Valentine (2001) Blu-Ray Review

'Valentine' has always been one of my favorite slasher films and for years and now thanks to Scream Factory, we have the cult classic on Blu-Ray for the first time. The story is about a group of young women who begin to receive sinister Valentine's Day gifts seemingly from a young boy they once tormented at a school dance 20 years before. Is it the long forgotten boy longing for revenge? Or is it someone else? Firstly, the idea of introducing red herrings in the movie is one of its biggest flaws. We know it has to be this boy because of the film's opening prologue so these other suspicious or terrible people feel far too obvious and ultimately unnecessary. Surprisingly when looking back on this film for this review, I was surprised that I had little issue with the film outside that element. It's hard to believe that critics were so vicious to the film back in 2001, obtaining a abysmal 9% on Rotten Tomatoes. The film doesn't reinvent the wheel or anything, but director Jamie Blanks was never intending to. He simply wanted to make a throwback slasher film, without relying on the 'Scream' formula which in itself had become stale by then. 'Valentine' set out to be a fun and well made movie with a cool killer and a cast of likeable and funny characters and I feel it does just that.

The Blu-Ray comes with a 2K remaster of the original film negative which was shot by Rick Bota and both he and director Jamie Blanks supervised the transfer. Once again, Scream Factory delivers a solid video presentation giving 'Valentine' new life with a picture quality that all by itself blows the old DVD out of the water. The film was shot with blue and red color schemes and here they pop brilliantly. But the film also keeps the blacks and dimmer scenery intact to keep the more sinister scenes effective. Audio is presented in Dolby 5.1 and sounds clear and as well as you're going to get. Ultimately the audio is standard fare, which is by no means bad but nothing noteworthy here really.

Special Features are packed in comparison to the rather bare bones DVD release. You of course have those original features transferred over such as the original Audio Commentary with the director but we also have a brand new Commentary with Jamie Blanks, director Don Coscarelli, and author Peter Bracke. Both are very informative and go into many elements of the film, including the infamously deleted scenes, the cast, the filmmaking, and Don and Jamie's friendship. These are both very good listens for fans of the film and even goes into some tips for independent filmmakers if you're so inclined. Speaking of deleted scenes, we do finally get the majority of them intact although one frequently talked about death scene is sadly missing. Still, it's rare to see slashers get their cut scenes rediscovered and I appreciate Scream Factory's efforts. You also get some new interviews with the lovely ladies of 'Valentine' as well as an interview with composer Don Davis along with some classic press kits and documentaries from the original film's release. It's nice to see such a packed Blu-Ray after nearly twenty years of that crappy Warner Bros. DVD.

Any fans of slasher films have likely already seen 'Valentine'. It's one of the better entries in the post-Scream era and one that any horror enthusiast should at least check out. Scream Factory once again knocks it out of the park and delivers their very best in both audio/visual presentation and tons of great special features. I highly recommend this new release.

The Movie: 8/10

 The Blu-Ray: 9/10

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Happy Death Day 2U (2019)

'Happy Death Day 2U' is once again directed by Christopher Landon and picks up directly after the first film, in which a young woman named Tree was stuck reliving the same day over and over again until she was killed by a mysterious figure in a baby mask. The stakes are raised even higher as one would expect in a sequel, but it takes such a hard left turn that it may turn off many fans of the original. I can at least say that I truly appreciate that Landon and Blumhouse are so willing to take risks and try to weave a unique idea, but for me one of the greatest sins a sequel can commit is explain too much and as you may have guessed 'Happy Death Day 2U' commits this sin. On top of the weird backstory, they don't leave any kind of mystique at all opting to just flat out tell the audience within the film's first act and while it's a good idea for a film, I really wish it was used for another project.

Any horror elements the original had are stripped away, opting more for comedy and science-fiction which do work thanks to the likeable cast of characters and tongue in cheek humor. But I feel rather left out when I was promised a supernatural horror film but instead getting more of a black comedy instead. When the film does call back to its horror tropes, that's just what they are: tropes and really poorly executed ones to boot. Jump scares and misdirection that is typical of the genre so for any fans of horror or slasher films in particular there's sadly nothing left for you here. But as I said, I do enjoy the comedic elements and the cast are better than before with our main lead (Jessica Roth) holding the film together. Her character of Tree gets a lot of added layers this time around and without spoiling things, she has to really struggle with the decisions presented to her and you see that struggle and mixture of emotions thanks to Roth's high energy performance.

I'm sad to say that I was a little disappointed with 'Happy Death Day 2U' in the end. It's not a terrible movie, in fact it's an excellent movie really. But it feels too much like a bait & switch and goes in a bizarre direction that makes me unsure of the future of this potential franchise.

7/10

The Prodigy (2019)

'The Prodigy' is directed by Nicholas McCarthy (The Pact) and stars young Jackson Robert Scott, whom many of you have likely seen from 2017's 'IT'. He plays Miles, a young boy born the same night a psychotic murderer was gunned down by police. As Miles grows, he begins to show high levels of genius intelligence which his parents are thrilled to see. That is until Miles turns 8 years old, and mysterious accidents begin to occur around the young boy as he begins to show more & more disturbing behavior.

'The Prodigy' is a simple film on paper: evil child does evil things. Nobody believes the parents until things escalate into a showdown. This is the biggest problem with 'The Prodigy' because it also presents new ideas that are different from your usual killer kid fare, but they become muddled before even the second act. At first the film acts as if Miles is possessed and it's a demon seed film, then it goes into the more interesting ideas of reincarnation, but then it peaks and becomes a somewhat standard killer kid flick a la 'Orphan'. What really saves this movie I think is the finale, and it is absolutely gut-wrenching and unapologetic about it too. It's a great ending that is simply not seen in a theatrically released horror film very often these days. People seem to forget that horror movies are about that gut reaction and not about happy or satisfying climaxes so to see a wide release like 'The Prodigy' pull off such a brutal ending was awesome to see.

However, that brings me to the film as a whole, which is unfortunately just not good enough to earn such a good payoff. It's average at best, save for the wonderful cinematography and the excellent performance by Scott, who I think has a good horror career ahead of him but the rest really falls to pieces unfortunately. As with many of these kind of films, people stretch the suspension of disbelief to ridiculous levels, even when Miles commits horrible atrocities nobody calls the police, or immediately sends the kid to the hospital. They also have to commit the sin of the father character always being angry, poorly written, and seemingly incapable of caring for a child. This cliche really needs to stop because its not only lazy, but quite insulting.

Don't get me wrong here my dear reader, I don't hate 'The Prodigy' in fact I will go so far to say that I enjoyed it enough to go back and see what I may have missed as it does have much to offer when discussing the various themes it presents. It's just that it's weighed down with too many common tropes of the genre and becomes stale long before that amazing ending.

5/10