This document provides a review of the slasher film "My Bloody Valentine 3D". It summarizes that the film blends slasher and thriller genres about a masked killer seeking revenge on those who caused a mining accident. While some elements work well, like the mystery surrounding the killer's identity, other aspects seem flawed, such as forced flashbacks. The review provides analysis of the film's characters, setting in a mining town, references to other slasher films, and orchestral soundtrack.

2. In the aptly-named mining town of
Harmony, a masked killer stalks through
the night, picking (or in this case pickaxe-
ing) off those that had wronged him in
the past. My Bloody Valentine 3D blends
slasher and thriller into an interesting
hybrid, which still somehow seems
flawed.

3. The characters seem to be the typical victims of a slasher film, as always.
Two people killed after sex, one after a quiet drink of alcohol, et cetera.
The difference between these victims and your typical teenager
impaled on a wall, however, is blatantly obvious from the start- Age.
Although, in the introduction, the pickaxe-ees are in their teens, the
main portion of the story is set ten years after that. This does seem to
raise concern with another convention of the genre, in regards to the
fact that what the victims are doing is ‘legal.’ Nobody is drinking
illegally, there is no underage sex, so no reason for the victims to die.
Although this could be argued to be an intentional point made to make
the victim seem even colder, it makes the film a little less enjoyable in
my opinion, as the victims seem too ‘innocent’ to be killed. The thriller-
style mystery surrounding the killer, however, is quite a good point. The
film intentionally misleads the audience, and the person who they have
been empathising with and ‘rooting for’ throughout the film eventually
turns out to be the killer they have hated for an equally long time.
This, like most parts of the film, seems flawed however. The flashbacks
explaining what happened seem a little forced, and some look
implausible.

4. The iconography, however, seems better in
comparison. The sharp implement used in this
film is atypical for a slasher, as more impaling
takes place than slashing with this miner’s
pickaxe. Furthermore, the black mining outfit
and dark-goggled gas mask lets the killer blend
in with the many other miners around the town,
further increasing the ‘whodunit’ mystery while
still providing a sense of uniqueness- Black
clothing as opposed to dark blue. Again, the
mask provides the feel of the ‘faceless killer,’
until he is metaphorically ‘unmasked’ and the
culprit revealed at the climax.

5. The setting seems typical for a slasher film, blending
‘abandoned area X,’ in this case the old mine, with
‘peaceful suburban area,’ in this case Harmony. The
less than subtle choice of name unfortunately seems
forced in this film, a desperate attempt to add some
sort of humour to it. Clever naming seems to be an
unspoken rule for good slashers, for instance when
the obviously less-than-serene waters with ‘camp
crystal lake.’ Naming a ghost town ‘pleasant springs
(brackets no murderers guaranteed)’ is far too
cheesy to work for modern audiences. On the
brighter side, the use of a mine (whose only other
memorable appearance as a slasher set was in this
film’s spiritual prequel in the early 80s) gives this film
credit for creativity.

6. The narrative seems to be, at first, from a typical ‘old-fashioned’
slasher. A masked killer takes revenge on a group of people for a
misdeed that caused grief to either him or his loved ones (this
case being both, as he and five other miners were trapped after
a valentine’s day party indirectly caused a cave-in at the mine
he worked in,) before being defeated by a final boy/girl pair.
Cue cliffhanger ‘he didn’t really die’ ending, cut to credits,
plenty of time for a sequel, et cetera.
There is a difference, however. Although it doesn’t look like it on the
surface, this ‘traditional’ slasher occasionally dips its toes into the
pool of post-modernism, referencing other films in both deaths
and names. For instance, the first two on-screen deaths were
deaths by fire and drowning, with the former victim being
named Freddy; the latter, Jason. Although the ‘self-aware’
aspect is not as poignant as most other post-modern films, it
does serve to entertain the audience by poking fun at cult icons
from the last century, ones any slasher fan would have seen, and
any casual viewer would have at least heard the names of.

7. An interesting feature of this slasher is the
soundtrack. As usual, most ‘death sounds,’ for
example someone being stabbed through the
back of the head so hard their eye pops out
on the pickaxe, are foregrounded, natural-
sounding, and as ‘messy’ as possible. As with
most slashers, this aims to give the audience
the biggest scare achievable. However, It
seems slightly more orchestral than most other
pieces, surprisingly, and more in-tune to the
modern action films.