By Chris Summerfield
“From the heart comes a warning filled with bloody good cheer, remember what happened as the 14th draws near”
By the time this movie was released in 1981, the slasher genre had its grips firmly across the globe, what with Friday the 13th and Halloween returning for the second sequels as people could not get enough of those franchises and believe me I could write an whole article upon comparing those franchises, to try and understand who was the better, however right now I want to focus upon this little gem from that era…
The beginning…
A dishy young lady dressed as a Miner begins to strip, wanting fun with her partner who is also dressed as a miner, both being down the mine, then suddenly she is impaled against a pick axe, one that her partner had embedded in to the wall…
The Movie…
This movie focuses upon the mining community within, Valentine Bluffs and Valentine is approaching, there is to be a valentine dance, plenty of partying, the first one they have held within the town since the infamous bloody valentine’s day massacre in which a crazed ex miner, Harry Warden, managed to escape a mental hospital and take revenge against two supervisors that worked within the mine he had worked, where there had been a terrible accident, he was supposed to have butchered them with a pickaxe before cutting out their hearts…
And now twenty years on it seems either Harry Warden has returned to town, as the town folk begin to die in the hands of a miner with a pickaxe or could it be one of the locals, copycatting?
It is down to, police chief, Newby, (Don Francks) to try and get to the bottom of it, without panicking the town, though has the body count begins to rise, he has to be more cautious, therefore cancelling the valentine celebrations…
And as for the frustrated young folk of the town, who was looking forward to the celebrations, there is a love rivalry with T.J (Paul Kelman) and Axel (Neil Affleck) both with feelings towards Sarah (Lori Hallier). A rivalry that is bound to boil over as the movie continues.
And there is always the constant thought of who is behind the miner suit that is doing all the killings?
The movie eventually draws to a climax as the young frisky folk of the community decide upon throwing a party of their own within the premises of the mine, a small band of them led by Hollis (Keith Knight), Sarah included, then head down the mine shaft where it soon becomes a claustrophobic terrifying battle for survival as the killer is on the rampage down there and as the numbers dwindle it is down to T.J who heads down the mine shaft to try and reach Sarah before the killer does…
And as for the ending, I would say first class!
This is without doubt one of my favourite slasher movies of all time, along with a few more that I will write about in the future, why it’s one of my favourites, because it marries the theme of heartache and insanity very well, a tragic and dark disturbing story.
“Sarah be my bloody valentine”
Rating: 10/10
