My Bloody Valentine (2009 film)
Encyclopedia
My Bloody Valentine 3D is a 2009 American horror film, and a remake
of the 1981 Canadian slasher film
of the same name
. The film was directed and edited by Patrick Lussier
, and stars Jensen Ackles
and Jaime King
. The film had a 3D theatrical release
; It was released on January 16, 2009 by Lionsgate to generally mixed reviews. It was released on DVD
and Blu-ray
on May 19, 2009.
), who survived by killing the other miners with a pickaxe. Tom Hanniger, the mine owner's son, was blamed for the mine disaster because he forgot to vent the methane lines.
The following year on Valentine's Day
, Warden wakes from his coma and kills many people. At the abandoned mineshaft that was the site of the disaster, a party is in full swing, attended by many teens, including Axel Palmer (Kerr Smith
), his girlfriend, Irene (Betsy Rue
), Tom Hanniger (Jensen Ackles
), and his girlfriend, Sarah (Jaime King
). Sarah goes in alone and gets lost looking for Axel and Irene. She runs across a teen and a few seconds later he is killed. She is confronted by Warden in full miner's garb, carrying a bloody pickaxe
, and she flees. Axel grabs her and they, along with Irene, hide from the killer. Warden eventually sees the trio, and they run out of the mine, meeting Tom as he comes in. The killer hits Tom with the pickaxe, injuring him, while the other three run for the car and leave Tom behind. Tom runs back into the mine in an attempt to escape Warden. Before Tom can be killed, the police arrive and shoot Warden, who makes his getaway back into the mine.
Ten years later, Tom's father, from whom Tom has been estranged, dies and Tom inherits the mine. Tom returns to town after his father's funeral to sell the mine. Axel is now sheriff and married to Sarah, but he is cheating on her with Megan (Megan Boone
), who works with Sarah at Sarah's grocery store. After Megan and Axel have sex at his family's old house in the woods, Megan tells Axel that she is pregnant with his child.
Meanwhile, at the motel where Tom is staying, Irene, the motel owner (Selene Luna
) and a trucker (Todd Farmer
) are murdered. Later, Tom visits his newly inherited mine. In the mine, Warden appears and forces Tom into a cage; Warden bends the metal latch on the door, making Tom's escape impossible. Warden then murders William "Red" Kirkpatrick (Jeff Hochendoner) the miner who was accompanying Tom. Before the rest of the mining crew arrive, Warden flees, and suspicion falls on Tom, despite the fact that he was locked in a cage the entire time. Axel then asks Jim Burke (Tom Atkins
), the retired sheriff what happened to Warden. The retired sheriff says that he and Ben Foley (Kevin Tighe
), the mine manager killed and buried Warden, but when Axel, Tom, and Sarah go to the burial spot, Warden's body is no longer there.
Next, Ben Foley and Megan are killed. The killer than goes to Axel's house and kills Axel's son's baby-sitter Rosa (Joy de la Paz) and Jim Burke who was trying to catch him. Tom tries to take Sarah to Axel's house in the woods to convince her that Axel is the killer. Axel calls Sarah while she and Tom are on the road; Axel tells her that Tom has been in a mental hospital and is the killer. Sarah crashes Tom's car and makes her way to Axel's old homestead. She is chased by the killer all the way to the mine. Sarah goes into the shaft where the original murders took place. She is joined by Tom and Axel, and, after a brief stand off between the men, Axel and Sarah realize that Tom is delusional. A montage then plays out all the murders in the film again, revealing Tom to be the killer. Tom committed the murder in the mine, then locked himself in the cage, hallucinating Warden as his nemesis. Sarah shoots a tank and causes an explosion, triggering a partial cave-in. She and Axel escape, believing Tom to be dead. A rescue team enters the mine to look for survivors, but Tom kills a rescue worker and escapes the scene dressed in that worker's uniform.
along the Route 28
corridor, in locations including Sprankle's Market in Kittanning
, the Ford City
police station, and the exterior of the Logansport Mine in Bethel
. Kittanning served as main street in the film's fictional town of Harmony. The production spent 13 days filming scenes in the Tour-Ed Mines in the Pittsburgh
suburb of Tarentum
, a mine that has been out of production since the 1960s and now operates as a museum.
