Movie Review: My Bloody Valentine (2009)

Synopsis: On Valentine's Day in 1997, Tom Hanniger forgets to vent the methane lines at his father's coal mine and causes an explosion that traps six of the miners. One of the trapped miners, Harry Warden, kills the other five to conserve oxygen and, after waking up from a 1-year-long coma, goes on a killing spree before being buried alive in one of the mineshafts. Ten years later, the long-absent Tom returns to his hometown after his father's death to sell the mine only to become a suspect when a killer dressed in a gas mask and mining attire begins a new wave of murders.

Who's in it? The movie stars Jensen Ackles, Jaime King, Betsy Rue, Kerr Smith and Tom Atkins.

Review: My wife and I both love horror films and agree this movie is one of our favorites. However, even though we've seen it multiple times, it had been a while since we last watched it and, since I figured it would be a good way to end a somewhat stressful weekend, I put it on last night. Even after seeing it for probably the dozenth time, we still enjoyed it.

There are a couple things I really like about this horror movie remake. The main one is how the movie does a great job keeping the killer's identity a secret until the very end. Tom (Ackles) seems like the most likely suspect and the movie makes sure he's always around when the killings happen. However, there are quite a few others, ranging from the local sheriff (Smith), who seems to have a vendetta against Tom (and doesn't seem like a great guy overall) and Harry Warden (Richard John Walters), who is supposed to be dead, but nobody can find his body.

In fact, even though my wife and I already knew who the killer was when we started watching, the film does such a great job with throwing in red herrings, we admittedly thought maybe we were remembering the movie incorrectly, especially at the end, when it came down to two people who both were believable as the killer, to the point I kind of wish it would have turned out to be both of them.

I am also going to admit, I liked how the movie ended in a way that set up a sequel. This isn't always the case, but this movie manages to do it without taking anything away from the film. It's just too bad there was never a second movie (at least not so far) because I probably would watch it.

Final Opinion: As I said, this is one of our favorite films and watching it again did nothing to change my mind about that. If you haven't seen this movie, you should take the time to do so.

My Grade: A