlandish brutality and hulking-masked-killer archetype of a FRIDAY THE 13th instalment combined with the polished chase scenes of post-SCREAM teen horror. As if this gore-ucopia didnt have enough spices already, its premise and structure are also indebted to such cheeky mystery-slashers as HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME and APRIL FOOLS DAY. A decade after traumatized miner Harry Warden goes on a pickaxe massacre, guilt-stricken Tom (Jensen Ackles) returns to his quaint hometown only to find that a string of similar murders has started up. With Warden believed to be long dead, Sheriff Axel casts suspicion on Tom. It seems his old flame, Sarah, is the only one who truly believes hes innocent. The movies horror-expert filmmakers imbue VALENTINE with the reliably enjoyable entertainment-trumps-logic of slasher films, especially in the way everyone in town--including the police--seems way more interested in proving or disproving Harry Wardens involvement than actually stopping the in-progress murder spree. Similarly, beloved genre vet Tom Atkins (NIGHT OF THE CREEPS) is on hand to deliver a coolly understated retired-cop performance. But peppered in are some nifty subliminal visual flourishes and at least one off-the-wall sequence (think fully naked, fleeing little people, and a box-spring-as-cage). The 3-D version is uncommonly well-integrated, subjecting viewers not only to hair-raising projectiles, but an effective immersion into the mise-en-scene

A remake of George Mihalka' 1981 slasher original, director Patrick Lussier (DRACULA 2000) gives the classic tale of a madman stalking teenagers of Valentine's Day a millennium overhaul. SUPERNATURAL's Jensen Ackles stars as a man who is unable to move on from an accident he caused a decade ago that led to a murderer taking deadly revenge. But those events are no longer a distant memory when people in his small town begin to die again.