The inside of Valliant's Diner in Ross Township
was used as a location for one scene, and a house on Hulton Road in Oakmont
, a suburb of Pittsburgh
, was also used as a location.
The film was shot entirely digitally
in 4K resolution. The filmmakers used the Red One from Red Digital Cinema Camera Company, and the SI-2K Digital Cinema Camera by Silicon Imaging as digital cameras. Max Penner, the film’s stereographer, found these lighter and smaller cameras easier to use.
reports that 57% of 86 critics have given the film a positive review, with a rating average
of 5.7 out of 10. Metacritic
, which assigns a weighted average score out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the film received an average score of 51 based on 11 reviews.
Joe Leydon of Variety
said, "director and co-editor Lussier (a frequent Wes Craven collaborator) plays the 3-D gimmick for all it’s worth: Everything from tree branches and gun barrels to bloody pickaxes and bloodier body parts appears to jump off the screen. He also makes effective use of the depth-of-field illusion, allowing audiences long views of various chest cavities from which hearts have been rudely ripped. At the very least, the overall tech package is a great deal more impactful than that of the 3-D-lensed “Friday the 13th Part III” (1982)". He added, in spite of the "state-of-the-art 3-D camera trickery, which helmer Patrick Lussier shamelessly exploits to goose the audience with cheap thrills and full-bore gore, My Bloody Valentine is at heart an unabashedly retro work, reveling in the cliches and conventions of the slasher horror pics that proliferated in the early 1980s".
Mark Olsen of the Los Angeles Times
said, the implemented 3-D technology enables "startling effects, but after a while the minor thrill of the trick is gone. Advances in digital technology have allowed the filmmakers to largely avoid the physical headaches that are perhaps the biggest hallmark of the cyclical attempts at 3-D moviemaking". He added, "wooden performances by forgettable, generic actors -- again, just like in the original -- don't aid in making things any less leaden" and My Bloody Valentine 3-D is "just good enough to not be annoying".
Jeannette Catsoulis of The New York Times
said, "the creaky screenplay (by Todd Farmer and Zane Smith) is mercilessly at odds with the director's fine sense of pacing. From the moment you duck a flying mandible and gaze, mesmerized, at a severed hand oozing two inches from your nose, you'll be convinced that the extra dimension was worth seeking out. A strange synergy of old and new, My Bloody Valentine 3D blends cutting-edge technology and old-school prosthetics to produce something both familiar and alien: gore you can believe in".
Clark Collis of Entertainment Weekly
grades the film a C+ and says that it "starts in spectacular fashion. But what really leaps out at you about My Bloody Valentine 3-D is its lack of imagination". Frank Scheck of The Hollywood Reporter
said, "While the concept of adding 3-D to the horror genre is hardly new ... Patrick Lussier's film is the most accomplished example. The 3-D effects come fast and furious, rendered with a technical skill and humor that gives this otherwise strictly formulaic slasher picture whatever entertainment value it possesses." He adds, "the three leads actually manage to invest their roles with some depth, but the real acting treats come courtesy of veteran character actors Kevin Tighe and Atkins, whose presence provides a comforting bridge to horror films past. Special mention must also be made of supporting actress Betsy Rue, a real trouper who treats the target male audience to one of the longest and most unabashedly gratuitous full-frontal nude scenes in horror film history".
and Blu-ray
on May 19, 2009 and has grossed in excess of $19.7 million with DVD sales and theater gross revenue totaling over $119.9 million.
Both home release versions have both a standard 2D version and the 3D version on the same disc using seamless branching
. However, a special Blu-ray version was also created specifically for online rental chains like Netflix
and Blockbuster.
On October 5, 2010, Lionsgate Home Entertainment released My Bloody Valentine 3D on Blu-ray 3D which requires a 3D-capable HDTV, 3D Blu-ray player and 3D glasses. The disc also includes a 2D version of the film and all bonus materials included in the 2D Blu-ray version released after the film's initial theater run.
