Why This Valentine's Film is Way Underrated
For a movie about love day, it's ironic how little people bring it up
My Bloody Valentine is an underrated horror movie.
I feel like Harry Warden is never talked about in conversation when bringing up iconic slashers, despite the fact that the film came out during the height of the genre in the 80s. While the franchise is beloved by many, it still feels as though it’s overshadowed by its more popular counterparts.
I suppose we could say Harry’s not as popular as his holiday cousin of Halloween. Michael Myers lives rent free in the heads of horror fans, but Harry? Not as much, sadly. Sure, people talk about it during the holiday, but after? Not really.
But why is it? Is it because Valentine’s Day isn’t as popular? Is it because Harry Warden isn’t as scary? Why exactly is My Bloody Valentine so overshadowed in the world of slashers? Well… the answer may be more simple than you think.
Let’s think about the most iconic slashers for a minute here: Michael Myers, Freddy Krueger, Jason Voorhees, Leatherface, Chucky. What do all these guys have in common?
They were all made in America.
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Harry Warden? Well, he was made over in Canada. Yup, My Bloody Valentine is a beauty of the Canadian people! Do I think that’s the only reason Harry Warden isn’t as popular as his fellow slashers? No, of course not… but I do think it’s interesting to think about.
I mean, 80s America was all about patriotism and the American way. With the Cold War looming over everybody’s heads, films like Top Gun and Rocky were taking over the box office. If Americans were pumped to see some good ol’ red, white, and blue action, then it’s not that crazy to think that audiences were more drawn to American horror films as well.
In fact, My Bloody Valentine was deemed a box office failure by Paramount in the U.S. As our friends at Wikipedia (very professional, I know) state: “Though the U.S. gross exceeded the film's $2.3 million budget, it was considered a box-office disappointment by Paramount Pictures, returning a ‘derisory sum of $3.3 million’.[16] This profit amounted to less than one-third of Paramount's Friday the 13th, released the year before.[16]”
Interesting. Friday the 13th, an American film, did better than the Canadian one.
But that’s not all. My Bloody Valentine, like many films of the day, faced tons of censorship. MPAA had to put their grubby little hands in the punch bowl and ruin the taste for everybody. After Friday the 13th, ratings became much more strict, forcing My Bloody Valentine to cut down much of its gore.
Special effects were cut, kills were tamed, and, well… people want to watch a slasher for the slashing, so… yeah. It took a lot of cutting down to get the film from a X-rating to a R-rating, and due to the lack of effects, the film was met with bad reviews.
But what else? The movie’s characters themselves. While most of us enjoy the working-class setting the movie offers now, back then I can understand why it may have fell flat with some audiences. Slasher flicks were mostly aimed at teenagers, which was why the characters in the films were, you guessed it, teenagers. A Nightmare on Elm Street? Teens. Friday the 13th? Teens. Halloween? Teens.
My Bloody Valentine? Young working adults. A far cry from the teen drama audiences were used to. After all, the movie is set in a mining town. While young adults may have seen themselves in the film, teenagers may have had a tougher time imagining themselves as the cast.
Sure, teens of the 80s may have had part-time summer jobs, but they usually weren’t working in the mines to pay rent. Teens were exploring the mall, watching MTV, roller-skating, and every other 1980s teen cliche one could think of. So, if the main audience (teens) weren’t relating to the film, it makes sense that My Bloody Valentine wasn’t able to get quite as much buzz as its predecessors.
Today, My Bloody Valentine certainly gets more love. Quentin Tarantino even cites it as his favorite slasher film. In fact, the film is typically praised for its character-based approach in storytelling for a slasher.
Still, even with how beloved it may be now, it’s still underrated.
Even the remake of the film, which starred beloved actor Jensen Ackles (hell yeah, Soldier Boy), is just as underrated. Which, honestly, I enjoy both films, even if the remake has some silly aspects thrown in.
As I said, Harry Warden is a rare sight in the whole “iconic slashers” thing. It’s sometimes hard to even find a Warden cosplay at horror conventions, almost as if it’s still some niche character despite the slow rise in popularity. So far, I haven’t seen one at any cons I’ve been to, but I have participated in cosplaying as Warden myself over at a haunted trail I worked at.
Anyway, in honor of Harry, go watch My Bloody Valentine this holiday. He deserves a little love. Get him a box of chocolates, and make sure to throw a heart in there.
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