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Directed by Patrick Lussier. Staring Jensen Ackles, Jaime King and Kerr Smith. Horror, USA, 101 min. Web site

A few years ago I met George Mihalka, director of the 1981 MY BLOODY VALENTINE, on the set of OMERTA 3, a French-Canadian crime series he was helming. When our conversation finally got around to that cult slasher, he admitted being clueless over its success and shocked by its growing reputation. After all it was famously de-gored by the MPAA at the time. But it was still the on

e film he was always asked about and gladly because over the years it has earned him a fortune in royalties. Now that ‘classic’ HALLOWEEN knock-off, which plays far better in the memory, gets a highly respectful reboot with a canny 3D coating as the first horror movie to be shot in the digital Real D process. Giving extra creditable flinch value to its standard issue slasher clichés, there’s really not much point seeing Patrick (DRACULA 2000 trilogy) Lussier’s gloriously 18-rated splatter spectacular without the added dimensional layers. Ten years after a mining tragedy caused a damaged survivor to turn psycho, a new series of brutal slayings begin when Tom Hanniger (SUPERNATURAL’s Jensen Ackles) returns to the small community of Harmony on Valentine’s Day to sell his creepy colliery inheritance. The surprisingly discerning script by Todd Farmer (JASON X hooray, THE MESSENGERS, boo) and Zane Smith neatly touches all key exploitation bases (loved the totally gratuitous nude hissy fit ending in evisceration and midget victim carnage!). The screenplay also keeps the core love triangle between Ackles, Jamie King (playing his former girlfriend) and Kerr Smith (her rebound husband) at the heart of the deliciously gory mayhem so the maniac’s identity remains a fun mystery.

Veteran horror hack Lussier unapologetically goes for it big-time ensuring the pace remains lively as the demented miner’s pickaxe – which has to be the perfect 3D murder weapon – stays centre stage to gleefully dodge from as eyeballs, brains and blood flies from the screen in impressively orchestrated immersive shocks.

Alan Jones

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