My Bloody Valentine
Short description
A small mining town has gone twenty years without marking Valentine's Day. Two decades earlier, a collapse at the mine killed several workers while others were at the celebration, and the one man who survived the disaster later killed those he held responsible, warning the community never to hold the holiday again. Now a group of young residents decides to revive the tradition, and a figure in mining gear begins targeting townspeople once more.
This Canadian horror film was directed by George Mihalka, his first feature, followed years later by Straight Line and Bullet to Beijing. John Beaird wrote the screenplay, and John Dunning, André Link and Stephen A. Miller produced. The cast includes Paul Kelman as T.J., Lori Hallier as Sarah, Neil Affleck as Axel, Keith Knight as Hollis, Cynthia Dale as Patty and Alf Humphreys as Howard, among twenty-one credited performers. It was released in February 1981 and runs ninety minutes.
Made for about two million dollars, the film returned roughly six million worldwide. On IMDb it holds a 6.3 rating from around 28,000 votes, and on TMDB a 6.4 from several hundred. A critics' score of 5.7 from twenty-seven reviews places it close to those audience figures.
What's left behind the scenes
- According to the makeup artist, one of his creations turned out so realistic that it made director George Mihalka vomit upon seeing it.
- Quentin Tarantino declared “My Bloody Valentine” his favorite slasher film.
- During filming, the economic situation in the province of Nova Scotia was quite precarious, due to the problems of the Canadian company Sydney Steel Corporation. Under attack from environmentalists, the company couldn't decide whether to close its plants or not. One way or another, someone decided that filming a horror movie would attract crowds of tourists to Nova Scotia, but those hopes were not to be realized.
- Number of deaths in the film: 12.
- During the end credits, a ballad plays featuring the line “…and those who survived know that the secret lives on.” This is a reference to the film’s working title – “The Secret.”
- Producers André Link and John Dunning recounted that the idea for the film came to them when they started, out of curiosity, looking for a holiday that hadn’t been the subject of a slasher film during the slasher boom of the early 1980s. Eventually, they both settled on Valentine's Day. They came up with the film's title immediately, but fearing leaks, gave the film the working title “The Secret.”
- The film was shot in underground workings extending to a depth of up to 300 meters. Due to the risk of methane explosion, only special lighting equipment could be used there.
- Almost all the houses shown in the film were once built by coal companies for miners. By 2015, only a few of them were still standing.
- The film was shot in the small mining town of Sydney Mines in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia. During filming, a process of closing numerous mines and workings surrounding the town was underway due to the economic difficulties of the coal industry and the efforts of environmental activists. A museum was subsequently opened in the mine where filming took place.
- The Irish rock band My Bloody Valentine, founders of the shoegaze style (one of the genres of alternative rock), took their name from George A. Romero's film.
- According to Neil Affleck, who starred in the film, even the actors had no idea who the killer was. The filmmakers insisted on this, as they enjoyed the atmosphere of mystery on set. Affleck himself realized the killer was his character because, after being cast, he was called to the special effects department to be fitted for a prosthetic arm, which the killer loses at the end of the film.
- In 2001, George Mihalka approached Paramount Pictures with a proposal for a sequel, but the proposal was rejected due to the modest box office success of the first film.
- One of the visual effects specialists sent a prop corpse in a coffin, which he had made for the filming, to the set. The 'package' was international and caused quite a stir at the Canadian border.
- The American Motion Picture Association demanded the removal of over 5 minutes of footage from the film – mainly because it was released shortly after the murder of John Lennon (1940-1980), and public reaction to films saturated with violence was negative.
- Composer Paul Zaza added the folk ballad that plays during the end credits at the very last moment.
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