Blu-ray Review HTF BLU-RAY REVIEW: MY BLOODY VALENTINE 3D (1 Viewer)

[Timothy E]

MY BLOODY VALENTINE 3-D




Studio: Lionsgate
Year: 2009
Rated: R
Film Length: 1 hour, 43 minutes
Aspect Ratio: 1080p High Definition Widescreen (1.85:1)
Audio: English 7.1 DTS HD Master Audio, French Dolby Digital 5.1
Subtitles: English, English SDH, Spanish



Release Date: May 19, 2009

The Movie
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My Bloody Valentine 3D is a remake of the 1981 slasher film of the same name (sans 3D). The villain (or hero, depending upon whose side you are on) is the Miner, a cold-blooded killer in a miner’s hat wielding a pickaxe who plucks out the hearts of his victims. Kerr Smith (Dawson’s Creek) plays Axel, a local boy who later becomes the local sheriff. Jaime King (Sin City) plays Sarah, Axel’s wife. Unknown to Sarah, Axel is cheating on her with Megan (Megan Boone). Meanwhile, Sarah’s ex-boyfriend Tom, played by Jensen Ackles (Supernatural) has returned to his hometown after 10 years and is immediately suspected of being the killer, even though he was nearly the victim himself of the Miner before Tom left town years ago.

My Bloody Valentine 3D is directed by Patrick Lussier who, among other things, acted as film editor on the Scream series of films. Screenwriters Todd Farmer and Zane Smith have adapted the Scream style to this remake and have created a screen story inhabited by a cast of characters whom the audience has an opportunity to become emotionally invested in before their ultimate demises. My Bloody Valentine 3D is better than average for this genre of film and may appeal to audiences who normally shun slasher flicks. This remake does many of the same things right that the Scream series did right, and will inevitably be followed by a sequel. This reviewer was not optimistic about the quality of this film prior to seeing it, and was pleasantly surprised by its entertainment value.

Video
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The movie is in 1080p high definition in a 1.85:1 aspect ratio. Most of the movie takes place at night or in dark places and the color palette is muted deliberately for dramatic effect, with blue as the dominant tint. Black crush is minimal to non-existent, and there is no apparent DNR or edge enhancement. Minimal film grain is present but the clarity and detail on images is astonishing, which probably results from the fact that this movie was shot digitally in 4K reference resolution.

This Blu-Ray disc has the movie in both 2-D and 3-D versions, and comes with 4 pairs of 3-D glasses. The 3-D format is in the traditional anaglyphic process with the green lens over your left eye and the purple lens over your right eye. The film was shown theatrically in the Real D process, which is superior to the anaglyph process but is not yet available on home video. That being said, the anaglyph process on this Blu-Ray is the best 3-D this reviewer has seen outside of an IMAX theater. The director deserves credit for creating numerous action sequences that take full advantage of the 3-D process without seeming overly contrived in the effort. Although colors are muted when viewed in 3-D, the entire palette is muted deliberately. This is apparent when comparing the 2-D version to the 3-D version, which reveals that the clarity of images is not compromised in the 3-D version.

Audio
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The English 7.1 DTS HD Master Audio tracks are employed to full effect for all kinds of ambient sounds from every speaker that lends itself extremely well to the mood created for this film. The dialogue is primarily front and center with sound effects and music emanating from every speaker. This film may not avoid all of the cliches of its genre but anyone will be hard pressed to find any flaw in the audio which is top-notch.

Special Features
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The special features are located exclusively on disc 1. Disc 2 consists of a digital copy in standard definition for transfer to portable media device.

The special features are all in 1080p and include all of the following:

Audio Commentary: The commentary is provided by director Patrick Lussier and co-writer Todd Farmer. Lussier and Farmer provide a lively and interesting commentary which is much better than average.

Deep Inside My Bloody Valentine (7:18): Cast and crew are interviewed regarding making the movie along with some behind the scenes footage.

Sex, Blood, and Screams (5:47): Cast and crew provide some behind the scenes footage of some of the more gruesome special effects.

Deleted and Extended Scenes (18:16): Some of these scenes are very good and arguably should have been left in the film. This feature is presented in matted widescreen format unlike the other special features which are all anamorphic.

Tom, Pick, and Harry: Alternate Ending (1:03): This is actually an alternate edit of the original ending.

Gag Reel (2:16): This is a short collection of line flubs and jokes by the cast.

Theatrical Trailer (0:38): Short red band trailer for My Bloody Valentine 3D.

Also From Lionsgate: Trailers for Crank 2, The Haunting In Connecticut, My Bloody Valentine Special Edition, Transporter 3, Saw V, The Burrowers, Seventh Moon, and Break.com. These trailers also show automatically at the beginning of the disc.

LG Live: Internet connected Blu Ray players can access cell phone ringtones, wallpapers, and previews of other Lionsgate films. At present, there is no option available on the menu for LG Live. The box art states that Molog is also included, however, this appears to be an error since there is also no Molog feature on the menu options for this disc. The Molog feature, available on certain other Lionsgate titles, allows users with internet connections to post their own blogs onto the screen in the form of animated shapes, text, and graphics to share with other BD Live users.

Conclusion
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My Bloody Valentine 3D is a better than average slasher flick that avoids some of the faults prevalent to slasher films even while it fails to avoid all of the cliches of the horror genre. The 3-D effects are excellent in spite of their limitations and enhance the entertainment value of this film. Viewers who enjoy 3-D effects but have been disappointed by the limitations in previous releases of 3-D films on Blu Ray might be surprised by the quality of the effects here. The audio and video quality are first rate. My Bloody Valentine 3D may not transcend its genre but it succeeds to entertain. It may not make any converts out of people who normally shun slasher flicks but fans of this genre will find much to like here.

 

[DeanR]

I rented the movie from Netflix and it appears only the 2D version is present.

 

[MikeDE]

Probably the best anaglyph 3D I've seen, and better flick than expected. They all should be done this well.

 

[Todd Erwin]

I really wish the studios, if they HAVE to release a film on disc ion 3-D, that they would use the blue-amber ColorCode system that was used for the "Monsters Vs. Aliens" Superbowl trailer and the 3-D episode of "Chuck" the following night.

While not perfect, I remember it rendering colors more accurately than the traditional anaglyph process used here.

 

[WillG]

was a total cheat for me. I also felt the film revealed a vital piece of information about the above in the last 10 minutes or so which came out of nowhere.