Loveless
My Bloody Valentine (1981)
directed by George Mihalka
rating: 2 out of 5 cravats
on DVD from Netflix
Director George Mihalka is from Hungary. Leave it to an Eastern European to anticipate the "heritage" trend in American men's fashion while pitting a Simpsons animator against the love child of Rufus Sewell and Robbie Robertson. Even more ridiculous than the vaguely Canadian casting are the killer's grievances: men were killed in a mining accident on Valentine's Day twenty years ago, and the lone survivor returns to slaughter twenty-somethings when the town holds a holiday dance. So he's opposed to parties? Or maybe he's someone, like Steve, who gets caught up in the "corporate aspect" of February 14th.
The failures of My Bloody Valentine seem so obvious because the premise could be so good. If I told you that I was writing a script about working-class kids who decide to throw a kegger at the place that employs them - namely, the local mine that's scary to us but not to the guys who clock in at the top every day - you'd think that Pennsylvania had finally gotten to me, but that otherwise it sounded like kind of a cool idea. Mihalka certainly appreciates the look of his overcast northern location, but the edits, timing, and sense of humor are all off.
Compare the way the original Hanniger mining disaster is told to Mr. Machen's fireside ghost story concerning the Elizabeth Dane. Mihalka shows instead of tells, but John Carpenter knows that a face and a voice like John Houseman's, soaked in the sea air of Spivey Point, is a look and a tale both. Less is always more, unless that 3D remake took my suggestions and ran with them, in which case, once again, I don't know what I'm talking about.
directed by George Mihalka
rating: 2 out of 5 cravats
on DVD from Netflix
Director George Mihalka is from Hungary. Leave it to an Eastern European to anticipate the "heritage" trend in American men's fashion while pitting a Simpsons animator against the love child of Rufus Sewell and Robbie Robertson. Even more ridiculous than the vaguely Canadian casting are the killer's grievances: men were killed in a mining accident on Valentine's Day twenty years ago, and the lone survivor returns to slaughter twenty-somethings when the town holds a holiday dance. So he's opposed to parties? Or maybe he's someone, like Steve, who gets caught up in the "corporate aspect" of February 14th.
The failures of My Bloody Valentine seem so obvious because the premise could be so good. If I told you that I was writing a script about working-class kids who decide to throw a kegger at the place that employs them - namely, the local mine that's scary to us but not to the guys who clock in at the top every day - you'd think that Pennsylvania had finally gotten to me, but that otherwise it sounded like kind of a cool idea. Mihalka certainly appreciates the look of his overcast northern location, but the edits, timing, and sense of humor are all off.
Compare the way the original Hanniger mining disaster is told to Mr. Machen's fireside ghost story concerning the Elizabeth Dane. Mihalka shows instead of tells, but John Carpenter knows that a face and a voice like John Houseman's, soaked in the sea air of Spivey Point, is a look and a tale both. Less is always more, unless that 3D remake took my suggestions and ran with them, in which case, once again, I don't know what I'm talking about.
posted by NPK at 6:14 AM
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