Label: Scream Factory
Region Code: A
Rating: R
Duration: 96 Minutes
Audio: English DTS-HD MA 5.1 with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (2.35:1)
Director: Jamie Blanks
Cast: David Boreanaz, Denise Richards, Marley Shelton, Katherine Heigl, Jessica Capshaw, Jessica Cauffiel
Director Jamie Blanks modern slasher Valentine (2001) is a film that seems to be trying to hard to be very 80's in a lot of ways, we have a tight-knit group of gal pals who in junior high treated a geeky kid named Jeremy Melton very badly at a junior high dance. Years later the girls are being killed-off by a cupid-masked stalker who sends them macabre valentine's day cards and maggot infested candies. The film opens with scenes of the buck-toothed Jeremy being turned down by the girls at the school dance before being beat down by a group of guys for harassing the girls. Thirteen years later one of those girls Shelley (Katherine Heigl, Bride of Chucky) is a medical student at UCLA performing an autopsy in a lab, but her late-night dissection is interrupted by the cupid-masked killer who puts a fright into her and then slices her up, it's a pretty great start tot he film. After her funeral surviving friends Kate (Marley Shelton, Planet Terror), Lily (Jessica Cauffiel, Urban Legends: Final Cut), Paige (Denise Richards, Starship Troopers), and Dorothy (Jessica Capshaw, Minority Report) find themselves recipients of bizarre valentine's day cards, apparently signed by the long-absent Jeremy Melton.
The film is a fun modern slasher, we have a cool-looking killer in a cupid mask with a signature nosebleed, plus a group of attractive young women being stalked and killed off in a myriad of fun ways. The deaths range from throat slashes, electrocution, being shot by arrows, an ax tot he spine and more, but they're very tame, edited down to the bare minimum without the benefit of a bunch of gore, which is a serious let down.
Audio/Video: Valentine (2001) arrives on Collector's Edition Blu-ray from Scream Factory framed in 2.35:1 widescreen with a new 2K scan looking nicely detailed and vibrant with deep blacks. Fine detail is abundant offering plenty of facial pores and clothing textures throughout.
Audio comes by way of an nicely atmospheric English 5.1 DTS-HD MA mix that has some good quite/loud moments designed to give you a startle. The score from Don Davis sounds good in the mix, plus we get soundtrack selections from Rob Zombie, Static-X, Deftones, Orgy, and Marilyn Manson among others, it sorely dates the movie but some of the tunes are a still pretty cool.
As they did with Jamie Blanks other (better) modern slasher Urban Legend Scream Factory have stacked this disc with loads of extras! There's a vintage commentary with director Jamie Blanks, plus a new audio commentary with Blanks and filmmaker Don Coscarelli (Phantasm), moderated by author Peter Bracke. Apparently Coscarelli is here just as friend of Blanks, it's a very chatty conversation. Then we get a 10-min interview with Denise Richards, 14-min with final girl Marley Shelton, 23-min with actress Jessica Cauffiel, a nearly hour-long interview with Co-writers Gretchen J. Berg And Aaron Harberts, a 28-min Editor Steve Mirkovich, plus a 12-min Composer Don Davis. Now, that's a whole lot of interviews to sit through, I sort of wish we had a documentary with all the interviews edited into it to be truthful, I still have not made it through all the interviews!
And that's not even the end of the extras, there are nearly two hours of behind-the-scenes footage from the making of the film, a vintage 8-min making of featurette, a 17-min vintage EPK, a selection of VHS sourced deleted and extended scenes, and a wealth of TV spots and trailers. There's also an Easter Egg, which is a bit of rarity on a Scream Factory release, an interview with director Jack Sholder (The Hidden) who chimes in about a particular homage made to one of his films in this one, his inclusion here has my hopes up for several possible films of his coming from Scream at some point!
The single-disc release comes housed in a standard Blu-ray keepcase with a reversible sleeve of artwork featuring the original artwork and a cool new illustration by artists Devon Whitehead which us also featured on the slipcover and the disc.
Special Features:
- NEW 2K Scan Of The Original Film Elements Supervised And Approved By Director Jamie Blanks And Director Of Photography Rick Bota
- NEW Audio Commentary With Director Jamie Blanks And Filmmaker Don Coscarelli, Moderated By Author Peter Bracke
- NEW Thrill Of The Drill – An Interview With Actress Denise Richards (10 min) HD
- NEW The Final Girl – An Interview With Actress Marley Shelton (14 min) HD
- NEW Shot Through The Heart – An Interview With Actress Jessica Cauffiel (23 min) HD
- NEW Writing Valentine – An Interview With Co-writers Gretchen J. Berg And Aaron Harberts (54 min) HD
- NEW Editing Valentine– An Interview With Editor Steve Mirkovich (28 min) HD
- NEW Scoring Valentine – An Interview With Composer Don Davis (12 min) HD
- NEW Almost 2 Hours Of Never-Before-Seen Behind-The-Scenes Footage From Director Jamie Blanks’ Personal Archive (114 min)
- Audio Commentary With Director Jamie Blanks
- Vintage “Making Of” Featurette Featuring Cast And Crew (8 min) HD
- Extended Interviews And Behind-The-Scenes Footage From The Electronic Press Kit (17 min)
- Deleted Scenes Including Extended Death Scenes (8 min)
- Orgy "Opticon" Music Video (3 min)
- Teaser Trailer (1 min)
- Theatrical Trailer (1 min) HD
- TV Spots (1 min)
- Still Gallery (8 min)
- Hidden Easter Egg (1 min) HD
I prefer director Jamie Blanks Urban Legend to this one, the gore is lacking and the characters can be a bit too catty for their own good, but there's a lot to love about this modern era slasher, it's just not a home run for me. The new Collector's Edition Blu-ray from Scream Factory looks and sounds terrific, plus it's packed with extras for the fans of the film to enjoy.