Remake
A remake is a piece of media based primarily on an earlier work of the same medium.-Film:The term "remake" is generally used in reference to a movie which uses an earlier movie as the main source material, rather than in reference to a second, later movie based on the same source...
of the 1981 Canadian slasher film
Slasher film
A slasher film is a type of horror film typically involving a psychopathic killer stalking and killing a sequence of victims in a graphically violent manner, often with a cutting tool such as a knife or axe...
of the same name
My Bloody Valentine (film)
My Bloody Valentine is a 1981 Canadian slasher film released in the wake of the popularity of the slasher genre that had overtaken the 1970s...
. The film was directed and edited by Patrick Lussier
Patrick Lussier
Patrick Lussier is a Canadian horror and thriller genre writer, editor and director.- Career :Lussier has worked as a film editor on most of Wes Craven's latter films, including Wes Craven's New Nightmare, Vampire in Brooklyn, Scream and Red Eye and has directed films including Dracula 2000, The...
, and stars Jensen Ackles
Jensen Ackles
Jensen Ross Ackles is an American actor. He is known for his roles in television as Eric Brady in Days of our Lives, which earned him several Daytime Emmy Award nominations, as well as Alec/X5-494 in Dark Angel and Jason Teague in Smallville...
and Jaime King
Jaime King
Jaime King is an American actress and model. In her modeling career and early film roles, she used the names Jamie King and James King, which was a childhood nickname given to King by her parents, because her agency already represented another Jaime — the older, then more famous model Jaime...
. The film had a 3D theatrical release
3-D film
A 3-D film or S3D film is a motion picture that enhances the illusion of depth perception...
; It was released on January 16, 2009 by Lionsgate to generally mixed reviews. It was released on DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
and Blu-ray
Blu-ray Disc
Blu-ray Disc is an optical disc storage medium designed to supersede the DVD format. The plastic disc is 120 mm in diameter and 1.2 mm thick, the same size as DVDs and CDs. Blu-ray Discs contain 25 GB per layer, with dual layer discs being the norm for feature-length video discs...
on May 19, 2009.
Plot
Ten years ago, a cave-in on the north side of a mine trapped six miners. Six days later, rescue teams found five dead miners and the comatose Harry Warden (Richard John WaltersRichard John Walters
Richard John Walters is an American film and television actor, best known for playing Harry Warden in the 2009 horror film, My Bloody Valentine 3D.-Biography:...
), who survived by killing the other miners with a pickaxe. Tom Hanniger, the mine owner's son, was blamed for the mine disaster because he forgot to vent the methane lines.
The following year on Valentine's Day
Valentine's Day
Saint Valentine's Day, commonly shortened to Valentine's Day, is an annual commemoration held on February 14 celebrating love and affection between intimate companions. The day is named after one or more early Christian martyrs named Saint Valentine, and was established by Pope Gelasius I in 496...
, Warden wakes from his coma and kills many people. At the abandoned mineshaft that was the site of the disaster, a party is in full swing, attended by many teens, including Axel Palmer (Kerr Smith
Kerr Smith
Kerr Van Cleve Smith is an American actor best known for playing Jack McPhee on The WB drama series Dawson's Creek, Kyle Brody in The WB's, supernatural drama, Charmed and more recently Axel Palmer in My Bloody Valentine 3D...
), his girlfriend, Irene (Betsy Rue
Betsy Rue
Betsy Rue is an American actress and pop singer best known for her roles in My Bloody Valentine 3D and Halloween II. She has also appeared in many TV series like Unfabulous, How I Met Your Mother, According to Jim, True Blood, Eastwick and iCarly. Her debut single "My World" was released on August...
), Tom Hanniger (Jensen Ackles
Jensen Ackles
Jensen Ross Ackles is an American actor. He is known for his roles in television as Eric Brady in Days of our Lives, which earned him several Daytime Emmy Award nominations, as well as Alec/X5-494 in Dark Angel and Jason Teague in Smallville...
), and his girlfriend, Sarah (Jaime King
Jaime King
Jaime King is an American actress and model. In her modeling career and early film roles, she used the names Jamie King and James King, which was a childhood nickname given to King by her parents, because her agency already represented another Jaime — the older, then more famous model Jaime...
