Valentine (2001)

That boy you rejected back in middle school is back...and he's not very happy. 'Valentine' is a late game in the slasher genre, and that's even for its time. 1996's 'Scream' was a phenomenon that rejuvenated the long dead sub-genre and like 'Halloween' before it, it spawned dozens of imitators. 2001's 'Valentine' is one of the better imitators you can spend time with, even if its a tad too tame (but we'll get to that in a bit). The plot is like many slashers before it: a young boy named Jeremy Melton is turned down, humiliated, and harassed by his school peers and a group of young girls in particular during the Valentine's Day dance. Many years later, the girls have grown into beautiful women and on the eve of the anniversary since that incident happened, one of their own turns up dead and they begin to receive special valentines in the mail.

Just a personal note, I have to say that right away I loved this movie's opening as it opens with Katherine Heigl meeting an unfortunate end. That's not a spoiler as its on the back of the DVD just so you don't go yelling at me. Anyway, 'Valentine' has the usual slick production value you expect from these post-'Scream' films. It's nicely shot, with some moody lighting and a lot dated 90's/00's music throughout. The movie takes the Giallo route by having practically every character in the film be unlikeable, petty, and annoying. The problem with this is, the movie also never hints at the killer being anyone else but Jeremy in the end. Even with some slight twists near the climax, it doesn't pull it off leaving a lot of pointless characters and sidestories by the wayside.

Now, I have to talk about the kills in 'Valentine'. Unfortunately, during this time several real life tragedies had come to pass including the horrific Columbine killings. Naturally, this worried many parent groups and the blame was quickly shifted to horror films like 'Scream' among other things. Oddly enough, even with the now seemingly lost uncut version of 'Valentine' the film still received no grief from the MPAA (or as their known by horror fans: assholes). No, director Jamie Blanks made the decision in the end to chop up the film out of respect and while I can commend him for doing the right thing, it's what people come to see slasher films for. The kills are all that matters in most cases, especially when the film has little else like 'Valentine'.

Fortunately, the kills do not suffer too much but they are noticeably shortened in some instances my favorite kill involving glass shards included. Still, besides the kills you do get some fun gross out moments such as a girl eating insects unknowingly and some funny moments throughout to recycle some of the movie at least. Despite its problems though, I still really enjoy watching 'Valentine' every year. It's definitely no 'My Bloody Valentine' and everyone in it sucks but the kills that weren't butchered are surprisingly brutal and happen quite often throughout the short running time. It's an okay imitator with the same problems as most, but the higher production value, genuinely creepy masked killer, and some memorable kills make it worth a watch.

6/10