My Bloody Valentine (1981) (Collector’s Edition) [Blu-Ray]

Director: George Mihalka

Cast: Paul Kelman, Lori Hallier, Neil Affleck

Release Date: February 11, 2020

A Review By: Kevin Lovell

Disc Rating: 9.5/10

Synopsis:

On Valentine’s Day, someone always loses their heart. Twenty years ago, this small town lost more than that. When supervisors abandoned their posts to attend the town’s annual holiday dance, a tragedy claimed the lives of five miners. The sole survivor, Harry Warden, was institutionalized, but returned for a vengeful massacre on the disaster’s first anniversary.

Nineteen years later, the town is gearing up for another Valentine’s Day party. Teen sweethearts T.J. and Sarah, along with their friend Axel, are among the excited partygoers. But when a box of candy containing an eerie warning and blood-soaked heart arrive, the townsfolk realize that romance is as good as dead. And so are they …

The original 1981 slasher cult classic ‘My Bloody Valentine’ directed by George Mihalka arrives home in an all-new 2-disc Collector’s Edition Blu-ray release from Scream Factory. The film tells the bloody tale of a mining town living in the shadow of a legend revolving around a grisly massacre on Valentine’s Day and a trapped miner named Harry Warden whose promise to return should the town ever hold a dance in favor of the Holiday again has left the residents long ignoring the famous February date in fear. But when a group of local teens tired of the legend conflicting with their fun on Valentine’s Day decide to throw a party regardless, they soon realize that the legend may be far more real than they ever fathomed once bodies start dropping at an alarming rate.

Scream Factory’s new Collector’s Edition Blu-ray release of ‘My Bloody Valentine’ brings the fan-favorite cult classic from 1981 home like never before! Initially released in theaters as the victim of heavy censorship from the MPAA at the time; nearly every gory tidbit or notable practical effect having been removed after backlash and therefore causing the film to be almost confusing at times due its lack of continuity after all of the violent and bloody content was forcibly removed. While many folks probably won’t want to make a point of revisiting the Theatrical Version too often (although the comparison is quite interesting), Scream Factory has nonetheless been kind (and thorough) enough to include new transfers of both the Theatrical and Uncut versions here, with each sourced from new 4K transfers that look better than ever.

As far as the technical merits of Scream Factory’s new ‘My Bloody Valentine’ Collector’s Edition Blu-ray release are concerned, fans should be outright thrilled with not only the impressive new high definition transfer featured on both editions of the film which are quite spectacular, but should also thoroughly appreciate all of the noteworthy bonus goodies included, featuring hours of brand new extras created specifically for this release such as brand new ‘Audio Commentary with Director George Mihalka’ on the Uncut Version of the film and a great deal more (please see the special features section in the technical specification coverage of the review below for more detailed information), which altogether is pretty much guaranteed to make this wonderful new Blu-ray release a must own for the dedicated fans; easily serving as the definitive release of this fan-favorite 80’s slasher from Canada.

Overall, this new 2-disc Collector’s Edition Blu-ray release of the early 80’s cult classic ‘My Bloody Valentine’ from Scream Factory will almost surely prove to be a definite must own for its fans. Not only does this impressive new release provide the film’s hardcore fans with fantastic high definition video and audio presentations (even featuring the Uncut version in all of its glory gory taken from a new 4K scan) but tons of enjoyable extras including many created just for this release. Scream Factory’s ‘My Bloody Valentine’ Collector’s Edition Blu-ray is definitely highly recommended for the film’s dedicated fans. A thoroughly impressive release that does the cult classic justice and is as close to perfect as it gets. It’s without a doubt the definitive release of the 80’s slasher and should prove an absolute treat in every department for its fans.

VIDEO:

The Scream Factory Collector’s Edition Blu-ray release of ‘My Bloody Valentine’ features a full 1080p High Definition presentation from a new 4K scan of the Original Camera Negative on both the Theatrical and Uncut Versions, with both utilizing the film’s original 1.85:1 Aspect Ratio and each provided their own disc for optimal quality. Both video presentations look fantastic as a whole and provide smooth, nicely detailed presentations with impressive clarity, while still retaining plenty of grain and other artifacts representative of its source. Even the gore inserts featured within the Uncut edition look quite spectacular for the most part, and the presentations hold up beautifully during the darkly lit and fast moving moments as well, never allowing anything onscreen to become negatively affected or rendered indiscernible. Overall, these are great new high definition video presentations from Scream Factory that should thrill fans of this slasher classic.

AUDIO:

The Collector’s Edition Blu-ray release features a 2.0 channel DTS-HD Master Audio Dual-Mono soundtrack for both versions of the film. These dual mono soundtracks both offer clean, sharp and nicely balanced audio presentations throughout, with no notable faults or troubles to be revealed along the way. They both capture and balance the dialogue, screams and music along with everything else without any dialogue or other audio elements contradicting one another should they happen to be occurring simultaneously. Overall, these are solid dual mono DTS-HD MA soundtracks that sound great and consistently deliver throughout; they shouldn’t disappoint fans in the slightest.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

The Scream Factory Collector’s Edition Blu-ray release of ‘My Bloody Valentine’ includes an impressive collection of bonus content, with some extras featured on both discs of the release. I’ve broken down the extras by disc below for simplicity and easier navigation.

Disc One (Theatrical Version) includes numerous brand new interviews with members of the cast and crew created specifically for this release. They include ‘My Anemic Valentine with Director George Mihalka’ (running approximately 24 minutes in length), ‘From The Heart with Actor Paul Kelman’ (running approximately 14 minutes), ‘Axel, Be My Bloody Valentine with Actor Neil Affleck’ (approximately 15 minutes), ‘Friends of Mine with Actress Lori Hallier’ (19 minutes), ‘Becoming Sylvia with Actress Helene Udy’ (17 minutes), Broken Hearts and Broken Bones with Special Effects Make-Up Designer Tom Burman’ (10 minutes) and ‘The Secret Keeper with Actor Rob Stein’ (27 minutes). The disc also features ‘Holes in the Heart’ (approximately 12 minutes) which explores the differences between the theatrical and uncut versions of the film. The ‘Theatrical Trailer’ (2 minutes), plus ‘3 TV Spots’ (90 seconds altogether), ‘2 Radio Spots’ (1 minute combined) and a ‘Still Gallery’ for the movie are also included.

Disc Two (Uncut Version) features a new ‘Audio Commentary with Director George Mihalka’, as well as a brief introduction to the uncut version by Mihalka. Also included on the disc are the ‘My Bloody Valentine 35^th Anniversary Cast Reunion’ (running approximately 47 minutes) and ‘Thomas Kovacs Performs “The Ballad of Harry Warden”’ (approximately 5 minutes).

*Please note that the above images are taken from the Uncut Version Blu-Ray and resized. They will additionally suffer quality loss as a result of .jpg compression. Larger versions of each image can be viewed by clicking on the image. All images and content included on this Blu-Ray release are the property of their respective owners.

–

Disc Rating: 9.5/10

–

The Original 80’s Cult Classic ‘My Bloody Valentine’ is Now Available to Own on 2-Disc Collector’s Edition Blu-ray from Scream Factory!

–

You can purchase your copy of the ‘My Bloody Valentine: Collector’s Edition’ by clicking on the Amazon cart icon below, or purchase it directly from Shout Factory HERE!