). Sarah goes in alone and gets lost looking for Axel and Irene. She runs across a teen and a few seconds later he is killed. She is confronted by Warden in full miner's garb, carrying a bloody pickaxe
Pickaxe
A pickaxe or pick is a hand tool with a hard head attached perpendicular to the handle.Some people make the distinction that a pickaxe has a head with a pointed end and a flat end, and a pick has both ends pointed, or only one end; but most people use the words to mean the same thing.The head is...
, and she flees. Axel grabs her and they, along with Irene, hide from the killer. Warden eventually sees the trio, and they run out of the mine, meeting Tom as he comes in. The killer hits Tom with the pickaxe, injuring him, while the other three run for the car and leave Tom behind. Tom runs back into the mine in an attempt to escape Warden. Before Tom can be killed, the police arrive and shoot Warden, who makes his getaway back into the mine.
Ten years later, Tom's father, from whom Tom has been estranged, dies and Tom inherits the mine. Tom returns to town after his father's funeral to sell the mine. Axel is now sheriff and married to Sarah, but he is cheating on her with Megan (Megan Boone
Megan Boone
Megan Boone is an American actress. She is best known for her role as Junior Deputy District Attorney Lauren Stanton on the NBC television series Law & Order: Los Angeles. Boone left the series in 2011 due to a creative overhaul....
), who works with Sarah at Sarah's grocery store. After Megan and Axel have sex at his family's old house in the woods, Megan tells Axel that she is pregnant with his child.
Meanwhile, at the motel where Tom is staying, Irene, the motel owner (Selene Luna
Selene Luna
Selene Luna is an actress, comedienne, burlesque star, and model known for her roles on comedian Margaret Cho's reality TV series The Cho Show and in such films as My Bloody Valentine 3D...
) and a trucker (Todd Farmer
Todd Farmer
Todd Farmer is an American writer and actor, having written the scripts for Jason X , Messengers 2: The Scarecrow , My Bloody Valentine 3D , and Drive Angry .-Early life:...
) are murdered. Later, Tom visits his newly inherited mine. In the mine, Warden appears and forces Tom into a cage; Warden bends the metal latch on the door, making Tom's escape impossible. Warden then murders William "Red" Kirkpatrick (Jeff Hochendoner) the miner who was accompanying Tom. Before the rest of the mining crew arrive, Warden flees, and suspicion falls on Tom, despite the fact that he was locked in a cage the entire time. Axel then asks Jim Burke (Tom Atkins
Tom Atkins (actor)
Tom Atkins is an American television and film actor. He is primarily known for his work in the horror film genre, having worked with writers and directors such as John Carpenter, Stephen King, and George A. Romero...
), the retired sheriff what happened to Warden. The retired sheriff says that he and Ben Foley (Kevin Tighe
Kevin Tighe
Kevin Tighe is an American character actor primarily known for his roles on television. Tighe is best known for his role as Roy DeSoto, a senior paramedic, on the NBC series Emergency! . He and Randolph Mantooth, his partner in the series, have remained close friends...
), the mine manager killed and buried Warden, but when Axel, Tom, and Sarah go to the burial spot, Warden's body is no longer there.
Next, Ben Foley and Megan are killed. The killer than goes to Axel's house and kills Axel's son's baby-sitter Rosa (Joy de la Paz) and Jim Burke who was trying to catch him. Tom tries to take Sarah to Axel's house in the woods to convince her that Axel is the killer. Axel calls Sarah while she and Tom are on the road; Axel tells her that Tom has been in a mental hospital and is the killer. Sarah crashes Tom's car and makes her way to Axel's old homestead. She is chased by the killer all the way to the mine. Sarah goes into the shaft where the original murders took place. She is joined by Tom and Axel, and, after a brief stand off between the men, Axel and Sarah realize that Tom is delusional. A montage then plays out all the murders in the film again, revealing Tom to be the killer. Tom committed the murder in the mine, then locked himself in the cage, hallucinating Warden as his nemesis. Sarah shoots a tank and causes an explosion, triggering a partial cave-in. She and Axel escape, believing Tom to be dead. A rescue team enters the mine to look for survivors, but Tom kills a rescue worker and escapes the scene dressed in that worker's uniform.
