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(2001)
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(2001) |
A group of girls embarrass a nervous, nerdy boy at a Junior High School dance. Ten years later, someone wearing a Cupid mask is picking the young women off, one at a time--someone who may be tied into that earlier event.
Subgenres: slasher, revenge
Director: Jamie Blanks
Writers: Donna Powers, Wayne Powers, Gretchen J. Berg, Aaron Harberts, Tom Savage (novel)
Starring: Marley Shelton, David Boreanaz
2 reviews | ||||||
It took how many people to write this? Valentine is a by-the-numbers slasher flick, one that possesses a few good points that are drowned in a sea of bad ideas and bad execution. It's like an update of Slaughter High, without that film's attempts at atmosphere. What's good about Valentine is that occasionally the characters make mistakes a real human being would make, like, say, actually not knowing how to load a gun on the first try. What's bad about the film is overpowering. The female cast actually manages to up the ante of the usual T&A horror flick; the people in question really aren't that bad as actors, but the reason why they were cast is suspect. The one exception is Denise Richards--she indicated in Starship Troopers that she is somewhat capable of giving more than a one-note performance, but in this film she backslides into the Rich Bitch territory she explored in Wild Things. Decent acting or no, I was completely unable to become invested in any of the characters, including David Boreanaz in the always thankless role of the good-guy-boyfriend who at least one point during the film people think is the killer. Heard that before? On top of all this, I found this film's depiction of its characters insulting in the extreme, not to mention sexist, even if it seems to hate both men and women in equal measure. The writing presents the characters as one-dimensional cyphers, each with a depravity that instead of just being a part of a personality is the consuming factor in that personality. Valentine is a shallow and bleak look at humanity, and one of the meanest horror films I've seen in a while. (Jul 30, 2001) | ||||||
Valentine is the best slasher film I've seen, better than Scream, I Know What You Did Last Summer, and Urban Legend. Valentine is different than other slasher films. I know, it's the same basic story--a man in a mask goes around killing people, but Valentine is different in some ways, especially in the brilliant way it treats the secret of the killer's identity. Another difference is that in many slasher films, you have to uncover the killer's motive in what is usually a dumb mystery. In Valentine, the audience already knows the motive--getting revenge. And the cherub the killer wears mask is scary and awesome. Well, I love Valentine because it has great scares and a great plot, with sexy-ass girls (Denise Richards, Marley Shelton, Jessica Capshaw, Katherine Heigl, and Jessica Cauffiel). Valentine is not stupid just because is about a killer slashing people, but is good because of the way it was made. (Aug 7, 2001) | ||||||
Violence and blood were cut out of several scenes, reportedly at Warner's behest, with the intention of making the film more in accordance with the violence-in-media concerns of the time.
Released a couple of weeks shy of Valentine's Day, 2001.