Cast
- Jensen AcklesJensen AcklesJensen Ross Ackles is an American actor. He is known for his roles in television as Eric Brady in Days of our Lives, which earned him several Daytime Emmy Award nominations, as well as Alec/X5-494 in Dark Angel and Jason Teague in Smallville...
as Tom J. Hanniger - Jaime KingJaime KingJaime King is an American actress and model. In her modeling career and early film roles, she used the names Jamie King and James King, which was a childhood nickname given to King by her parents, because her agency already represented another Jaime — the older, then more famous model Jaime...
as Sarah Palmer - Kerr SmithKerr SmithKerr Van Cleve Smith is an American actor best known for playing Jack McPhee on The WB drama series Dawson's Creek, Kyle Brody in The WB's, supernatural drama, Charmed and more recently Axel Palmer in My Bloody Valentine 3D...
as Axel Palmer - Betsy RueBetsy RueBetsy Rue is an American actress and pop singer best known for her roles in My Bloody Valentine 3D and Halloween II. She has also appeared in many TV series like Unfabulous, How I Met Your Mother, According to Jim, True Blood, Eastwick and iCarly. Her debut single "My World" was released on August...
as Irene Donnely - Edi GathegiEdi GathegiEdi Mue Gathegi is a Kenyan-American film, stage and television actor. He is best known for his recurring character Dr. Jeffrey Cole in the television series House, as Cheese in the 2007 film Gone Baby Gone and as Laurent in the films Twilight, its sequel The Twilight Saga: New Moon and Darwin in...
as Deputy Martin - Tom AtkinsTom Atkins (actor)Tom Atkins is an American television and film actor. He is primarily known for his work in the horror film genre, having worked with writers and directors such as John Carpenter, Stephen King, and George A. Romero...
as James "Jim" Burke - Kevin TigheKevin TigheKevin Tighe is an American character actor primarily known for his roles on television. Tighe is best known for his role as Roy DeSoto, a senior paramedic, on the NBC series Emergency! . He and Randolph Mantooth, his partner in the series, have remained close friends...
as Ben Foley - Megan BooneMegan BooneMegan Boone is an American actress. She is best known for her role as Junior Deputy District Attorney Lauren Stanton on the NBC television series Law & Order: Los Angeles. Boone left the series in 2011 due to a creative overhaul....
as Megan - Karen Baum as Deputy Ferris
- Joy de la Paz as Rosa
- Marc MacaulayMarc MacaulayMarc Macaulay is an American actor.He was born and raised in Millinocket, Maine. He graduated with a BFA in theater. He recently appeared in the new USA Network Series Burn Notice for five episodes as Agent Harris, and as "Blaine Bauer" in the horror film Thirteen Floors.Some of his most prominent...
as Marc Riggs - Todd FarmerTodd FarmerTodd Farmer is an American writer and actor, having written the scripts for Jason X , Messengers 2: The Scarecrow , My Bloody Valentine 3D , and Drive Angry .-Early life:...
as Frank the Trucker - Selene LunaSelene LunaSelene Luna is an actress, comedienne, burlesque star, and model known for her roles on comedian Margaret Cho's reality TV series The Cho Show and in such films as My Bloody Valentine 3D...
as Selene - Jeff Hochendoner as William "Red" Kirkpatrick
- Richard John WaltersRichard John WaltersRichard John Walters is an American film and television actor, best known for playing Harry Warden in the 2009 horror film, My Bloody Valentine 3D.-Biography:...
as Harry Warden
Production
The film was shot in South Western Pennsylvania, taking advantage of the state's tax incentives for film productions as well as the topographical and architectural versatility of the Pittsburgh Metro area. Filming began on May 11, 2008 in Armstrong CountyArmstrong County, Pennsylvania
Armstrong County is a county located in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. As of the 2010 census, the population was 68,941. It is located northeast of Pittsburgh and Allegheny County. Armstrong County was added to the Pittsburgh Metropolitan Statistical Area in 2003.The county seat is Kittanning...
along the Route 28
Pennsylvania Route 28
Pennsylvania Route 28 is a major state highway which runs for 97 miles from Interstate 279 and Interstate 579 at the Interstate 279 Interchange in Pittsburgh to U.S. Route 219 in Brockway in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. The expressway from Kittanning to Pittsburgh is called the Alexander H...
corridor, in locations including Sprankle's Market in Kittanning
Kittanning, Pennsylvania
Kittanning is a borough and the county seat of Armstrong County, Pennsylvania in the United States. It is situated northeast of Pittsburgh, along the east bank of the Allegheny River. The name means "at the great stream" in the Delaware language...
, the Ford City
Ford City, Pennsylvania
Ford City is a borough in Armstrong County, Pennsylvania, United States, northeast of Pittsburgh along the east bank of the Allegheny River and 4 miles south of Kittanning, the county seat....
police station, and the exterior of the Logansport Mine in Bethel
Bethel Township, Armstrong County, Pennsylvania
Bethel Township is a township in Armstrong County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 1,290 at the 2000 census.-Geography:According to the United States Census Bureau, the township has a total area of , of which, of it is land and of it is water.-Demographics:As of the census of...
. Kittanning served as main street in the film's fictional town of Harmony. The production spent 13 days filming scenes in the Tour-Ed Mines in the Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh is the second-largest city in the US Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Allegheny County. Regionally, it anchors the largest urban area of Appalachia and the Ohio River Valley, and nationally, it is the 22nd-largest urban area in the United States...
suburb of Tarentum
Tarentum, Pennsylvania
Tarentum is a borough in Allegheny County in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. It is northeast of Downtown Pittsburgh, along the Allegheny River. Tarentum was an industrial center where plate glass and bottles were manufactured; bricks, lumber, steel and iron novelties, steel billets and sheets,...
, a mine that has been out of production since the 1960s and now operates as a museum.
The inside of Valliant's Diner in Ross Township
Ross Township, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania
Ross Township is a township in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 31,105 at the 2010 census. In September 2007, Ross Township adopted the Strong Mayor/Weak Council form of government allowed by Pennsylvania statutes for townships of its class.The township is part of...
was used as a location for one scene, and a house on Hulton Road in Oakmont
Oakmont, Pennsylvania
Oakmont is a borough in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, USA. It is a Pittsburgh suburb and part of the Pittsburgh Metro Area. The population was 6,303 at the 2010 census....
, a suburb of Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh is the second-largest city in the US Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Allegheny County. Regionally, it anchors the largest urban area of Appalachia and the Ohio River Valley, and nationally, it is the 22nd-largest urban area in the United States...
, was also used as a location.
The film was shot entirely digitally
Digital cinematography
Digital cinematography is the process of capturing motion pictures as digital images, rather than on film. Digital capture may occur on video tape, hard disks, flash memory, or other media which can record digital data. As digital technology has improved, this practice has become increasingly common...
in 4K resolution. The filmmakers used the Red One from Red Digital Cinema Camera Company, and the SI-2K Digital Cinema Camera by Silicon Imaging as digital cameras. Max Penner, the film’s stereographer, found these lighter and smaller cameras easier to use.
3D aspect
My Bloody Valentine is the first R-rated film to be projected in Real D technology and to have a wide release (1,000 locations) in 3D–enabled theaters. The film was also available in 2D for theaters that are not equipped to process digital 3D technology.Reception
The film has received generally mixed reviews from critics. Rotten TomatoesRotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
reports that 57% of 86 critics have given the film a positive review, with a rating average
Average
In mathematics, an average, or central tendency of a data set is a measure of the "middle" value of the data set. Average is one form of central tendency. Not all central tendencies should be considered definitions of average....
of 5.7 out of 10. Metacritic
Metacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
, which assigns a weighted average score out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the film received an average score of 51 based on 11 reviews.
Joe Leydon of Variety
Variety (magazine)
Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
said, "director and co-editor Lussier (a frequent Wes Craven collaborator) plays the 3-D gimmick for all it’s worth: Everything from tree branches and gun barrels to bloody pickaxes and bloodier body parts appears to jump off the screen. He also makes effective use of the depth-of-field illusion, allowing audiences long views of various chest cavities from which hearts have been rudely ripped. At the very least, the overall tech package is a great deal more impactful than that of the 3-D-lensed “Friday the 13th Part III” (1982)". He added, in spite of the "state-of-the-art 3-D camera trickery, which helmer Patrick Lussier shamelessly exploits to goose the audience with cheap thrills and full-bore gore, My Bloody Valentine is at heart an unabashedly retro work, reveling in the cliches and conventions of the slasher horror pics that proliferated in the early 1980s".
Mark Olsen of the Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
said, the implemented 3-D technology enables "startling effects, but after a while the minor thrill of the trick is gone. Advances in digital technology have allowed the filmmakers to largely avoid the physical headaches that are perhaps the biggest hallmark of the cyclical attempts at 3-D moviemaking". He added, "wooden performances by forgettable, generic actors -- again, just like in the original -- don't aid in making things any less leaden" and My Bloody Valentine 3-D is "just good enough to not be annoying".
Jeannette Catsoulis of The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
said, "the creaky screenplay (by Todd Farmer and Zane Smith) is mercilessly at odds with the director's fine sense of pacing. From the moment you duck a flying mandible and gaze, mesmerized, at a severed hand oozing two inches from your nose, you'll be convinced that the extra dimension was worth seeking out. A strange synergy of old and new, My Bloody Valentine 3D blends cutting-edge technology and old-school prosthetics to produce something both familiar and alien: gore you can believe in".
Clark Collis of Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
grades the film a C+ and says that it "starts in spectacular fashion. But what really leaps out at you about My Bloody Valentine 3-D is its lack of imagination". Frank Scheck of The Hollywood Reporter
The Hollywood Reporter
Formerly a daily trade magazine, The Hollywood Reporter re-launched in late 2010 as a unique hybrid publication serving the entertainment industry and a consumer audience...
said, "While the concept of adding 3-D to the horror genre is hardly new ... Patrick Lussier's film is the most accomplished example. The 3-D effects come fast and furious, rendered with a technical skill and humor that gives this otherwise strictly formulaic slasher picture whatever entertainment value it possesses." He adds, "the three leads actually manage to invest their roles with some depth, but the real acting treats come courtesy of veteran character actors Kevin Tighe and Atkins, whose presence provides a comforting bridge to horror films past. Special mention must also be made of supporting actress Betsy Rue, a real trouper who treats the target male audience to one of the longest and most unabashedly gratuitous full-frontal nude scenes in horror film history".
Box office
On its 4-day opening weekend, the film grossed $24.1 million, ranking #3 for the weekend, behind Gran Torino at #2, and Paul Blart: Mall Cop at #1. In its second weekend, the movie grossed estimated $10.1 million, ranking number 6 at the domestic box office. The film has grossed $51,545,952 in the United States and Canada, and $49,188,766 in other markets for a worldwide total of $100,734,718.Home media
My Bloody Valentine 3D was released on DVDDVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
and Blu-ray
Blu-ray Disc
Blu-ray Disc is an optical disc storage medium designed to supersede the DVD format. The plastic disc is 120 mm in diameter and 1.2 mm thick, the same size as DVDs and CDs. Blu-ray Discs contain 25 GB per layer, with dual layer discs being the norm for feature-length video discs...
on May 19, 2009 and has grossed in excess of $19.7 million with DVD sales and theater gross revenue totaling over $119.9 million.
Both home release versions have both a standard 2D version and the 3D version on the same disc using seamless branching
Seamless branching
Seamless branching is a mechanism used on DVDs and Blu-ray Discs to allow the player to jump to a different scene after finishing one. The most common purpose is to have several versions of a scene within one film, without having to store the entire film on the disc several times.A popular example...
. However, a special Blu-ray version was also created specifically for online rental chains like Netflix
Netflix
Netflix, Inc., is an American provider of on-demand internet streaming media in the United States, Canada, and Latin America and flat rate DVD-by-mail in the United States. The company was established in 1997 and is headquartered in Los Gatos, California...
and Blockbuster.
On October 5, 2010, Lionsgate Home Entertainment released My Bloody Valentine 3D on Blu-ray 3D which requires a 3D-capable HDTV, 3D Blu-ray player and 3D glasses. The disc also includes a 2D version of the film and all bonus materials included in the 2D Blu-ray version released after the film's initial theater run.